Wetterhorn Peak Trip Report 09/29/2010

Peak(s):	Wetterhorn Peak - 14,021 feet Matterhorn Peak - 13,590 feet
Date Posted:	09/29/2010
Modified:	10/01/2010
Date Climbed:	09/25/2010
Author:	kansas

Matterhorn to Wetterhorn Traverse (Alpine Junkshow Route)
This year's Fall Gathering brought me back to Matterhorn Creek and while Otina and I had planned to climb Matterhorn, in the back of my mind I was cooking up plans for the ridge traverse over to Wetterhorn...if things worked out. We met KeithK and Scott (edlins) at the turnoff in Lake City and headed up to the "official" Fall Gathering campsite. I asked Scott what he had in mind for the weekend, his answer was ideal..."the traverse." I have a ton of respect for Scott as a climber, this guy quietly does some impressive stuff in the mountains. So it was set, Scott and I would climb Matterhorn with the group and then head onto the traverse. This was all well and good, but all I knew about the ridge was that it connected the two mountains, I had no idea what class the traverse was or what the rock would be like. Beta out there for the full traverse is severely lacking to say the least, Roach simply says it would be "arduous"...his definition of "interesting" usually scares the crap out of me. After an evening of indulgence the 5am wakeup call came too early but somehow KeithK, bergsteigen, John Frolich, Tundratif, edlins, and I all piled into Keith's truck and headed up to the the 4wd TH. I will spare you the details of the Matterhon climb because it will be covered in the official Fall Gathering TR and it consists of this: Turn right at first trail junction, turn right at 2nd trail junction, turn left up big grass slope, scramble on some fun rock to the summit. I thoroughly enjoyed this climb, this peak should not be skipped if you are in the neighborhood . On the summit we were joined by Doug Shaw, he was planning the traverse too and gladly accepted Scott and my's invitation to come along. I was more than pleased with this outcome, I now had a SAR member (Doug) and a climber who's abilities I respect a ton (Scott) along for the ride...let's make it happen! After a little time on the summit Scott, Doug, and I headed down the west ridge of Matterhorn to start the traverse. I attempted to go over the top of the first tower and soon discovered just how arduous this traverse was going to be...the rock was incredibly loose and the downclimb wasn't going to happen. Within 10 minutes of starting we were already backtracking and having to downclimb loose class 4 rock. Our summit group (still on Matterhorn watching us) offered some "backseat routefinding" much to our amusment. Initial descent off of Matterhorn (Image by Otina) Climbing up the first tower (image by Otina) Backseat routefinders... We used a gully east of the first tower to skirt its difficulties and then stayed on the ridge crest to the 2nd set of towers. Trying our best to stay as "ridge proper" as possible, Doug and I scrambled to the top and once again found no safe exit. So we executed a sketchy downclimb on ass-tastic rock and found our way back down to Scott. Yet again, we were going to have to skirt the towers. There is a talus slope below the 2nd set of towers that allows for a very cautious crossing. I would compare it to being off route descending the "3000 feet of suck" on S. Maroon. (don't ask) Skirting the first difficulty Lets try this again Doug on top of the 2nd tower (image by Otina) Impossible down climb...again (image by Doug) Talus slope below 2nd tower (image by Doug) After the 2nd set of towers, we were able to stay close to the ridge crest, working around minor obstacles here and there, but nothing significant. Staying close to the top required pretty constant class 3 scrambling with decent exposure. As we neared the saddle the rock started to get better, a little more Wetterhorn-ish. At this point we met a group of 4 doing the traverse from Wetterhorn, sorry guys, I didn't catch your names. Finally, some ridge walking. Scott downclimbing another minor obstacle Doug working his way along the ridge Group of guys doing the traverse in the opposite direction (image by Doug) Once we reached the Wetterhorn side there were just 2 more major obstacles to work around on the ridge. We managed to get around the first one fairly simply, just some loose rock over a huge drop...but that was pretty much standard for the day. The 2nd and final major tower on the traverse was more interesting, Doug managed to find a 6" wide ledge over a sheer drop on the south side. But it was solid, so we followed him across, Scott said it was very much like Broadway, just not as much air. Apparently, to Keith and Otina, who were watching our progress from the standard route on Wetterhorn, it looked much scarier than it actually was. We followed the ledges onto some class 3-4 moves on the south side of the ridge face for a little while until we were able to regain the ridge. Tower #3 Doug's 6" discovery (image by Scott) Can you find Doug? (image by Otina) Scott's mini broadway (image by Doug) At this point we were all pretty tired and the ridge just seemed to go on forever. Matterhorn got further away, but it felt like Wetterhorn never got any closer! Thankfully the rock quality had improved greatly and we continued to work our way along the ridge until we could see the entrance to the east face of Wetterhorn. Looking back at our progress from the Wetterhorn side Scott having fun The east face just plain sucks without snow, it's basically a very steep dirt slope. One step forward results in 6" of sliding backwards, after about 10 minutes of this I hopped onto the rocks and did my best to avoid the dirt. Doug, Scott and I spread out to keep from kicking rocks at each other, and after a little cussing we met up at the notches on the standard route. As I neared the top I heard yelling from the summit, Keith and Otina had beat us to the top by losing an extra 1000ft...I guess the ridge traverse isn't exactly efficient. But seeing Otina on the summit gave me the motivation I needed to pick up the pace a little. Otina's view from the summit as we ascended the east face Looking up the east face (image by Scott) Scott ascending the east face Standard route found (image by Scott) Final pitch to Wetterhorn summit. We finally reached the summit of Wetterhorn after 3:45 on the ridge traverse, It was great to have Otina waiting for me up there...I needed a shoulder to cry on. We received our congratulations from Keith and Otina, sat around for an hour, and then the group, minus Doug, descended together, arriving back at camp in time for the madness that is the Fall Gathering. Doug found a more interesting way down the mountain and then magically appeared around the fire later. Wait...you might hurt your ankle. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Matterhorn to Wetterhorn Traverse (Alpine Junkshow Route)

