San Juan Annual Mountain Climbing Trip 2022

Dates climbing August 24-27, 2022 – Total of 9 new 13er summits in 4 days

Members – Corey and Brent

Intro – Brent and I have been doing yearly San Juan Mountain Climbing trips for 4 straight years and it’s always a highlight to the summer for me. Last year our buddy Luke joined us for a Ruby Basin adventure (I wrote about that trip in a previous report) but this year he was unfortunately unable to join. We had planned to return to the Weminuche and Vestal basin to try to get up Wham ridge. 4 years ago, we went in to Vestal basin for Wham and the hope of the other peaks but monsoon weather did not cooperate and we were stormed off Wham ridge at 12,700 feet by a freak 7AM desert storm. After the storm blew through, we were still able to salvage a Vestal summit via the standard route but weather didn’t allow for any of the other peaks. We still have eyes for Wham ridge and I especially want to get up Arrow and the Trinities as LiDaR had recently changed the Centennial list. However, the 2022 Monsoon season has been wonderful and productive compared to previous summers but this has added to the challenge of climbing peaks this year. The weather forecast for our days showed wonderful weather Wednesday and Saturday and then a monsoon moisture surge on Thursday/Friday so we aborted our Weminuche plans as we were afraid the two better days would be our backpacking days and the chance of getting shut out on Wham, Arrow and the Trinities again was not too appealing. So our plans turned to other goals that might fit the weather forecast better. I have a pipe dream goal of completing the 13ers in Colorado, so I have been hoping to complete the obstacle of the 5^th class 13ers and Brent has been asking me to climb Lizard Head for some time so we hatched a car camping trip plan instead that would hopefully include Coxcomb and Lizard Head on the better weather days. The plan was for the Middle Fork Cimarron peaks as much as weather allowed Wed -Fri and then hopefully a stab at Lizard Head on Saturday. With this plan in place, I left work in Eagle at 7PM on Tuesday, rushed to GJ to get Brent and we drove to Middle Cimarron drainage where we found camping just before the trailhead and were in the tent by midnight excited for the 4 days to come.

Day 1 - Peak 13206, Coxcomb and Redcliff

We woke up at 5 AM and were hiking under headlamps at 530AM up the mellow Middle Cimarron trail. Most people it seems climb Coxcomb from the West Cimarron drainage but it seemed like a good idea to car camp and try the other difficult peaks of Middle Cimarron on our three-day trip there, so we followed Cooper’s suggestion from his scrambles book on Coxcomb and planned it from middle Cimarron instead so we wouldn’t have to move camp. The hike up the valley is sublime, never steep and once Coxcomb comes into view you can quickly tell you are in a special place. I had looked forward to exploring the Cimarrons for some time. I was carrying both a 60 and 70m rope as we hoped to do the double rope rappel to the Coxcomb/Redcliff saddle. It’s a hair over 4 miles to the Coxcomb trail cutoff and we took this to the saddle between Coxcomb and peak 13206. I was a bit ahead of Brent on the steeper climb out of the valley so I dropped my pack and quickly jogged over to Peak 13206 which gave me a wonderful preview of the peaks to come.

I met Brent back in the saddle and we briefly descended on the trail into upper Wetterhorn basin to grass that allowed us to climb back up to the coxcomb standard route avoiding some talus. We roped up here and tackled the initial step into the alcove and then the chimney. I had heard the initial step was class 4. Maybe we just missed the easier climbing but it definitely felt like the first 10-15 feet was low 5^th class to us (wonder if something has changed or we just did something a bit different?). Once in the alcove the climbing is easy and we then took the leftward chimney up to the ridge proper and this was all very enjoyable 4^th class to maybe very low 5^th class as others have reported. The ridge walk of Coxcomb did not disappoint and it is such a unique peak. We quickly reached the notch and did the rappel and scampered up to the summit. It has to be one of the better summits I have been on, I think it may be my favorite 13er at this point. The approach is amazing, the climb just super fun, the ridge walk along the spine is so unique, then the rap was special. The double rappel rap station is very easy to find adjacent to the summit and we set up the rappel. The wind really spread our ropes out on the throws and I descended first and struggled for a while to get the rappel and ropes cleaned up but eventually got to the talus after the invigorating rap. Brent came second and did some shimmying of the rope up high to get the double fisherman knot over the lip to try to help with preventing catching the rope. We had read of previous people having trouble with this on this particular rappel. He came down, we fortunately pulled the ropes without any issues, and we were relieved that his moving of the knot (and maybe just some luck) allowed for an easy rope poll.

