Day 1 - the approach

5.5 miles, ~1,900 ft backpacking, 3 hours

Fall Elk hunting trip was overdue...I spotted this group from Electric Pass peak 2 years ago and wanted to hike it when leaves are at peak. I hiked "Castleabra" with the same approach back in 2013. With new camping reservations in place for Conundrum Creek, it was a little tricky to time it perfectly. Last year I made a campsite reservation for 2 nights, but didn't end up going. This fall, I started checking the Aspen webcams in mid-September, but the fall seemed late to arrive. So I went to the Sangres, and then did the a short climbing trip to Turkey Rocks. As soon as I got home, I checked the reservations website and the campsites were all sold out! What now? I poked some more at the Recreation.gov website and noticed that online reservations only required for the established campsites past the Silver Dollar pond. Well, I was considering camping at Silver Dollar pond anyway because of the descent from Keefer and/or Hunter. Sounds like I'll be in the clear, the trip is on!

I packed up for 2 nights of camping and threw in a cup of ramen noodles for lunch. Given the overnight temps (20F), the pack was already getting heavy - 4 season tent, 0 degree sleeping bag, warm layers, this was shaping to be a cold weather trip, even it's only early October. The trip to Aspen at the peak foliage weekend went as expected - heavy traffic getting to the roundabout, "no parking signs" for Maroon Bells, construction on Castle Creek road, reducing traffic to one lane, and an almost full parking lot at Conundrum Creek trailhead. My goal was to set the camp before dark, so I was shooting to leave TH by 2.30pm. I was close. By 2.45 pm, I hit the trail and started the hike. I was also very curious to see the incredible avalanche debris from the historic avalanche cycle this past March. The big house by the trailhead, protected by the special avalanche fence, has survived, but they were doing some repairs to the chimney.

As soon as I hit the trail, I knew why I was here - the Elks in the fall provide an aesthetic arrest. Well, also in spring, and in summer with wildflowers, and in winter. You get the idea. First avalanche path is right off the bat. But it has been made passable (unlike the Elk Creek trail in Weminuche), probably because this trail is extremely popular with day hikers and backpackers. After about 5.5 miles I bumped into the "camping permits required after this point" sign, looked around and within minutes found a well-established campsite, complete with a fire ring. I set up the tent and cocooned in my 0 degree sleeping bag. This summer/early fall hiking is already becoming pretty technical!

Day 2 - UN 13,216, UN 13,537, Hilliard, Keefe

~9 miles, ~5,300, 12 hours

Since I was anticipating a long day and felt pretty well-rested after ~9 hours of sleep, I got an early start. I left the camp by 6.45 am at dusk, crossed the log bridge and passed the Silver Dollar pond. Immediately there was another avy debris field, which I would have to cross 3 times in total. Yesterday approach got me only so far, and it was still about 4 miles and almost 3,000 ft vertical just to get to the Triangle pass. Don't make the same mistake like me and go all the way to the pass though if planning on UN 13,216. I did, but then spent another 45 minutes traversing loose talus back from the pass to the base of UN13,216, while I should have left the trail much earlier. This oversight definitely cost me valuable time. Just before 11am I finally made it to the first 13er of the day.

Always fun to be so close to Crested Butte! Now, I have glanced at the trip reports of my predecessors and was under impression that these were some Class 2-3 hiking peaks, with a few avoidable difficulties, so I brought my helmet along as an afterthought. And initially the ridge was pretty straightforward.

As I rounded the corner on fairly loose rock, the peak stopped looking friendly. Clearly, one option was to traverse the hillside to the NE ridge and work the ridge backwards to the summit. But I dislike traversing and also it would add extra mileage to the day. So I took the loose steep gully directly to the notch in the southern ridge (below).

Initially I was hoping to scramble up to the ridge directly, but the rock quality was very poor, so I kept looking for other options. Thankfully the SW aspect of the ridge had a nice dihedral with pretty decent rock quality to the right.

Unfortunately about 100 feet below the summit, the rock quality deteriorated once again and required careful sidestepping not to dislodge anything, particularly a ridgeline. The traverse took me almost 2 hours, so I was already having doubts if I could get Hunter. So after a short break, I continued to Hilliard. The traverse didn't look bad initially. Descent of the other side went much easier than expected.

And then....pretty involved sustained Class 4 downclimb on questionable rock. From what it looked like on the other side, there's possibility of a bypass dropping to the east before the notch downclimb.

But I wasn't even done with the difficulties yet. The remaining ridge looked like a maze of loose towers. I aimed for the notch, which I wasn't even sure goes, but it did. Once on the other side, it was fairly straightforward way to get back up on the ridge.

