Sunlight Peak Trip Report 09/02/2008

Peak(s):	Sunlight Peak - 14,061 feet Windom Peak - 14,089 feet
Date Posted:	09/02/2008
Date Climbed:	08/24/2008
Author:	centrifuge

Sunlight and Windom Standard Routes
As it seems all of my longer trips go, this one started out not going according to plan. My older brother was supposed to come out to climb Eolus, Sunlight, and Windom with me, but his work needed him and he had to cancel. I had purchased my ticket, so I still planned on making the trip. Generally speaking, I have a personal rule about solo summits; nothing above class 2 alone. I was planning on squaring this issue by climbing Eolus with a climber I met last year, who would be in the basin. We planned ahead of time to meet up on Saturday at camp, and hit Eolus on Sunday. I would then do Sunlight and Windom on Monday. I figured given the notorious nature of the Sunlight Summit, it would be the one the most people would head towards. I headed to Durango at 7:30pm on Friday night and crashed in my car at the train station parking lot. Just as a word of warning, if you are heading from Denver to Durango in the evening, do not expect there to be any open gas stations or convenient stores from Salida until you get to the far side of Pagosa Springs so if you have to go, take care of it in Salida... anyway, moving right along... I caught the train into Needleton, it was crowded, but a neat ride and the people running the train had a great sense of humor... glad to have my sunglasses for the ride... I met a couple of other climbers on the way in, and we chatted about plans, and they joy of hiking. The train arrived at Needleton at about 1145am, and I hit the trail right away. Some clouds blew in, and there was some light rain and thunder on the way in, but nothing too dramatic. I found my friend's camp, and was happy to find that my friend Mike was also camped out right next to us. It was about this time I got word from someone else that the person I was supposed to climb Eolus with had gone to summit today due to some concerns around the weather the next day. When my friend got to camp, he let me know they had hit the summit of Eolus that day, and that due to some unforeseen circumstances needed to head out a day early. At this point I shifted plans realizing that I would be summiting all of the mountains on my own. Given this, I figured I would hit Sunlight and Windom first, since the best chance I would have to climb with other people on the mountain would be on a weekend day. Then I would see if I felt like it would be safe enough to hit Eolus on Monday. Bill, his friend and I ate dinner, and after chatting with one of our new neighbors who said they were headed for Sunlight at 430am, I took a bunch of photos of the amazing sunset, and then headed to the tent for a bit of sleep. I got an early start at 5:15am. Before I headed out, I went to use my albuterol inhaler (I pre-treat asthma to prevent attacks while climbing) and it made a strange reverse looking puff when I cleared it. I figured it must have frozen over night, so I put it in my pocket and figured I would let it warm up and take it easy on the hike to the lakes. I caught a glimpse of a headlamp heading u, and was hopeful that the person would be headed towards Sunlight. The hike up to twin lakes was everything it was cracked up to be, steep, and intense... but the view at the lake was worth it. I also caught a glimpse of headlamps heading up, before I crested over the lake. First light at the lower lake was incredible, so I got a couple of photos. I decided to try to pre-treat again, just to be safe, and the inhaler was still not working... this worried me, but I was relieved to know there were headlamps following. I meandered up the headwall, moving slower than normal, hoping others would catch up, so I would have a spot at the summit block on Sunlight. The scree slope was perfectly described in Kzar's trip report... ball bearings. But the cairns were great, and where there were no cairns, there were small orange and yellow trail markers indicative of a more formal trail in the works, or 14 initiative ramp up for trail maintenance.... I made it up to the notch at 8:10am, put my trekking pole away, and put my helmet on. The scramble was awesome, the rock was perfect. I was happy to come across a single red trekking pole at the base of one of the steeper parts of the climb, and figured that another climber must have ditched it to head up to the summit. Again energized, I booked it up to the top, but quickly discovered the pole must have been forgotten by a climber from the day before. I had the summit to myself for about a half an hour. I climbed up the slabs to the gap at the summit bock, and toyed around with the idea of hitting the top, but was unsettled by the idea of doing it with absolutely no spot, and no sign of anyone else heading up. Deciding that it would be better to be safe, I took a couple of photos and headed towards Windom. On my way down, I picked up the pole, figuring I would post here to see if anyone had lost it, and wanted it back since not many people would climb a peak a second time to pick up their pole... The trip over to the saddle of Windom was uneventful, and quite. I caught a glimpse of a group standing at the top of the headwall, but otherwise did not see anyone else on the mountain until I reached the saddle of Windom. The view of Sunlight and Sunlight Spire was great from here We chatted for a couple of minuets, and after checking out the clouds that were now quickly building I decided to make a hard push for the summit. Before I headed up, I asked if they had hit Sunlight that morning, hoping to find the owner of the pole, and they said they had not. I told them about the pole, and given the fact that I seriously doubted we would find the owner in the basin, passed it to one of the climbers for the trip down with the promise they would post it on 14'ers when they got back to civilization. The climb up Windom was very cool, much better than expected. I was thinking it would be a boulder field trudge to the summit, but instead had a fun semi-scramble to the top. Following the cairns kept the trip pretty straight forward until the summit block. Unable to see the cairns at the very top from where I was, I stayed left since that looked like the most straightforward route and found myself making some very, very exposed moves before I saw the actual route. I was able to reverse my route without the exposure, and quickly made the summit. By then, there were a whole slew of clouds building that did not look at all friendly, so I took a couple of very quick photos, and headed down. About � way to the saddle I ran across my camp neighbors, who were heading up. We chatted briefly about the remaining route, and they were nice enough to take a photo of me that was better than anything I could take of myself. I booked it down to the saddle where I ran into the couple I had met on the train on the way in. We talked for a second, and I booked it down. The first claps of thunder started at the headwall, and I was able to make it to camp right as it started pouring. My friends had already headed out, but had left the nice bear line that was much better than the rope I use, and Mike had left me a 5 gallon dromedary with water in it so I wouldn't have to filter as much water. Grateful, since I was almost out of water, I grabbed the dromedary and headed for a tree grove to hang out and drink some serious water. I hit the tent, and slept through the rain. The rest of the day was spent chatting with the camp neighbors, who turnout to be really cool and looking at the surroundings. I decided that night not to hit Eolus the next day. Given the lack of partner, and the situation with my inhaler, I just couldn't justify the risk to me or anyone who might have been put into a horrible position if I were to go up again, but this time knowing full well I didn't have a working inhaler. The next morning, the goats were worth hanging back from the mountain. At least 20 of them poured through camp as I was breaking it down. I headed out as the clouds started building, and made it to Needleton in a little less than 2 hours, just as it started sprinkling. A random woman came wondering around the corner wearing clothes that were clearly not hikers clothes, carrying a book and no pack. She was super friendly, and when it started raining, invited me to hang out at the tarps the company she works for had. Her and a bunch of co-workers from the rafting company that apparently owns a bunch of that property happened to be hanging out up there, and they were nice enough to let me chill out with them until the heaviest part of the rain passed. Once the rain let up a bit, I headed back to the train station, and chilled with the other hikers in an old structure on the other side of the tracks until 3:30, and then we headed over to right side of the tracks and waited in the again building rain until the train came. The ride back was great, and included all of the hikers descending upon the concession car in droves while talking about their trips. I felt like being there solo ended up in me meeting a whole lot of very cool people along the way. Even though I didn't get Elous, I feel like the trip was 100% successful and worth it... aside from the fact I have an excuse to go back to Chicago Basin. My camp neighbors on the train heading back to Durango Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Sunlight and Windom Standard Routes