We cleaned up or mess of endless ropes and scampered up to Redcliff on a pleasure walk just enjoying coxcomb in the background. One can easily descend to Middle Cimarron from the saddle. There is a cliff band guarding the decent between the two peaks but a single gap in the cliffs right from the saddle allows for a talus gully followed by grassy decent back down to the Coxcomb trail. We were stoked to have the trip off to a great start! The day came out to be 15.5 miles total with close to 5000 ft of gain.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7705026779 for route beta

Day 2 – 13222B, 13340A, El Punto, Heisshorn

I had been almost more nervous for this day then the previous as I knew it would include a lot of exposed ropeless scrambling on peaks that had become somewhat notorious to me through previous readings on them in terms of loose and exposed scrambles. Thursday was set for monsoonal surge of moisture starting in afternoon so we woke up at 4AM and were off at 430AM back up the Middle Cimarron trail. Our hope was to get to Heisshorn but felt after 13340 a decent back to the valley seemed relatively easy on grassy slopes if weather forced us down early. After 2.1 miles we turned off on the Porphyry basin trail. This is an awesome trail to a great and it seems rarely visited grassy basin lined with craggy peaks. We worked up to the head end of the basin on grass until the craggy summit pyramid of 13222 came into view and started a classic San Juan scree ascent to the ridge paying our wilderness dues. Once at the ridge 13222 looks menacing. I had read on Furthermore’s previous trip report about a class 3 ledge system with a short class four section out on the west face rather than taking on the northwest ridge proper. This is what we did and I am glad as the northwest ridge looked hair raising. The scramble on the loose and complex terrain was plenty exciting as it was and required a lot of slow movement and attention to detail. After the short 10 foot forth class section, we were back on the northwest ridge for an easy class two finish to a difficult little scramble. We descended carefully taking turns due to rock fall hazard and made it back to the saddle.

Looking at 13340A from 13222 the obvious weakness is another talus/dirt gully up to the saddle between it’s northern unranked 13er so we descended back to the Porphyry basin then paid our second wilderness fee up to the saddle just west of 13340A on more classic San Juan scree. At the saddle there is a large fin that blocks easy access to the peak so we descended slightly back into the porphyry basin side and skirted the fin to the west and then walked up the easy ridge to the summit. This was a unique summit and the summit actually has a wave like appearance that seems like it is barely holding on. I reached out to just tap this rock with my hand from the summit cairn as standing on it seemed unwise (see photo below). From here the traverse to the peaks changes drastically as there is no longer much scree to deal with but mostly grassy walks to get to El Punto and Heisshorn with the spice of the summit blocks in between.

El Punto lived up to its reputation. I found the scramble of the summit block to be much less loose than I expected and shorter. The scrambling was really only about 50 total vertical feet, but the airy 10 foot ledge traverse from the false summit to the true summit was a wild experience and has to be one of the more airy spots I have been on the 13ers thus far. We took turns on the summit block and then retreated on actually a decent trail through the talus towards the Middle Cimarron pass trail and Heisshorn.

We arrived at Heisshorn saddle at 1030 AM and despite the monsoon forecast, weather was really good so we decided to give the scramble a go and ditched packs just above the saddle. Heisshorn lived up to its reputation. I would agree it was mostly class 3 but loose and required a lot of attention. It reminded me a lot of Capitol Peak. It had a bit of a knife edge ridge leading to the final summit pyramid. Mostly we stayed ridge proper initially dropping slightly to the right of the ridge if need be to avoid some obstacles but on the summit pyramid we bypassed a few difficulties on the left side of the ridge but you never really leave the ridge far at all which made for a dramatic and cool scramble with great views. The views of Coxcomb Wetterhorn etc were amazing and we were blessed to get all 4 summits in a day. We retreated down to the pass and down the valley back to the car arriving around 2PM when the rain started shortly after. Stats for this day 15.2 miles 5500 feet of elevation gain.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7705187118 for route beta

