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Peak(s)  Unnamed 13541  -  13,541 feet
Twining Peak  -  13,721 feet
Unnamed 13556  -  13,556 feet
Unnamed 13006  -  13,006 feet
Geissler Mountain East  -  13,381 feet
Geissler Mountain West  -  13,308 feet
Date Posted  07/02/2023
Date Climbed   07/01/2023
Author  daway8
Additional Members   cloudkicker
 6 Peak Twining Geissler Loop   

There are already several great trip reports covering this terrific 6 ranked 13ers loop (see links below) so this is going to be a beta-lite report and even picture-lite report compared to my normal TR's. My purpose in writing this is just to give my own take on this sweet linkup and give a teaser for folks who get a kick out of gratuitous scrambling like I do - for more detailed descriptions of the route see the other reports linked.

Starting trailhead: Independence Pass

Ending trailhead: Independence Lake trailhead (thanks to carpooling!)

Peak order: UN13,500, Twining, UN13,545 (now 13,556), UN13,001, Geissler Mtn East & Geissler Mtn West (summary copied from CloudKicker's CR).

Stats: 9.5mi 4,350ft gain (according to my GAIA). Yes, that's not bad at all for 6 ranked 13ers!!! (Note that 13,545 is Lidar ranked and doesn't yet show up as ranked on this site...)

Team: Started solo but got joined at the first peak by CloudKicker and Keith (oops, forgot his screen name so can't link him - same Keith I encountered on my Antero Spring Climb) and teamed up.

Total time: 10hrs 43min. I think the other guys started a half hour or so later than me so their time is shorter. See end for my breakdown of times.


22109_19
Looking back over the first part of the trek from Twining to 13,545


Trip Reports

There is an excellent report by supranihilest called The Adventures of Lost Man and Mountain Boy that covers this route and even adds on Igloo to make a 7th peak (that's just getting sadistic if you ask me, lol - each to their own...).

Brad McQueen (bmcqueen) also did a great TR called Geissler "Twinning" - Indy Pass 13er Loop where he did a more reasonable 5 peaks (this was my original plan until CloudKicker and Keith showed up). His route cleverly does not require a carpool or elevation regain to get back to Indy Pass.

Finally, bangerth has a simpler but more painful version of Brad's loop but with the need to hike up the road 500' or so in elevation to Indy Pass at the end of the day. Easy navigation but grueling end of day elevation addition. This TR is called Why do a 14er if you can do five 13ers?


UN13,500

Normally I would have a section with some notes about the trailhead but in this case it's Independence Pass, so... not a lot to say (lots of parking, lots of tourists and a few bathrooms).

Unnamed 13,500 was a nice little treat just off of Indy Pass - this has some fun little gratuitous class 3 scrambling that you can totally avoid if you want but is perfect for some "gumby epic'ing on 2-move wonders" which made me think of the total blast I had back in 2020 with Geo on the Ruby to Grays Traverse. This 13,500 optional scrambling is not worth the time for hard core climbers but a fun little treat for anyone who wants an easy outdoor playground very close to a paved trailhead. Even has a decent trail up at least part of the ridge.

Below are several photos for the epic gumby crowd - if you're a more serious climber skip to the next section header...

22109_04
Path up to 13,500 - didn't spot a path from Indy Pass (but might have missed it in the dark) but eventually found this good trail on the ridge though it doesn't go all the way
22109_05
Gratuitous playground - normal people bypass at class 2 on the left. Epic Gumby folks go play...
22109_06
I'm a sucker for these little windows, even when my ice axe gets stuck going through, lol
22109_07
More totally needless but totally fun optional detours...
22109_01
There was absolutely no point at all in going up here except that it was there!! Photo Credit: CloudKicker


Twining to 13,545 to saddle

After Twining things step up a notch. The scrambling is a little less optional though you can still choose easier or "fun-er" lines. A few examples below before getting to the highlight in the next section...

22109_08
Keith pondering following my fun little descent before opting to his left instead.
22109_09
Fun little rib that I went right up (easily bypassed to the right if you want to be more boring...)
22109_10
Looking back toward Twining with CloudKicker and Keith moving along the ridge.
22109_02
Me at the top of the rib. Photo Credit: CloudKicker
22109_11
CloudKicker showing a sweet slab on descent off 13,545 (pay no attention to Keith's boring bypass, lol)


Unnamed 13,001 - The Hidden Gem

At 13,001 this is the lowest 13er in Colorado but it's ranked and has some truly epic scrambling opportunities beyond the level of the epic gumby stuff that has mostly been described so far. You can still, if you just want to be some boring, uncreative person who lamely walks up the easiest route they can find on a peak because they don't want to do anything gratuitous or an ounce of extra work needed to get the check box marked, probably do this one at class 3 perhaps - maybe even easier if you looked around and tried (I made absolutely no such effort).

