The Italian Job

Italian Mountain and Lambertson Peak Loop

Our weekend started with a quick climb up Ruby Mountain A. This was a fun peak with great views of Grays and Torreys. We then drove to Buena Vista for lunch at Chester's inside the Loves. After filling up on gas station chicken tenders, we headed west to the Elk Mountains over Cottonwood Pass to climb nearby Italian Mountain and Lambertson Peak.

Day of Climb: August 30th, 2020

Trailhead: Italian Creek

Peaks: Italian Mountain and Lambertson Peak

Mileage/Elevation Gain: ~6.5 miles and 2300 feet of gain.

This was my first time going over Cottonwood Pass and down to Taylor Park Reservoir. It was a beautiful drive with lots of great views and hardly any traffic. At the reservoir we headed NW on CO 742 which is a well maintained dirt road. This final portion of the drive from the reservoir to the trailhead took us much longer than expected.

At first, the miles went by quick as we passed dozens of campers and ATV's enjoying Taylor Park. At the 10 mile mark we turned left on CO 759 (Italian Creek Rd) and our progress slowed dramatically. These last 7 miles or so to the trailhead were brutal and took about an hour and 30 minutes. It wasn't too bad up to the 4WD only sign 2 miles in, but after that I rarely got above 5 to 10 MPH as I was constantly maneuvering around large rocks. We were several hours from a cell signal so breaking down was not an option. I think the road has deteriorated quite a bit in the last few years. Also, there was a constant stream of side by sides and dirt bikes trying to get around us as they headed to American Flag Mountain. We eventually made it and parked near the second switchback. This was just before the Star mine and the "public access through private property sign". There was very little room to pull off, but we found a spot and went to sleep under the stars.

We woke just before sunrise and started our climb heading north from 11,300 feet. We eventually turned west and curved around the Star Mine private property. This seems to be a working mine so probably best to steer clear of it. We then began angling towards the grassy rib that would lead us to Lambertson.

The grassy rib was easy to climb and it didn't take long to reach the ridge. That put us at 13,000 feet and just north of Lambertson with only a few hundred vertical feet left to climb and a couple false summits.

Once on the ridge we went south over mostly grassy terrain. There was a tremendous view of Castle and many other Elk peaks off to our right. We quickly covered the short distance to Lambertson and were on our first summit of the day by 8:00 in the morning. The view of Italian Mountain from here was really impressive. It was a very majestic looking peak and different from the other Elk peaks I had previously climbed.

After a snack break we headed south to the connecting saddle with Italian. It wasn't far, probably not much more than 200 vertical feet down. We crossed the saddle and began climbing Italians north slope which would lead us to it's northwest ridge and then the summit. At a glance, it looked difficult, but our research from other trip reports said it went no harder than class 2 and I hoped this was true.

The north slope was rocky but easy to climb as Leo led the way. We then began curling around to the backside of Italian and were greeted by a steep, slanted slope. We needed to climb this to bypass a difficult section and gain the ridge proper. So we stayed on the west side of the ridge, slightly below the crest where the terrain was very blocky and loose. It seemed like everything we stepped on teetered or shifted under our feet. We moved very cautiously and tested every step as we climbed not wanting to fall down the steep slopes to the west. I would rate this section 2+ or even easy class 3, and not the class 2 I've seen others mention.

We eventually hit the upper section of the northwest ridge and were able to stay on the ridge crest to the summit. After a short scrambly section the climbing became much more mellow and there was even a faint trail at times. We covered the last bit to the summit quickly and were on our second summit of the day in just a few short hours. Yay! With perfect weather we had amazing views in all directions.

We stayed on the summit for quite a long time enjoying the views and solitude. We lucked out with a near windless, bluebird day. There were no other climbers out today as expected. The remoteness of these peaks keeps them off the radar for most. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay forever and began descending south off the summit along a very nice trail before turning left down Italians mostly gentle east ridge. Eventually, we came to a saddle and made another left before beelining downhill northeast back to the road. We completed the loop with an enjoyable walk back to our truck, passing several old mining ruins and a restored log cabin.