Day 3 – 13377 on a Rainy Day

Friday looked to be the wettest of the forecast days and it turned out to be just that. It was raining on our tent at 4AM and we woke up at 5AM to a drizzle at our camp. We were happy the plan was for easier walk ups and set out on the now familiar trail to the upper middle Cimarron basin. The trail really does collect the moisture and mud! We left the main trail about a quarter mile after the Coxcomb trail and headed for the obvious break in the cliffs that allowed access to 13377 and 13206 in the upper basin. Waking below Heisshorn was very cool into the upper basin. This was a wonderful grassy walk to the upper basin after the initial 4.25 miles of easy trail. We did a mild scree ascent to the southwest ridge of 13377 while it was raining the entire time. The view of Heisshorn from 13377 and Wetterhorn is worth the trip and the clouds on the day added to the grandeur of the peaks. We retreated back to the upper basin and Brent quickly added 13,206 since he had not grabbed it a few days prior on a grassy walk up while it continued to drizzle but fortunately never seemed threatening of lightening. We were amazed that we were able to get all 8 peaks that could be climbed from Middle Cimarron and felt blessed to have had success despite the monsoonal surge.

We were met with a mild hurdle on the decent when we got apparently a bit too close to the resident sheep in the area and their guard dog was not pleased and forced us to take a detour to avoid his wrath. After this mild scare that we were not expecting we walked back down the muddy trail to our car and quickly packed to head out to Montrose. A burger and fries in Montrose were incredible, we spread out our gear to dry in the Home Depot parking lot feeling like true dirt bag climbers and then drove to the Cross mountain trailhead just west of Lizard head pass. The moisture of the day was clearing out as forecasted and we set up camp across the highway in a dispersed camping spot with views of Lizard head. I was starting to get nervous! Stats for both peaks from Middle Cimarron trailhead was about 13 miles round trip ~4000ft gain.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7705194933 for route beta

Day 4 – Lizard Head Peak

Lizard Head has always been a bit of a dream of mine that seemed somewhat unrealistic. I am not what I would call a climber and I have probably only done true rock climbing a dozen or so times in my life (mostly with Brent and mostly 5.easy to 5.5). I have never climbed anything above 5.7 that I can recall. Brent had been requesting we climb Lizard Head for a few years and I always cautiously said I would definitely give it a go realizing it would really stretch my comfort level. However, I knew if I really were to have a chance eventually at the 13ers, Lizard head was a major obstacle I would have to overcome. I kept telling myself I would spend some time in the Eagle rock climbing gym just getting used to climbing a bit more before attempting it but this never came to fruition just due to the business of life. And… here we were camping with it in view. My sleep the night before was restless at best!

We had a few fears based on reading other trip reports. One was the cold of the shady route, so we were armed with extra layers and hand warmers. The other was having multiple groups on the climb as this just seems to complicate everything especially the risk of rock fall. We tried to balance an early start and freezing on the climb but also being the first on the mountain. So, we woke up at 430 quickly jumped in the jeep and drove across the highway and got to the trailhead with no one else there. Due to the cold of the morning (Jeep said 37 degrees) we decided to just eat breakfast and read for a bit but be ready to jump out and start hiking if another car arrived!

With the Saturday forecast being very favorable we were convinced other parties would be giving it a go but as it turned out we had the route and peak to ourselves which was a major blessing on the day. We started hiking at 530AM and the hike in we took very slow to just keep from sweating to avoid being wet and cold at the outset. I had never been on this hike to the base of Lizard Head but man what a place in the upper basin. Lizard head just looks so out of place and the Wilson group is amazing. I was amazed at how beautiful the area was and can’t wait to take my family there for a hike in the coming years as my boys get a bit bigger. We made the obvious ascent up the talus on the climber’s trail and to the base of the climb in about 2 hours and fortunately no one else was around and we were dry not having worked up a sweat at the leisurely pace. I flaked the rope put on my gear and then went around the corner to sit in the sun as he finished his prep. It’s just a special place. I was nervous but felt calm that if God was going to allow for the summit it would work out and Brent’s calming demeanor is really amazing.

