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Partner: Andy Grauch Trailhead: Willowbrook TH Summits: * East Thorn (via east ridge class 4 & low 5) * Silverthorne * Rain (via southwest ridge class 4 & low 5) Distance: 13.7m Vertical: 5160ft Duration: 11.5hrs
After two hours on the trail we reached Salmon Lake and surprised our friends (Mac Peters, Alex Atwater, Alex Adams and Ian Garrity) who had camped the night before. They were also planning on summitting East Thorn, Silverthorn and had not yet decided about Rain. After hugs and high fives Andy and I set out on our way for East Thorn's east ridge, Mount Silverthorne and Rain's southwest ridge... The Salmon Lake Cirque Traverse.
As with many other Gore traverses, this one is complex, exposed and navigational... ie. choose your own adventure. The rock is high quality by Colorado standards, generally solid but not perfect.
For East Thorn's east ridge, we found a gully and gained the ridge just after the 5.6 direct start option.
On the east ridge we generally stayed ridge proper and did not make any significant drops. Most of the terrain is class 4 with a bit of low 5 mixed in. Don't let your gaurd down after summitting as the west ridge still holds some spice.
The walk from East Thorn to Silverthorne is straight forward and offers views of Rain, East Thorn and the Zodiac from the north.
The ridge from Silverthorne to Rain is shorter than East Thorn but more difficult. There is more low 5 terrain, more exposure and more complex navigation and decision making. On this ridge we climbed every low 5 / C4 tower and stayed off of anything that felt more difficult. This worked with the exception of the very first tower which we bypassed on the north.
Much of the terrain on both East Thorn and Rain looks more difficult from a distance... so be sure to get your hands on the rock before deciding to take a less efficient option.
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