But come on, seriously?!?! How can you look at stuff like this peak offers and not start to drool and gaze in wide-eyed wonder?? I'm only going to offer a few teaser photos because I uncharacteristically had my camera in my pocket during some of the most epic class 5 terrain (partly because I had split off from the other 2 and didn't want to leave them waiting for too long). I'm also not putting in any real route guidance like I typically do - this is just a big freaking playground but goes well beyond the trivial class 3 of PT13,500.


22109_12
Coming up towards 13,001 from the valley - note the fun before the summit.


We skipped the 13k points between 13,545 and 13,001 that don't show up on any of the lists here - I was sort of leaning towards going over them rather than dropping into the valley and regaining but I capitulated to the others after being convinced by them to add this peak to my original 5 peak plan (see GPX tracks for route).

There are so many different options here - some really sweet cracks (almost went up some epic looking ones but with old floppy boots and a huge pack I backed off) - some stuff here would maybe be worth carrying climbing shoes - in fact I just might one day come back with climbing shoes solely to do some of these really sweet features!

22109_13
Let the drooling begin - oh there are so many gratuitous ways to get up thing thing!!!
22109_14
The huge mutant chimney crack I mentioned in my CR - a little too tight for my pack/boots but looked doable.
22109_15
Hidden passages start to reveal themselves as you go up in...
22109_16
Drop the map and go to town baby!!! So many options!
22109_17
Just freaking wow! But do beware of the lichen...

After splitting from the other two who saw my taste in scrambles was a little more spicy than what they were currently in the mood for I ended up cliffing out on my first attempted path and then going around the corner on a wickedly small ledge system where I had to do a crazy yoga-like spread knee squat to squeeze under an overhang without falling off the tiny ledge. Then I did some full body stemming (not sure if that's an actual climbing term, but climbing folks should get the gist...) up a tight gully.

I think I occasionally violated (or at least pushed to the limit) the "don't climb up what you can't climb down" adage but I guess I was just feeling frisky that day and maybe slightly emboldened knowing there were a couple guys in shouting distance who might have been able to spot for me if needed. I stayed within the limits of my climbing ability and only took solid, tested holds, but I'll admit the line between "good solid fun" and "very engaging SAR report" was starting to get a little blurry.

My reaction after finally topping out (at what was unfortunately still a good ways away from the summit...) is perfectly summed up in this classic reaction from the boy near the end of The Incredibles - if you look up the sound clip online you'll hear basically what I sounded like after joining up with the other two:

22109_18
My reaction after getting up some spicy class 5 stuff that was a SAR report waiting to be written...


You'll notice I don't even mention the Geisslers - after the epic-ness of the mostly gratuitous scrambling up 13,001 (pretty sure you could find class 3 options if you wanted to) those were mostly just there to rack up the peak count and be able to report an impressive 6 peak day - check the TR's listed at top if you want more detail on those...

So overall, this was a very grueling day, despite the comparatively low milage and elevation gain, based simply on all the ups and downs and the sometimes mandatory, sometimes gratuitous scrambling. I don't regret any of the optional scrambling I added to this long day (despite some groaning on the Geisslers...). In fact, for those who like scrambling up fun features, 13,001 - specifically the ridge leading up to it from the saddle (see GPX tracks) is worth it even as a stand-alone peak in my opinion, but why not add some more easy peaks if you're into that kind of thing?


My Times

4:45am start solo from Indy Pass

~6:30ish On 13,500 with CloudKicker and Keith

7:15am Twining Summit

8:33am 13,545 summit

10:41am 13,001 summit (after much gratuitous but epic scrambling)

12:40pm Geissler East

1:50pm Geissler West (wouldn't probably normally take this long but I was really dragging at this point...)

3:28pm At Independence Lake Trailhead where CloudKicker had left his vehicle and carpooled us back up to Indy Pass (THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!)


My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):




Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18


Comments or Questions
Camden7
User
Great Loop!
7/4/2023 8:36pm
Looks like you had a great time up there, congrats on a whole lot of summits. I did this today with my parents after the Billy yesterday. We also enjoyed lots of unnecessary scrambling, but made the Giesslers more interesting by climbing the north ridge of East Giessler from Lost Man Lake. More class 3/4, much of it optional, and super fun.

We wondered who those footprints were from, now we know!

Be safe out there!


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