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13,028, Pico Aislado, and Milwaukee - class 2 route
13,028, Pico Aislado, and Milwaukee - class 2 route
Climb date – 6/23/24
Members – Will E and Corey
Stats – 19.98 miles, 7,792 feet of elevation via Deadman Gulch
Background
I wasn’t planning on posting this trip report as most of this information is already out there in conditions reports or trip reports. Sbenfield has an amazing and heart felt report on most of this route here Pico Aislado Trip Report 01/11/2024 | 14ers.com. With the mini report option now available, I just wanted to add a bit of info to his report by adding Milwaukee with the first 2 peaks while keeping the entire route at class 2. Also, there is nothing wrong with a bit more Sangre mountain porn to look at.
Milwaukee and Pico are usually done from Music pass with a lot of exposed 3rd and 4th class and some fatalities have occurred on this route, so this class 2 option is a significantly different day then the “standard” routes for these three peaks.
I did this climb with the man, the myth, the legend Will E of this site (frozen 14er finisher), who I fortunately met last year on a group climb of the Culebra ranch Bicentennials, and I have had the good fortune of spending several days in the hills with him since that time. When I mentioned doing these peaks all class 2 to Will, he was unaware of this option so another mini report could be helpful with the GPX and map attached. Hope this is helpful to some.
The Climb
See Sbenfields report for great details on the trailhead, initial route, when to cut up to 13,028 and the traverse to Pico. I will say the bushwack we felt was on par with many other 13er bushwacks and nothing of significant note. It had the typical downed trees and was overgrown with some stream crossings, but there was a better than I anticipated trail to follow the entire way into the upper drainage.
We saw a smaller elk herd at about 12,000 feet on our ascent of 13,028 and I think 13,028 has some of my favorite views on any 13er! The views to the Crestones and over to Pico in the heart of the Sangre were one of the highlights of my summer. Once we summitted Pico we descended back down the class 2 gully and contoured around into the head end of the Deadman drainage circling as high as we could on grass to the upper basin between Pico and Milwaukee. From here a simple class two talus and grassy climb can be used to easily summit Milwaukee with amazing views of Pico the entire climb.
After enjoying the amazing views of Pico and the Crestones, we dropped back into upper Deadman drainage until we found the trail and marched out to the car.
A WORD OF CAUTION – there is no exposure on this route, but the mosquitoes were other worldly. So, your exposure to West Nile is legit!!! Sbenfield mentions the severity of the mosquitos in the Deadman drainage, but Will and I did not heed the warning! I have spent my entire life in Colorado and always felt people were just whining when I heard tales of terrible mosquitos. The Deadman mosquitoes are a different breed. They are relentless, on the hike out we would be swarmed by ~50 at a time and they would attack even when moving at a good clip. We had no spray and the hike out was a complete battle. I resorted to my winter gear and balaclava while Will was a boss and just took it like a champ. HEED THIS WARNING – THE DEADMAN MOSQUITOS ARE NOT TO BE TRIFLED WITH! BRING DEET, BRING LAYERS, BRING A SHOTGUN!!! Mercifully while trudging through the bushwack and being swarmed by mosquitos on the way back, I looked down and found an old plastic bottle (I am convinced placed miraculously by God himself) that was a natural remedy mosquito repellent. It was from Crestone, of course, but smelled of lemongrass and gave us some relief from the mosquitos on the final miles. I would highly encourage anyone that does this route - heed the Deadman mosquito warning! You have been warned…
Sangre Mountain Porn
Some of the bushwack and stream crossings on the lower Deadman approachHigher up on the trail above the bushwack difficulties a fairly decent trail is here and better than we expectedBeautiful meadow and aspens on the way up the ridge to 13,028A couple of the elk crossing the snow that we bumped into high up on 13,028's ridgeNearing the Summit of 13,028, Pico looks impressive but the gully in the middle of the face allows for second class climbing, Music Mountain is just right of center, Milwaukee is hiding behind PicoNearing the summit of 13,028 - views of the Crestones were incredible13,028 summit shot with WillWill working up the class 2 gully on Pico between it and 13,028Will on the last few steps to Pico's summitMe on Pico's summitAfter the decent of the class 2 gully on Pico and wrapping beneath the difficulties of Pico in upper Deadman basinWill looking at our route up Milwaukee with Pico on the left sideWill on the summit if Milwaukee with Pico looking amazing behind himCrestones and Humbolt from MilwaukeeIn full on battle mode with the mosquitos, layering up despite the heat but holding up the mosquito repellant I somehow found in the deep grass on the hike out
I love you Kim, Bryce, and Nolan! Thank you Sbenfield for your initial report on this approach to these peaks!
My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):
Joseph Thompson and I did these (plus 12,852) from Deadman and agree it's probably the way to go for these, especially if doing them by themselves. If done from Music Pass it's a lot of re-gain back over Milwaukee and Music passes, and the gully to get down into Cottonwood Creek looked miserable. Still a big day from Deadman but very straightforward. As for Pico's gully it's not that bad - mostly Class 2+ and a little Class 3 - but we did the route in reverse, starting with Milwaukee, so we went up it. It'd certainly be more difficult going down. For what it's worth I agree with Furthermore's assessment that it's not as spectacular as the oft-gushing praise makes it seem so you didn't really miss much.
@will_E - any chance you could post a photo of your one arm with the 100 skeeter bites! Still have no clue how you didn't get west nile! Can't wait for our next outing together!
@tefensmom - Hilarious! That is an amazing mosquito mask that guy has! Who knows, it seems like the skeeters were extra bad in most of the Sangre this year. Seems like conditions were perfect for them with decent snow then a real rapid warm up. However, if I was going back into the Deadman I would add that dude's homemade mosquito mask to my shotgun arsenal! Don't let the skeeters scar anyone either though as the Deadman is worth the trek. Just don't be like Will and I and be completely unprepared.
@supranihilest - Yeah it really seems like the Deadman is getting some traction for these peaks and in my opinion seems like the way to go. It's part of why I added the mini to get more info out there on the route Sbenfield wrote up so nicely. Your description of the Pico climb doesn't seem to fit with most of the "class 4" descriptions I see. You must have really thread the needle! Regardless, if I hear of a route that a fellow climber fell to their death on, and I can put in some sweat equity and bypass the exposure I'll take that every time. Plenty of other peaks on the 13ers list that require exposure. I'm pretty lame though I love me a nice grassy walk up!
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