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Pretty awesome peak! West Eolus has 299.475 feet of prominence and is only ~7.62 mm (a stack of 5 pennies) shy of being ranked. Boggy’s beta for this peak is spot on.
Some anchor notes for rappels as of 7/30/25: P1/R3 has a slung horn (new sling) and a slung choke stone P2/R2 has 3 bomber looking nuts and a new sling P3/R1 has a new sling around the boulder, a solid nut, and a solid pink tricam (always pink lol)
We used a single 70m rope and didn’t have any issues with it getting stuck. R2 to the top of P1 is almost exactly 35m. We were also able to pull the R2 rope from the top of P1 instead of around the corner. A set of double ropes should probably be pulled around the corner as Boggy instructs.
We found the crux off width to be pretty tricky! We don’t climb off width very often and only climb moderates. I initially couldn’t find a way up but my dad saved the day and somehow wriggled up. We didn’t have a #4 cam but it would’ve been nice as we wouldn’t have had to reach so far into the off width to place it. I ended up using a cam as an aid handhold.
Not a lot of warm fuzzies on the summit block as it’s a crumbling piece of granite that would deposit you at the bottom of the cliff if it so desired. One could belay it if they really wanted to.
All three pitches generally protected really well and rockfall was manageable as all of the anchors/belays are offset left to right. The most dangerous parts were probably the summit block and the class 2+ ledge to access the climb.
Overall an excellent San Juan adventure!
My dad above the crux off width. Notice the wacko cam I somehow placed to the right.Me on the summitMy dad on the summitLooking down P1My dad rappelling P1/R3
My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):
A stack of 5 pennies really illustrates the margin here. Look at your foot on the actual summit. Did a LiDAR pass (I think there were 2) grace the few square inches of that point that are within 7.6 mm of the top? With horizontal accuracy of +/- 1 sq. meter (1,550 sq. inches), I submit it did not. lol
The odds are extremely in favor of ranking it. EDIT - I had AI calculate the probabilities (because ew) given the stated params and a very generous estimate of 16 sq. in for the base of the cone that is within 7.6 vert mm of the apex. Probability of a miss is 98.97% for a single pass and 97.95% over two passes.
Keep in mind the same error exists for the elevation of the exact low point of the saddle - if the LiDAR hit a meter further in either direction it would reduce prominence slightly as well!
The probability of LiDAR hitting the exact point in space for the summit or saddle of any peak is almost nil. But the probability of hitting a point within a given vertical distance of that exact point depends on the specific terrain for every summit/saddle.
For most LiDAR-ranked peaks, it's irrelevant. For West Eolus it's critical. Whereas the summit can be represented by a tiny cone with dimensions smaller than the numbers I gave above, the saddle with Eolus is relatively long, narrow, but not a knife edge. So the probability of a LiDAR hit very close to the saddle elevation is far greater than for the summit.
Things get interesting here because the LiDAR return could be lower or higher than the actual saddle. If higher, that increases the probability of being ranked, and if lower, decreases.
I'd guess for W Eolus specifically, the likelihood of sampling the summit by way less than 7.6 mm negates the error at the saddle (though it could add or subtract from prominence).
Certainly seems like the peak is ranked or will at least be debated over rank unless something changes the measurements. I am still very fascinated by how people have reported a class 4 route but can’t recall the details of the route. For you people that have been up it recently and looking around while up there do you think this is the easiest route or is there still a hidden stiff class 4 route in there? It’s just so weird people have reported doing it 4th class…
Corey
I agree, "West Eolus" should be ranked. The margin is so, so small that I think it should be promoted purely err on the side of caution. It's just too close, and there's too much room for error, to say with certainty whether it truly is or truly is not. Anyone saying "I want to climb all of X," where X is likely the ranked thirteeners, should climb it so there is zero question whether they did or did not climb them all. Hopefully further measurements make my opinion into fact.
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