Once past the bent, the ridge finally relented and the rest of it took half the time of the previous section. I arrived on the 3rd summit of the day by 2.30 pm, well behind schedule. After 20 min on the summit, I started towards my next objective, Keefe. I kept wondering if there would be any more time-consuming surprises? Soon I came across something looking like a knife edge, except on loose talus :)

The next step is to bypass a loose 13,200 bump on the ridge on the left (west side). There's a trail at the beginning, but it quickly peters out. Eventually I picked up a faint trail at the base of the cliff and finally reached the grass...

Having reached the summit just before 4pm, 2 things were certain: 1) I have had my fill of loose ridges for the day 2) I am out of time for Hunter anyway. Delorme kept acting up, so I turned it off and on again and pondered the descent. The descent didn't look bad initially, but it was a 3,000 ft drop in just a mile, typical Elk stuff. I started the hike down a quarter after 4pm, with the goal to get to camp before dark. I was able to find the grassy patches, so the first 2,000 feet took an hour. I did ran into a couple small cliff bands in the middle of the face, which I could have bypassed, but just plowed straight through them in the interest of time. The last 1,000 feet was a willow hell, which took an hour. Don't get me wrong, a very colorful and pretty willow hell, but still... Once on the trail, another 30 minutes brought me back to camp by 6.45 pm.

Day 3 - "Triangle peak", UN 13,162 B, UN 13,550

~10 miles, ~4,800, 12 hours (excludes time spent at the hot springs)

I was hoping with 3 peaks, my day today would be shorter and I was looking forward to the hot springs. The plan was for even earlier start, but I finally got ready by 7.30 am. This cold weather camping can be rough. Willows were just as colorful, but there was more ice in the creeks. I made Triangle pass 15 minutes faster and turned left this time, climbing up the steep loose dirt slope. I wasn't sure where the true summit was, so I went over the next bump. They both looked about the same height. After a little break, by 11.30 am I started towards UN 13,162 B, which looked a bit tricky.

First order of business was to skirt the grassy bump on the way and traverse to the base of the climb. So the traversing commenced. The problem was I couldn't really tell which line would "go", so I kept going towards the saddle with Teocalli. Eventually one of the gullies looked promising, so I decided to take it.

The gully did take me up to the ridge, but the summit was still a ways away, as I was just south of the summit. Gaining it required some class 4 scrambling on typical Elk rock - red, rugged and rotten, very similar to the Pyramidal ridge. But eventually the ridge relented and by 1.30 pm I was finally able to reach the narrow and exposed summit of 13,162B.

The initial descent towards 13,550 ft went much easier, but then I ran into obstacles. Gaining the ridge directly didn't seem feasible, and I was avoiding cold and windy northern aspect, so naturally, I was drawn to the sunny southern side. Hence, the déjà vu - steep loose gully that would take me back up the ridge.

After some extracurricular climbing on red rock (completely unnecessary), I reached the final 7th summit of the weekend. I struggled to open the register which was screwed in very tightly by the previous party. But after about 5 minutes of banging the canister on the rocks, wedging and twisting it against the rocks I was finally able to pry it open :) Since it was already 3.30 pm, hiking 10 more miles tonight didn't sound appealing, so I decided to spend another night at camp, but not before the stop at the hot springs! Luckily I finally had some weak cell reception, so I managed to update my plans for the next day. The ridge towards Castleabra harbored a few scrambly sections, but they were fairly short, and on the descent from the saddle, I was glad to find some grassy sections as well as sporadic cairns. It might be a better way up Castleabra than the direct talus line from the hot springs.

The best part of the day was to soak the tired bones and joints at the springs and watch the sunset in the valley. It was nice not to be in a rush. Given the sold out campsite status this weekend, the springs were popular, but everyone was on their best behavior. After about an hour, I extricated myself from the pool, and started the hour and a half hike down to my campsite, crossing the last avy debris field in the dark. It was nice to get a headstart on the hike out, but I was glad I didn't have to go any further. The overnight temperatures reached 20F.

Day 4 - the hike out

5.5 miles, ~1,900 ft backpacking, 3 hours

Given the cold night and morning, I took my time getting ready and started the hike a quarter after 10 am. In daylight, I had a good look at the potential ascent and descent lines off Hunter, and they didn't look enticing. I am thinking this may be a peak for another season. Strong winds in the past several days have knocked down a lot of leaves, but it was still nice to enjoy the last few days of Indian summer, as the first snowstorm of the season was expected a couple days later... Thanks for reading!