As it seems all of my longer trips go, this one started out not going according to plan. My older brother was supposed to come out to climb Eolus, Sunlight, and Windom with me, but his work needed him and he had to cancel. I had purchased my ticket, so I still planned on making the trip. Generally speaking, I have a personal rule about solo summits; nothing above class 2 alone. I was planning on squaring this issue by climbing Eolus with a climber I met last year, who would be in the basin. We planned ahead of time to meet up on Saturday at camp, and hit Eolus on Sunday. I would then do Sunlight and Windom on Monday. I figured given the notorious nature of the Sunlight Summit, it would be the one the most people would head towards.

I headed to Durango at 7:30pm on Friday night and crashed in my car at the train station parking lot. Just as a word of warning, if you are heading from Denver to Durango in the evening, do not expect there to be any open gas stations or convenient stores from Salida until you get to the far side of Pagosa Springs so if you have to go, take care of it in Salida... anyway, moving right along...

I caught the train into Needleton, it was crowded, but a neat ride and the people running the train had a great sense of humor... glad to have my sunglasses for the ride... I met a couple of other climbers on the way in, and we chatted about plans, and they joy of hiking.

The train arrived at Needleton at about 1145am, and I hit the trail right away. Some clouds blew in, and there was some light rain and thunder on the way in, but nothing too dramatic. I found my friend's camp, and was happy to find that my friend Mike was also camped out right next to us.

It was about this time I got word from someone else that the person I was supposed to climb Eolus with had gone to summit today due to some concerns around the weather the next day. When my friend got to camp, he let me know they had hit the summit of Eolus that day, and that due to some unforeseen circumstances needed to head out a day early.

At this point I shifted plans realizing that I would be summiting all of the mountains on my own. Given this, I figured I would hit Sunlight and Windom first, since the best chance I would have to climb with other people on the mountain would be on a weekend day. Then I would see if I felt like it would be safe enough to hit Eolus on Monday.

Bill, his friend and I ate dinner, and after chatting with one of our new neighbors who said they were headed for Sunlight at 430am, I took a bunch of photos of the amazing sunset, and then headed to the tent for a bit of sleep.

I got an early start at 5:15am. Before I headed out, I went to use my albuterol inhaler (I pre-treat asthma to prevent attacks while climbing) and it made a strange reverse looking puff when I cleared it. I figured it must have frozen over night, so I put it in my pocket and figured I would let it warm up and take it easy on the hike to the lakes. I caught a glimpse of a headlamp heading u, and was hopeful that the person would be headed towards Sunlight. The hike up to twin lakes was everything it was cracked up to be, steep, and intense... but the view at the lake was worth it. I also caught a glimpse of headlamps heading up, before I crested over the lake. First light at the lower lake was incredible, so I got a couple of photos.