He led the entire first pitch to the notch without a hiccup. It was cold in the shade but not as bad as we had anticipated. He arrived at the notch and called me up. He later told me he somewhat wished he would have stopped at the intermediate ledge belay station to have a mild mental break and reacquire some of his gear, sounds like he was getting a bit run out near the notch. Regardless he was a rockstar all day and I am so blessed to have him to do these things with. I must admit I struggled on the climb. I expected this with my overall little true climbing experience and I knew continuous 5.7-5.8 climbing would be difficult. It wasn’t pretty, there was some floundering, also my first fall on a rope occurred on the pitch. Brent just continued to coax me on however, and eventually I found my way to the airy notch somewhat in disbelief of where we were standing.

We decided to belay Brent across the loose class 3 second pitch from the notch and he quickly called me up. This pitch was less exposed than I expected but the loose talus was so hard to keep from sending down the wall especially with a rope. I can see why having multiple parties would be downright dangerous as despite all efforts it seems like a few rocks still would make their way over the ledge.

Pitch 3 was more of the same. Brent being a boss and me floundering about. Lower pitch three was a bit wet and I really struggled on the 5.8+ bulge crux. Brent said I was stuck for just a few minutes but man it felt like a lot longer to me and I had a slight moment where I wondered if I would have to send Brent to the summit without me. Fortunately, I was able to inch my way up the crux and gave a sigh of relief when I popped over the bulge. The final climbing on pitch 3 was really enjoyable. Back to more what seemed to be my 5.3-5.6 happy zone! I high fived Brent again in disbelief of where I was standing and he belayed me to the summit where I hollered. He then scampered to the summit and it truly is one of the more rewarding places I have been in the mountains. I felt blessed to be there and just in awe of Brent for his skills and ability and so thankful to be in this place with him. The decent was certainly still on my mind but the Wilson group and overall views from the summit was an unbelievable experience.

We then made our way to the chains and rappel station and the enjoyable rap of pitch 3. I had been somewhat dreading down climbing pitch 2 and the loose class three and the short class 4 exposed step down to the notch. We decided to stow the rope rather then try to belay down as protection was miserable and rockfall with the rope seemed potentially even worse after belaying up pitch two on the ascent. So we just took our time testing every rock and hold and taking turns to avoid rock fall hazard and we eventually dropped into the notch and clipped in to the anchor. The last class four step into the notch is airy but solid, similar to the El Punto summit traverse really!

We added a new strand of webbing to the anchor (it wasn’t nearly the rats nest I had seen in previous reports) and the rappel of pitch one was awesome! it was an amazing experience to drop down to the ground after a successful climb of this amazing peak. No way I get there without Brent! Thanks bud and I will never forget that experience!! I think we were on the climbing portion for about 5 hours and we took our merry time on the stroll out with numerous breaks and the feeling of elation after an amazing day on an amazing peak. The whole day out was about ~9 hours.

Final Thoughts

Middle Cimmaron is a special San Juan Valley. The peaks are wild and rarely visited. Several of the registers had no sign ins since August of 2021. They are beautiful and require your attention and don’t come easily.

With the blessing of standing on Lizard Head I have now stood on the summit of all the class 5 13ers! (All with and in thanks to Brent over the past 4 years) I have no clue if I will ever be blessed enough with long term health and a life that lets me actually finish the 13ers but I intend to keep picking off 20-30 a year and who knows in a decade maybe it will happen. Even if it doesn’t happen, the adventures I have had so far on Colorado’s 13ers have been incredible and given memories for a lifetime. In regards to finishing the 13ers… without Brent getting me up Lizard Head that long term goal wouldn’t be an option either way. Thanks again Brent!

Seeing old pitons on a climb was new to me and it just made me think so much of the pioneers of the past and how blessed I was to be following somewhat in their footsteps. I got so interested reading about the initial climb of Lizard Head. I absolutely loved this read shortly after our climb about Elingwood's account of the first summit. http://www.gibell.net/trip_reports/EllingwoodLizardHead.html To think of them climbing this peak 100 years ago, forging into the unknown with limited gear is mind boggling to me. His account is wild. It seems like his initial route is somewhat debated but having the climb fresh in my mind it seemed his description was very similar to what we climbed. What true adventurers!

Thank you to my wife, Kim, and boys, Bryce and Nolan, who allow for these adventures. I’m always so stoked to get home and see them after these trips!

Overall, it was an amazing trip and one I won’t soon forget, God blessed our entire trip and I am in awe at his creative masterpiece! I am also so thankful for his protection on these trips.