Winter Ascent of San Luis

Date:
February 15, 2020
Trailhead:
West Willow Creek Winter road closure. Approximately 10,550 ft at the Intersection of 503 and 504, about 2.4 miles short of the Equity Mine.
Route:
Variation of the South Ridge route (Roach book calls it the Pointfest.)
Ascended the high ridge route along the Continental Divide starting at Point 13,100. On the descent, I reclimbed Point 13,155 and 12,935 before dropping into the basin staying above the trees and climbed out Southeast of Point 12,540.
Stats:
Elevation Gain - 7,400' (approx)
Roundtrip Mileage - 18 miles (approx)
Roundtrip Time - 12 hours

I have been keeping a close watch on the conditions of San Luis the last Month. Snow levels in the area are right on par with an average year and avalanche status has consistently been forecasted as moderate. And even though the front range was getting hit with multiple storms and an increased avalanche risk, I noticed the southern/central part of the state was staying pretty dry. On Thursday I saw the CAIC downgraded the avalanche risk of the Southern San Juan to "Generally Safe" so I packed up and headed down to Creede Friday night.

I slept comfortably in the CRV at the winter road closure along West Willow creek and woke up to 3 degree temps as the sun was rising. I wasn't eager to head out into the cold so slept for another hour before finally gearing up and heading out into the 10 degree clear morning air at 8:30am. With snowshoes on the pack I was able to walk to the Equity Mine on a firm snowmobile track in about an hour. At the mine, the snowmobile track fizzled out so I continued into the valley on snowshoes. Snow varied from firm to punching in about 8 inches for about a mile and then when I started punching in a little deeper I started looking for an alternative route. I could continue trenching towards the pass, or I could start heading up the slope through the trees where it appeared to be windblown grass above. I chose to follow some short lived moose tracks into the trees and then continue up onto the lightly snow covered grass. Out of the snow, I was able to quickly gain access to Point 13,100 and get my first glimpse of San Luis. At this point, I put the snowshoes back onto the pack and put microspikes on the boots. I also had to make a route decision - I could travel down towards the pass and then into the snow filled basin or I could stay high on the ridge along the divide. I knew there would be some gain and loss of elevation with either choice but I decided to stay high and do some route finding and scrambling and maybe pick up a couple of bonus peaks along the way.

There were plenty of ups and downs along the ridge. I bypassed most of the snow covered rock steps by staying in the 8-16" snow on the right side of the ridge. The ridge traverse went really well, the difficulties are mostly within the first fourth of the ridge, then it gets gentle for a long period with a couple of rock steps thrown in near Point 13,155. Once I got down to the saddle between San Luis and Point 13,155 (where the Colorado trail passes through) I took the snowshoes off my pack for the final climb up San Luis. I made the summit just before 3:00 in what seemed to be calm, clear but cold conditions. I took off my pack, sent an OK message on my SPOT, and started taking some surrounding photos from the summit. Just then a gust of wind came up and my pack started rolling past my feet. I lunged to grab it but it was travelling too fast, it was gone! I finished taking some pictures and then went to look where my pack could have ended up, I couldn't believe it but it traveled down over a 1200 feet in the Eastern bowl, not exactly where I was headed down. After almost 500 Colorado 14ers climbed, you would think I should not let something like this happen!! The snow was in good condition going down and then I traversed without too much elevation to gain to just above the saddle where I left my snowshoes. I guess it could have been worse!

So one last route decision to make. Either retrace my route along the ridge, drop from the saddle and climb over the intermediate ridge's saddle, or reclimb Point 13,155 and travel to Point 12,935 and drop into the 2nd basin and climb out near San Luis pass. I opted for the latter. I got to the pass at dark, put on my head lamp and walked down the West Willow Creek drainage arriving at my car at 8:30pm. Overall, a super enjoyable outing to get my 55th Frozen Fourteener.