Whitecross Mountain

I did this climb while at the fall gathering. I had always wanted to attend one of these and finally did. I didn't make it out there until Saturday evening, but had a good time hanging by the fire, meeting lots of nice people and seeing a few familiar faces. Big thanks to everyone that made this event happen! I will try and make it again next year.

It was 5 years ago to the weekend that I had first ventured to Lake City for it's 5 14ers. That had been a big weekend, and I remember it fondly with it being just one weekend before my unofficial finisher on Mt Wilson. I had much less ambitious plans for this weekend with just Whitecross in mind.

Day of Climb: Sunday, October 6th 2024

Peak: Whitecross Mountain

Trailhead: Silver Creek/Grizzly Gulch

Mileage and Elevation Gain: 7 miles rt and 3095 feet of gain.

My dog Leo and I awoke around 6 at the Mill Creek Campground. This was later then I had planned. We had a good secluded spot, but unfortunately, I didn't sleep much. I had forgotten to pack my sleeping bag, so we were forced to sleep uncomfortably in my truck cab using a couple cheap fleece blankets I had picked up in Fairplay for some warmth. At least we didn't have bear trouble as others did the night before.

We slowly got ready and set out on the short drive to the Silver Creek/Grizzly Gulch trailhead to start our climb. The shelf road was rougher than I had remembered but no problem in my truck. We were going to follow the Handies East Slope route to near the saddle with Whitecross and then head north up the ridge to Whitecross.

We hit the trail just after first light and it started out very pleasant. Soon after the bridge crossing though we hit a series of those erosion-blocking timber steps. With bad hips making steps very uncomfortable for me, and the ibuprofen yet to kick in, this was the crux of the route for me. These steps continued on and off until above treeline. CFI did a magnificent job on them and it was a beautiful trail. I would've picked a different route had I known this though.

We continued on, and in time, things got easier as the ibuprofen started doing it's job. The view of Handies became more and more impressive the higher we traveled. The single track was exceptionally maintained and easy to follow. It was a beautiful hike even though wildflower season had long past, and we couldn't have asked for better weather. It appeared that we had the mountain to ourselves and that was the icing on the cake.

As we neared treeline we got our first good look at Whitecross off to the right. I suppose, one could at any time leave the trail and climb the steep, grassy south slopes of Whitecross to it's summit block. However, this did not sound enjoyable to my legs so we continued up the nice trail enjoying the views of Handies. My plan was to wait to the last possible moment and cut to the ridge just before the saddle. As much as I disliked the timber steps, I still preferred this excellent trail over a steep ascent.

At around 12,400' the trail turned sharply north towards Whitecross for a bit and then angled back left near 12,600'. It was here, we left the comforts of the nice single track and started sidehilling towards the colorful SW ridge of Whitecross. We started up a nice grassy hill and then contoured across a steepish scree slope. This led us up a short gully and just like that, we were on the ridge.

We reached the ridge at 13,000' and the views were fantastic. With just over 500' to go we were quickly on our way though. The route finding was easy for us to navigate on this class 2 ridge with no difficulties. Occasionally, there were boulders to go around and at times there was even a climbers trail to follow. The contrast between the clear blue skies and colorful ridge made this a picturesque ridge run.

The rocky ridge eventually ended at the base of a moderately steep grassy slope. This was a pleasant surprise that took us to the base of the first of 2 summit blocks. These were guarded by a short cliff band that we easily passed through revealing the first, and lower, of the two summit blocks. It's monolith like spires were easily bypassed to the left on a ramp leading to the saddle in-between the duel summits.

The final summit block looked more imposing than the first, but it was nothing more than a short class 2 scramble. We quickly found it's weakness and made our way to the top. We were thrilled to summit and it was such a neat little peak. It was a 3.72 mile trek. The summit views of course were magnificent. I feel the San Juans never disappoint in that category.

After taking a bunch of photos and eating lunch we were ready to descend. We chose a slightly different descent route though and left the ridge early, on an alluring grassy slope. It was steep as heck, but an express route back to the trail far below in the basin. We descended 1400' in short order and hit the trail at 12100'. In most cases though, I probably wouldn't recommend it and would suggest to just follow the ascent route back down the ridge. It worked well for us though as we were looking to quickly get down. We still had a long drive back to Fort Collins ahead of us. Overall, this is a great peak that all should do. It's very dog friendly as well!