I decided to try to pre-treat again, just to be safe, and the inhaler was still not working... this worried me, but I was relieved to know there were headlamps following.

I meandered up the headwall, moving slower than normal, hoping others would catch up, so I would have a spot at the summit block on Sunlight. The scree slope was perfectly described in Kzar's trip report... ball bearings. But the cairns were great, and where there were no cairns, there were small orange and yellow trail markers indicative of a more formal trail in the works, or 14 initiative ramp up for trail maintenance....

I made it up to the notch at 8:10am, put my trekking pole away, and put my helmet on. The scramble was awesome, the rock was perfect. I was happy to come across a single red trekking pole at the base of one of the steeper parts of the climb, and figured that another climber must have ditched it to head up to the summit. Again energized, I booked it up to the top, but quickly discovered the pole must have been forgotten by a climber from the day before. I had the summit to myself for about a half an hour. I climbed up the slabs to the gap at the summit bock, and toyed around with the idea of hitting the top, but was unsettled by the idea of doing it with absolutely no spot, and no sign of anyone else heading up. Deciding that it would be better to be safe, I took a couple of photos and headed towards Windom.

On my way down, I picked up the pole, figuring I would post here to see if anyone had lost it, and wanted it back since not many people would climb a peak a second time to pick up their pole...

The trip over to the saddle of Windom was uneventful, and quite. I caught a glimpse of a group standing at the top of the headwall, but otherwise did not see anyone else on the mountain until I reached the saddle of Windom. The view of Sunlight and Sunlight Spire was great from here

We chatted for a couple of minuets, and after checking out the clouds that were now quickly building I decided to make a hard push for the summit. Before I headed up, I asked if they had hit Sunlight that morning, hoping to find the owner of the pole, and they said they had not. I told them about the pole, and given the fact that I seriously doubted we would find the owner in the basin, passed it to one of the climbers for the trip down with the promise they would post it on 14'ers when they got back to civilization.

The climb up Windom was very cool, much better than expected. I was thinking it would be a boulder field trudge to the summit, but instead had a fun semi-scramble to the top. Following the cairns kept the trip pretty straight forward until the summit block. Unable to see the cairns at the very top from where I was, I stayed left since that looked like the most straightforward route and found myself making some very, very exposed moves before I saw the actual route. I was able to reverse my route without the exposure, and quickly made the summit. By then, there were a whole slew of clouds building that did not look at all friendly, so I took a couple of very quick photos, and headed down.

About � way to the saddle I ran across my camp neighbors, who were heading up. We chatted briefly about the remaining route, and they were nice enough to take a photo of me that was better than anything I could take of myself.

I booked it down to the saddle where I ran into the couple I had met on the train on the way in. We talked for a second, and I booked it down. The first claps of thunder started at the headwall, and I was able to make it to camp right as it started pouring. My friends had already headed out, but had left the nice bear line that was much better than the rope I use, and Mike had left me a 5 gallon dromedary with water in it so I wouldn't have to filter as much water. Grateful, since I was almost out of water, I grabbed the dromedary and headed for a tree grove to hang out and drink some serious water. I hit the tent, and slept through the rain.

The rest of the day was spent chatting with the camp neighbors, who turnout to be really cool and looking at the surroundings. I decided that night not to hit Eolus the next day. Given the lack of partner, and the situation with my inhaler, I just couldn't justify the risk to me or anyone who might have been put into a horrible position if I were to go up again, but this time knowing full well I didn't have a working inhaler. The next morning, the goats were worth hanging back from the mountain. At least 20 of them poured through camp as I was breaking it down.

I headed out as the clouds started building, and made it to Needleton in a little less than 2 hours, just as it started sprinkling. A random woman came wondering around the corner wearing clothes that were clearly not hikers clothes, carrying a book and no pack. She was super friendly, and when it started raining, invited me to hang out at the tarps the company she works for had. Her and a bunch of co-workers from the rafting company that apparently owns a bunch of that property happened to be hanging out up there, and they were nice enough to let me chill out with them until the heaviest part of the rain passed. Once the rain let up a bit, I headed back to the train station, and chilled with the other hikers in an old structure on the other side of the tracks until 3:30, and then we headed over to right side of the tracks and waited in the again building rain until the train came.

The ride back was great, and included all of the hikers descending upon the concession car in droves while talking about their trips. I felt like being there solo ended up in me meeting a whole lot of very cool people along the way. Even though I didn't get Elous, I feel like the trip was 100% successful and worth it... aside from the fact I have an excuse to go back to Chicago Basin.

My camp neighbors on the train heading back to Durango

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

wishiwsthr

Stupid inhaler
9/3/2008 1:56pm

I hiked up Massive a couple weeks ago with my daughter who has asthma. Guess what she forgot? Her inhaler. We went ahead and climbed the mountain, monitoring her breather. She struggled toward the top and almost gave up, but she pulled through. Awesome mountain goat pictures. Good trip description too.
wishiwsthr

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