Ten days prior Whiley, Garrett and I had tried Mears Peak from Deep Creek Trailhead. Whiley and I were slow that day, so Garrett went ahead. By the time we had gotten to the bottom of Mears' south face he had already reached the ridge crest some 2,000 feet above. Whiley and I found the south face absolutely awful. We made a couple of attacks from different parts of the face and found scary, rotting slabs, ankle deep scree at high angles overlaying hardpan, rock that shattered at the touch, and altogether dangerous and slow climbing. We turned around, frustrated, and went back to Telluride. Meanwhile Garrett had done the full traverse from Mears Peak to "S 10" and met us in town. He reported that the ridge between Mears and "S 7" was much nicer, so Whiley and I planned on doing that as an out-and-back from "S 7" instead.

When we went back we decided to tackle the peaks from a different trailhead, the Whipple Mountain Trailhead. We'd done a couple of easy peaks from the trailhead and knew it connected to the Deep Creek Trail, which would give us access to the peaks. From the trailhead there's a good trail directly east between Point 12,311 (called "S 10" on Lists of John; "S 10" on 14ers.com refers to Point 13,020, and I will use "S 10" to refer to the thirteener) and Whipple Mountain. This trail ascends approximately 1,000 feet to the pass between these peaks, then switchbacks steeply 1,600 feet down to Deep Creek. Along the way to the trail junction we passed spectacular towers and rock formations that the Sneffels Range is known for.

As we descended into Deep Creek we got a preview of what was to come - a massive labyrinth of avalanche debris. The trail was completely lost under all the debris, and our progress slowed as we scrambled up and over and through the giant mess. We had to be extra careful since the debris pile was so thick that there were open holes and loose, rocking trees, plus sharp, snapped branches to avoid.

Eventually Whiley and I got so tired of battling the mess that we simply scrambled up a steep, eroded, Class 3 gully (which itself was full of smashed up trees) to escape.

Above the debris we discovered we had crossed the majority of it, and we traversed on the steep hillside through the forest to stay above the remainder. Eventually we were able to get back on the trail, which was great after all of that, and we slowly gained elevation heading north until we hit the base of a scree slope. We ascended the scree on what little grass there was, exited through a small stand of trees, and from that point we were on scree and talus for the next six or seven hours.

The hike up the drainage to unranked twelver Hayden Peak was tedious but uneventful.

We topped out and quickly traversed to "S 10", our first ranked thirteener for the day. The ridge top, which we were happy to have actually attained this time, was basically just a giant heap of talus. All of these peaks were, really, from top to bottom.

The entire traverse from "S 10" to "S 9" was easy, though once again tedious, as it was all on the junky rock of the Sneffels Range.

We traversed past and under the summit, then made our way up to the ridge crest and backtracked slightly, as "S 9"'s summit block was a sheer wall to the west and south but had easy Class 2 access from the east.

We dropped back down off "S 9" and began the long Class 2 traverse to "S 8". Though the peak was far away there were trail segments through the scree and talus almost the entire way.

To get off "S 8" we encountered the first real scrambling of the day, 25 or so feet of very loose Class 3 down a gully. Past this it was a return to the normal loose hiking terrain. It was simply unescapable on this route.

The ridge out-and-back to Ruffner was quick and easy. As a peak it's barely there, but it's officially named so climb it we must.

The ridge from "S 7" to Mears, on the other hand, looked like it would be quite challenging, and we couldn't even see all of it!

After returning from Ruffner to the tripoint between "S 8", "S 7", and Ruffner, we traversed on steep, loose slopes and scrambled up to "S 7"'s long summit ridge.

While "S 7" had some fun scrambling, it was still easier than the descent off "S 8". However, ahead of us lay the crux of the day. The ridge to Mears looked quite intimidating from "S 7".

It was time to test our mettle. We left "S 7" and immediately were faced with the prospect of staying on the ridge crest or dropping below it to the south. At no point on the entire traverse did we cross to the north side of the ridge, it was just dead vertical with no safe options. Most of the time the ridge crest was too loose and exposed to stay on, so we spent much of our time on the south face. The ridge started off relatively benign on scree and talus, but this lasted only a few minutes before the first crux of the traverse arrived. We dropped down and did a low traverse on a mix of Class 2+ scree and talus, Class 2+ to Class 3 ribs, and Class 3 micro-plated slabs. Everything was exposed, and everything was loose. I can probably stop saying that now, I've only said it fifty times already. This first section took us across the face and ended near the set of small, sharp gendarmes on the right in the photo above.

