Peak Ten 13,494'

Peak Eight 13,252'

September 04, 2022

~22.9 miles, ~8,500 gain

TH: Hunchback Pass (4WD mandatory) ~6.5-7 hours from Denver

Max difficulty: Class 4

Finally, good splitter bluebird weather mixed with a semi-last minute decision had me driving off towards Creed Saturday mid-day. Minus a short winter excursion 5 years ago, it's been almost 10 years since I wandered around the heart of the Weminuche Wilderness in the summer – I was very excited to return. Despite the holiday weekend, traffic wasn't too terrible; however, I'm glad I wasn't trying to find a camping spot as most of them were taken.

The road was rough. I don't remember the 4WD road up and over Timber Hill from Rio Grand Reservoir being as rocky or parts of the upper portion of the Beartown 4WD road being as rough as they were. Maybe I was a little more conscious since I just had a sway bar bracket re-welded back on...... Also, the Rio Grande river crossing is much more mellow in September than my late June ford many moons ago. I arrived at the trailhead around 7 PM and had to park further up the road due to the limited parking being occupied. It took a little work to level the car out so I could sleep in it.

The alarm went off at 3:30 AM and I was strolling down the Kite Lake Road to the Hunchback Pass Trailhead by 3:50 AM. Knowing I had a long day ahead, I casually sauntered up and over Hunchback Pass. The beta I wrote down for locating the Stormy Gulch Trail was still excellent (https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=13123); however, the turn-off was challenging in the dark. I cursed and wandered around for 15 minutes bushwhacking, trying to locate the overgrown trail. Once on track on the trail, I made better progress up Stormy Gulch – not as nasty as some recently have made it sound. If a cup of coffee wasn't enough to wake me up, a lovely, super wet willow bushwhack completed the job. I was solidly soaked before I started up the alluvial talus field toward Silex Lake.

Before reaching Silex Lake proper, I stayed in the basin's northern, more mellow edge as I bounded along talus toward the Peak Nine/Peak Eight-Storm King saddle. The morning alpine glow on Storm King was fantastic. Once I reached the saddle, I traversed southwest towards a red talus-filled couloir on Peak Eight's north face. The rock in the couloir was loose, so instead, I scrambled up a rock rib on the right side of the couloir, minor class 3, with surprisingly sound rock.

I reached a notch at the top of the couloir and proceeded west up Peak Eight's east ridge proper. The scrambling was engaging with acceptable quality rock. At a false summit, I continued scrambling west along a surprisingly exposed ridge to the true western summit, where I arrived around 7:50 AM with fantastic views. I returned to the notch at the top of the couloir and then descended loose talus/scree south towards the sizable un-named lake south of Peak Eight. I skirted on loose talus around the lake's west side, saving on some extra elevation gain.

Grass mixed with talus guided me southward along the western edge of the Leviathan amphitheater. The more I proceeded south, the more of a disheartening talus hop my stroll became. Never-ending talus travel finally led me to the saddle west of Leviathan Peak where the views of Jagged are impressive. I was surprised I didn't see a Labor Day weekend party attempting Jagged.

After a quick break, I continued southward around Jagged's eastern flanks. Descending towards Sunlight Creek, I found perhaps one of the neatest perched lakes extruding from an alpine peninsula. Too bad I didn't get a better photo. Being stubborn, I didn't want to lose too much elevation heading toward Sunlight Creek and tried circumnavigating Jagged's southeast face cliffs westward. I found a sinuous path through exposed grass ledges and cliff bands (class 4). Not recommended and it would have been better if I just descended the extra 300 feet into the grassy valley below. Feeling a little tired, I hung my pack on a rock and started ascending Peak Ten's southeast face.

The first obstacle to Peak Ten was a sizable cliff band between ~11,800-12,000'. I found a weakness in a cliff band and proceeded up some chossy but short-lived class 3 scrambling. Previous reports indicate a key white rock. Some call it the "White Alligator" or "White Whale." To me, it looks more like a "White Wolf" head. Once at the White Wolf or Anteater's base, I passed below the left side of the rock (some are taking the right side up some pebble-covered slab which doesn't look as easy or enjoyable) and continued up terraced grass ledges mixed between white cliffs. Describing an exact route through this terrain would be nearly impossible to follow.

I kept the scrambling to a minimum to the summit ridge with just a few short sections of class 3 – and without a doubt, more challenging scrambling could be found – to the final summit block. I hadn't really read the beta for the easiest path up the summit block and ended up climbing the northeast side of the block, which was less exposed but had more challenging climbing. The easiest way up the summit block is along the exposed west ridge up a series of steps. I arrived on the exposed summit around 11:10 AM. The views of the Chicago Basin 14ers, Ruby Basin 13ers, and Jagged were phenomenal.

By far, the day's crux was the descent off Peak Ten. The route finding downward was undoubtedly more challenging than on my ascent. With some work, I discovered my way downward but continuously found more challenging scrambling. I should have observed key features on my climb a little better – either way, the climbing was still fun.

Once back on grassy terrain in the upper basin above Sunlight Creek, I strolled eastward and quickly located the surprisingly decent trail down the Sunlight Creek Basin. Knowing that the trail cuts significantly south before heading back north near Vallecito Creek, I departed the Sunlight Basin Trail and bushwhacked directly east. I crossed Vallecito Creek and intersected the Vallecito Trail; I wouldn't want to complete that river crossing in early summer. After intersecting the Vallecito Trail, I thoroughly enjoyed the graces of such a well-traveled path for the last 7.5 miles back to the car, especially after all the heinous off-trail talus travel. I'll admit, however, that the final 1,000 feet of gain back over Hunchback Pass had me questioning my decision to day trip these peaks.

A little tired, I arrived back at the car at 5:00 PM. The Weminuche never disappoints and these two new LiDAR 13ers are a fantastic addition to the list. After so many years, it's great to return to the heart of one of the finest places in Colorado.