Mt. Eolus Trip Report 09/12/2009

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Mt. Eolus - 14,087 feet North Eolus - 14,042 feet Windom Peak - 14,089 feet Sunlight Peak - 14,061 feet
Date Posted	09/12/2009
Date Climbed	09/05/2009
Author	rmiller

Finisher Weekend in Chicago Basin
We had planned a trip to Chicago Basin for Labor Day Weekend and cursed the weather forecast as the departure date approached. It looked to be a wet one, but with the train tickets and hotel rooms already reserved, we decided to go for it and just about doubled our packs in weight in preparation for the inclement weather. On Friday we woke up to beautiful skies and had a very pleasant ride in on the train. After getting dropped off at the Needleton TH, the weather quickly started deteriorate and so we threw our packs on and set a hate pace all the way up to Chicago Basin which took us about 2 ½ hours. Just starting up the 6 mile trail to reach Chicago Basin We hiked through drizzling rain and we could hear thunder all around us, but by the time we had reached the basin it had cleared up and remained that way for the rest of the night. We got an early 5:00 AM start on Saturday morning to accomplish our goal for the day (Sunlight & Windom) before the weather could pull us off the mountains. Hiking under an almost full moon we made good timing up the hill to Twin Lakes following a great trail all the way. Then we paced ourselves for the slow huff and puff up the headwall, across the upper basin, and up the gulley in between Sunlight and the Spire. Just above the upper basin looking back Starting up the gully between Sunlight and the Spire The ridge to Sunlight was uneventful, route finding was minimal, and we all got up the summit block to get our pictures standing on top of it. Looking Northeast. Climbing is more difficult if you continue through this hole in the rocks Climbing up through the chimney to reach the summit block Scrambling up the summit block Standing on top . . . a task much harder than it looks A view of the exposure off the Northwest side? We then traversed across under the Spire (man, I need to learn how to lead climb), up to the Windom ridge, and finally to the second summit of the day. Windom from the summit of Sunlight Looking back into the basin from the summit of Windom Our descent went fine and if it wasn't for the growing clouds we probably would have made an attempt on Eolus and North Eolus that day. Good thing we didn't. Soon after we arrived back at camp it started to rain. Then it rained harder, then harder, then some hail, then even harder rain, more hail, and so on. We stayed fairly comfortable under a tarp that we had brought up, but cursed the weather has we saw a stream of water flowing right under our tents. It pretty much rained all night. We woke up at about 4:00 AM expecting to get an early start on Eolus and North Eolus in order to catch the afternoon train back to Durango. Still pouring out. Hmmmm . . . what to do? We knew it would be one for the books if we started out in pouring rain, especially because we had no idea what it looked like on the summit, but hey, this was my last one; it wasn't supposed to be easy. Well, it took us a while to get going out of camp and by the time we finally started hiking at around 5:20 AM, the rain had slowed down to a drizzle. That didn't make our pace slow down any because we were not sure what the rest of the day would look like. Right after we caught up with the Eolus trail above Twin Lakes we found ourselves in the clouds with poor visibility. Soon after that we hit the snow line (something we had figured we would come across eventually). We estimated there to be about an inch and a half on the ground. It wasn't bad getting up to the ridge, except for a little difficulty in route finding because the snow was covering the trail and the poor visibility made finding cairns harder. On the standard trail leading up to the ridge Just off the ramp and below the pitch leading to the notch Once we reached the ridge, it immediately started to get interesting. The small pitch leading to the notch put the rest of the climb into perspective; a thin layer of wet slippery snow covering all the holds. The only thing missing was the exposure, but we would get plenty of that getting over to Eolus. The pitch leading to the notch Scotty scrambling up this pitch We took our time getting up North Eolus and at the top I kept thinking, "well this isn't so bad; we might accomplish this easier than I thought." I didn't realize that North Eolus requires considerable less scrambling and exposure then its parent peak. Climbing up to North Eolus As soon as we started out across the ridge toward the catwalk and the exposure began to show itself, our climbing confidence started to shrink. I can see how this is a straight forward class 3 climb when conditions are dry, but with a layer of slippery snow covering everything, it became dangerous. There was one move on the catwalk that scared me the most out of anything I have ever done on the 14ers, and I have climbed 3 of the 4 great traverses. The ledges leading up to the summit gave us a bit of trouble and we really had to take our time. Some ledges were quite exposed and without having confidence in the traction of our boots, it made for a tense climb to the summit block. Starting out on the ridge leading over to Eolus looking back Nearing the summit 54!!! Or whatever the official number is these days Finally at the summit, I thought I could celebrate, but the thought of getting down safely wore more heavily on the mind then completion of the list. Sadly, I did not have any champagne on the summit of my last 14er. After all, it wouldn't really count if I didn't make it down. So we put our game faces on again and carefully descended down the ledges and back over the catwalk. Once we had reached safer grounds I let out one of the biggest sighs of relief I have ever given off. Just after getting down from the ledges; ahead is the catwalk Example of some of the exposure on the ridge The move that scared the living $@!# of me Looking back at this same move Looking back towards Windom from the lower slopes of Eolus; finally on safer grounds We made great timing back to our campsite, packed everything up and made it back to Needleton with plenty of time to spare. Finally I could relax and let the fact that I had completed the last one sink in. What an incredible experience it was to climb all over the state of Colorado. I'll never forget the first time I climbed them all. These mountains are amazing!! Now I guess I have to try to ski them all or something. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Finisher Weekend in Chicago Basin

We had planned a trip to Chicago Basin for Labor Day Weekend and cursed the weather forecast as the departure date approached. It looked to be a wet one, but with the train tickets and hotel rooms already reserved, we decided to go for it and just about doubled our packs in weight in preparation for the inclement weather.

On Friday we woke up to beautiful skies and had a very pleasant ride in on the train.

After getting dropped off at the Needleton TH, the weather quickly started deteriorate and so we threw our packs on and set a hate pace all the way up to Chicago Basin which took us about 2 ½ hours.

Just starting up the 6 mile trail to reach Chicago Basin

We hiked through drizzling rain and we could hear thunder all around us, but by the time we had reached the basin it had cleared up and remained that way for the rest of the night.

We got an early 5:00 AM start on Saturday morning to accomplish our goal for the day (Sunlight & Windom) before the weather could pull us off the mountains. Hiking under an almost full moon we made good timing up the hill to Twin Lakes following a great trail all the way. Then we paced ourselves for the slow huff and puff up the headwall, across the upper basin, and up the gulley in between Sunlight and the Spire.

Just above the upper basin looking back

Starting up the gully between Sunlight and the Spire

The ridge to Sunlight was uneventful, route finding was minimal, and we all got up the summit block to get our pictures standing on top of it.

Looking Northeast. Climbing is more difficult if you continue through this hole in the rocks

Climbing up through the chimney to reach the summit block

Scrambling up the summit block

Standing on top . . . a task much harder than it looks

A view of the exposure off the Northwest side?

We then traversed across under the Spire (man, I need to learn how to lead climb), up to the Windom ridge, and finally to the second summit of the day.

Windom from the summit of Sunlight

Looking back into the basin from the summit of Windom

Our descent went fine and if it wasn't for the growing clouds we probably would have made an attempt on Eolus and North Eolus that day. Good thing we didn't. Soon after we arrived back at camp it started to rain. Then it rained harder, then harder, then some hail, then even harder rain, more hail, and so on. We stayed fairly comfortable under a tarp that we had brought up, but cursed the weather has we saw a stream of water flowing right under our tents. It pretty much rained all night.

We woke up at about 4:00 AM expecting to get an early start on Eolus and North Eolus in order to catch the afternoon train back to Durango. Still pouring out. Hmmmm . . . what to do? We knew it would be one for the books if we started out in pouring rain, especially because we had no idea what it looked like on the summit, but hey, this was my last one; it wasn't supposed to be easy.

Well, it took us a while to get going out of camp and by the time we finally started hiking at around 5:20 AM, the rain had slowed down to a drizzle. That didn't make our pace slow down any because we were not sure what the rest of the day would look like. Right after we caught up with the Eolus trail above Twin Lakes we found ourselves in the clouds with poor visibility. Soon after that we hit the snow line (something we had figured we would come across eventually). We estimated there to be about an inch and a half on the ground. It wasn't bad getting up to the ridge, except for a little difficulty in route finding because the snow was covering the trail and the poor visibility made finding cairns harder.

On the standard trail leading up to the ridge

Just off the ramp and below the pitch leading to the notch

Once we reached the ridge, it immediately started to get interesting. The small pitch leading to the notch put the rest of the climb into perspective; a thin layer of wet slippery snow covering all the holds. The only thing missing was the exposure, but we would get plenty of that getting over to Eolus.

The pitch leading to the notch

Scotty scrambling up this pitch

We took our time getting up North Eolus and at the top I kept thinking, "well this isn't so bad; we might accomplish this easier than I thought." I didn't realize that North Eolus requires considerable less scrambling and exposure then its parent peak.

Climbing up to North Eolus

As soon as we started out across the ridge toward the catwalk and the exposure began to show itself, our climbing confidence started to shrink. I can see how this is a straight forward class 3 climb when conditions are dry, but with a layer of slippery snow covering everything, it became dangerous. There was one move on the catwalk that scared me the most out of anything I have ever done on the 14ers, and I have climbed 3 of the 4 great traverses. The ledges leading up to the summit gave us a bit of trouble and we really had to take our time. Some ledges were quite exposed and without having confidence in the traction of our boots, it made for a tense climb to the summit block.

Starting out on the ridge leading over to Eolus looking back

Nearing the summit

54!!! Or whatever the official number is these days

Finally at the summit, I thought I could celebrate, but the thought of getting down safely wore more heavily on the mind then completion of the list. Sadly, I did not have any champagne on the summit of my last 14er. After all, it wouldn't really count if I didn't make it down. So we put our game faces on again and carefully descended down the ledges and back over the catwalk. Once we had reached safer grounds I let out one of the biggest sighs of relief I have ever given off.

Just after getting down from the ledges; ahead is the catwalk

Example of some of the exposure on the ridge

The move that scared the living $@!# of me

Looking back at this same move

Looking back towards Windom from the lower slopes of Eolus; finally on safer grounds

We made great timing back to our campsite, packed everything up and made it back to Needleton with plenty of time to spare. Finally I could relax and let the fact that I had completed the last one sink in. What an incredible experience it was to climb all over the state of Colorado. I'll never forget the first time I climbed them all. These mountains are amazing!! Now I guess I have to try to ski them all or something.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

wesley_j	Congrats! 9/12/2009 5:09pm Wow, and I thought climbing Eolus in the rain was tough! Awesome stuff, congrats!
CarpeDM	Nice job 9/12/2009 7:21pm Yeah, the conditions really make that Catwalk look way scarier than when I did it a few weeks ago. You finished in style. Congrats! And thanks for the pic of the exposure off of Sunlight. You don‘t see too many of those. I was going to take one when I was there, but totally forgot (something about being too scared sh*tless to move).
aconcagua08	well done! 9/14/2009 12:17am i was hoping to bag them the same weekend, but backed out because of the weather. hoping it will clear up soon, so i can climb them this month. any recommendations?
Post14rPBR+flipflops	Congrats on finishing! 9/14/2009 4:27pm That looks more like a summit nightmare!! But very nice trip report.
Penny	Congrats and thanks for the trip 9/14/2009 11:04pm Congrats and thanks for the beautiful photos and great commentary. My son is there this week for the first time, but he is with experienced hikers. I looked at the charts of the trails and am excited for him. This will be the closest I can get, so thanks for the vicarious trip.
cruthas	Awesome post congrats! 9/15/2009 2:40am Wish I was there miller! Don‘t worry to much about lead climbing I‘m working on it for our future climbing trips! Hitting the gym, learning how to build walls! Its in our blood! Anyway, great job, great post, and see you soon!
Zippoman	It was an honor 9/16/2009 1:14am That‘s a good name Post14rPBR+flipflops!! One of the best parts of hiking the 14ers haha. Hey Miller strong finish it was great hiking so many of these wonderful mountains with you. Whats next 1399what? Anyway nice work but you have to come ski my last one with me this spring!!
earthling	crazy foolz! 9/29/2009 1:52am I just bagged that mother yesterday, it was nothing like your pics, my day couldn‘t have been any better.
globreal	Great Report! 7/2/2010 4:19pm I am grateful for your report. It really puts this trip into perspective! I am heading there in a few days and your pics bring home the reality. Thanks...and congratulations on finishing...and doing so in style!
JayMiller	Great Post 11/30/2010 5:28pm I think that the pictures of the catwalk are the best I have seen. I‘m glad I didn't see them before I got there, I might not have went. It was airy enough with dry rocks, what an incredibel corssing.
jesse	Gahhhh! 2/5/2011 12:22am Those moves look so much scarier than three weeks ago, nothing worse than a little slick snow on exposed rocks. Good work making it through!

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