I felt that this first part was the mental crux, as well as the physical crux of the day. It wasn't the hardest climbing we would encounter on the traverse, but going from very easy to sustained, exposed, and exceptionally loose with no warmup at all was jarring and took some time to get into the groove of. Fortunately the small gendarmes were easier than they looked, and we scrambled over them and down them at Class 3.

Large parts of the middle of the ridge were actually pretty mellow, and the gendarmes of little consequence. It wasn't until we got to the last and largest gendarme that the difficulty once again rose.

To get past this gendarme there was really only one option: go straight up a rotting gully to the top of the block, then down the other side. Much of the rock in the first half of the gully was the kind of crap that crumbles in your hands and under your feet, and the second half of the gully was just literal dirt, but at least one could claw up using the gully's rock walls as help. The scrambling was a rather ugly Class 3, but it went.

On top of the block we encountered a short catwalk and then a boulder perched precariously in our way. We dropped a few feet below it, not wanting to test its stability, before reascending to the catwalk. Aside from this short Class 2+ section around the boulder, the catwalk was an airy Class 2.

The catwalk ended abruptly at a small, overhanging cleft on the backside of the block, and we couldn't find a better way down, so we tackled it straight on. Holds here were positive, and the rock uncharacteristically solid, but the overhung Class 4 climbing took some trial and error, especially for the hard to see feet.

Once off this down climb the difficulty dropped back to basic Class 2. A few more small, crumbling towers remained along the ridge but all could be easily bypassed to the south without any additional scrambling. As we neared the saddle with Mears the red rock returned, and with it an increase in tedium.

The summit pitch up Mears, while generally pretty easy, did contain some Class 2+ scrambling and a whole lot of very steep, backsliding rock. We took our time with it yet raced up it, hoping to just get it over with as quickly as possible.

What a traverse that had been! It took us just over an hour and a half to traverse from "S 7" to Mears, and I had somehow had fun doing it! Something must be wrong with me. In any case it was a vastly better route than trying to climb up the south face proper. We took our only rest of a few minutes on Mears to gather the energy to do the ridge in reverse. Since we knew the route now we knew it would be much better on the way back. When we'd had enough rest we began our traverse back to "S 7".

The return trip to "S 7" was faster by about fifteen minutes, and we avoided the sketchy slabs on the summit pitch by staying closer to the ridge crest. We walked back along "S 7"'s summit ridge, then began descending into the basin rounding out Ruffner Mountain, "S 7", and "S 8". There was some grass to assist our descent, but for the most part it was the usual trash rock. There was a significant rock glacier at the bottom as well.

After navigating the lobes and channels of the rock glacier, we were thankful to be back on grass. We had the massive avalanche path to deal with still, but this time instead of wading through the depths of it we stayed above it and sidehilled as best we could, which saved us the frustration of plowing through.

When we were able to relocate the trail we knew our adventure was almost over. There was still the matter of the big ascent up to Whipple Mountain, and the big drop to the trailhead, but there were no real difficulties save exhaustion.

Whiley and I were both feeling absolutely dead as we crawled up to the pass. Days this long and strenuous are rare, even for us.

We were both pretty quiet as we descended to the trailhead, both because we were totally exhausted but also because we'd said what we needed to the mountains themselves. We reached our vehicles tired but satisfied at the end of the day. Whereas Mears had utterly shut us down on our first attempt, this time it was an enjoyable ass kicking. It seems no matter how one does Mears it's quite the beast. This was a fun day, and one I'm glad Whiley and I did, for the workout, for the peaks, for the redemption, and for us.

Statistics

Climbers: Ben Feinstein (myself), Whiley H.
Trailhead: Whipple Mountain
Total distance: 20.49 miles
Total elevation gain: 8,789 feet¹
Total time: 13:06:41
Peaks: Five ranked thirteeners, one unranked thirteener, one unranked twelver

¹My watch read 11,080 feet which Whiley and I agreed was too high. I used her more accurate number instead.

• Hayden Peak, 12,978 (unranked)
• "S 10"/Point 13,020
• "S 9", 13,134'
• "S 8", 13,252'
• Ruffner Mountain, 13,003' (unranked)
• "S 7", 13,220'
• Mears Peak, 13,496'

Splits: