Honestly, not much more can be said than what “pgres “ (8/2021) has already said. But, this might be just a fun report to reiterate and echo fully the details reported past!

The way Rob and I met was by design; and although I had planned to initially hit this traverse solo on a Wetterhorn >> Matterhorn, and Uncompaghre one push during my finisher week of the 58, the weather had caused the Traverse to be left uncompleted. It was cold and dark; with rain in the forecast on the day I had planned, so I decided that safety and completing the bigger mission was more important.

Thus, an opportunity was born-for me and Rob to work on this objective.

And boy oh boy am I glad I didn’t do this solo!

The climb starts below the prow; an easily identifiable formation below the summit. There is a faint trail leading to the top of the ridge to follow.

This portion is a warm up for the rest of your day- loose, shifty, unpredictable terrain. The slope down to get to the ridge is sandy with some loose gravel coating the rocks. Take care until attaining the ridge.

Once on the ridge, the first half until the saddle (about the halfway point between peaks; the lowest point on the ridge), is a fun scramble. The rock is loose, but no crazy exposure or moves to worry about. We stayed ridge proper for most of this portion, scrambling sometimes north or south around anything sketchy if necessary. Not knowing if a tower had a sheer drop on the other side, we explored to the top of most towers, only a few did we have to briefly lose the ridge and skirt around.

Once you hit the saddle, if you weren’t already having a ton of fun testing every hold twice, and then testing again, you are in for a real treat.

The loosest terrain yet lies ahead.

Crux 1 and 2 are the tallest towers that remain ahead of you. At Tower 1, remain on the south slope. There is no real way to describe the lack of bench to traverse, but using your best judgement, traverse across the south side on the flattest angle you can tiptoe on. Do not drop too low. We were probably 30 feet below the ridge, dropping a little lower to reach the gully.

The gully separates the two cruxes.

Climb to the top of the loose gully, handholds are found on both sides, as footing is as solid as sand.Once at the top, climb on the north side of crux 2 for a short distance, 30-40ft. There is another gully, which you should climb up to briefly attain the ridge. Once here, scoot onto the south side of crux 2. We stayed as high as possible here. But, we had to downclimb as we approached the choss pile. This down climb section was just pure insidious. The rock/scree is about as trustworthy as gas station sushi. Tread lightly friends.

At the pile of choss, we stayed low and still south. Beyond it, there is a small saddle, with the next obstacle being a tower fondly called Disappointment Mound. We scampered up the ridge, took the top of the mound, found that there an unfortunate loss of gain on the other side. But no worries, after coming through the mess of janky undependable rock, a little loss of gain is but a trifle. With the summit ahead, downclimb Disappointment and then run up the remainder of the climb to gain the summit!

The hero of the day was Rob- his eyes on the route and his patience were my reins. So thankful for him!More impressively, he put up with my dumb humor and stupid energy for the morning. THAT might be more of a feat than the success of the Traverse. Also, Rob did the REAL Matterhorn a year ago today! Super special anniversary!

Napkin version: Not for the faint of heart. Be. Patient. It’s loose. All of it. Nothing is solid. Trust nothing. Think the Criminal Minds of rock.The Elks seem like granite compared to this. If it seems spicier than Class 4, keep looking for a climbable way forward, don’t force anything.