This year's Fall Gathering brought me back to Matterhorn Creek and while Otina and I had planned to climb Matterhorn, in the back of my mind I was cooking up plans for the ridge traverse over to Wetterhorn...if things worked out. We met KeithK and Scott (edlins) at the turnoff in Lake City and headed up to the "official" Fall Gathering campsite. I asked Scott what he had in mind for the weekend, his answer was ideal..."the traverse." I have a ton of respect for Scott as a climber, this guy quietly does some impressive stuff in the mountains. So it was set, Scott and I would climb Matterhorn with the group and then head onto the traverse. This was all well and good, but all I knew about the ridge was that it connected the two mountains, I had no idea what class the traverse was or what the rock would be like. Beta out there for the full traverse is severely lacking to say the least, Roach simply says it would be "arduous"...his definition of "interesting" usually scares the crap out of me.

After an evening of indulgence the 5am wakeup call came too early but somehow KeithK, bergsteigen, John Frolich, Tundratif, edlins, and I all piled into Keith's truck and headed up to the the 4wd TH. I will spare you the details of the Matterhon climb because it will be covered in the official Fall Gathering TR and it consists of this: Turn right at first trail junction, turn right at 2nd trail junction, turn left up big grass slope, scramble on some fun rock to the summit. I thoroughly enjoyed this climb, this peak should not be skipped if you are in the neighborhood . On the summit we were joined by Doug Shaw, he was planning the traverse too and gladly accepted Scott and my's invitation to come along. I was more than pleased with this outcome, I now had a SAR member (Doug) and a climber who's abilities I respect a ton (Scott) along for the ride...let's make it happen!

After a little time on the summit Scott, Doug, and I headed down the west ridge of Matterhorn to start the traverse. I attempted to go over the top of the first tower and soon discovered just how arduous this traverse was going to be...the rock was incredibly loose and the downclimb wasn't going to happen. Within 10 minutes of starting we were already backtracking and having to downclimb loose class 4 rock. Our summit group (still on Matterhorn watching us) offered some "backseat routefinding" much to our amusment.

Initial descent off of Matterhorn (Image by Otina)

Climbing up the first tower (image by Otina)

We used a gully east of the first tower to skirt its difficulties and then stayed on the ridge crest to the 2nd set of towers. Trying our best to stay as "ridge proper" as possible, Doug and I scrambled to the top and once again found no safe exit. So we executed a sketchy downclimb on ass-tastic rock and found our way back down to Scott. Yet again, we were going to have to skirt the towers. There is a talus slope below the 2nd set of towers that allows for a very cautious crossing. I would compare it to being off route descending the "3000 feet of suck" on S. Maroon. (don't ask)

Doug on top of the 2nd tower (image by Otina)

Impossible down climb...again (image by Doug)

Talus slope below 2nd tower (image by Doug)

After the 2nd set of towers, we were able to stay close to the ridge crest, working around minor obstacles here and there, but nothing significant. Staying close to the top required pretty constant class 3 scrambling with decent exposure. As we neared the saddle the rock started to get better, a little more Wetterhorn-ish. At this point we met a group of 4 doing the traverse from Wetterhorn, sorry guys, I didn't catch your names.

Scott downclimbing another minor obstacle

Group of guys doing the traverse in the opposite direction (image by Doug)

Once we reached the Wetterhorn side there were just 2 more major obstacles to work around on the ridge. We managed to get around the first one fairly simply, just some loose rock over a huge drop...but that was pretty much standard for the day. The 2nd and final major tower on the traverse was more interesting, Doug managed to find a 6" wide ledge over a sheer drop on the south side. But it was solid, so we followed him across, Scott said it was very much like Broadway, just not as much air. Apparently, to Keith and Otina, who were watching our progress from the standard route on Wetterhorn, it looked much scarier than it actually was. We followed the ledges onto some class 3-4 moves on the south side of the ridge face for a little while until we were able to regain the ridge.

At this point we were all pretty tired and the ridge just seemed to go on forever. Matterhorn got further away, but it felt like Wetterhorn never got any closer! Thankfully the rock quality had improved greatly and we continued to work our way along the ridge until we could see the entrance to the east face of Wetterhorn.

Looking back at our progress from the Wetterhorn side

The east face just plain sucks without snow, it's basically a very steep dirt slope. One step forward results in 6" of sliding backwards, after about 10 minutes of this I hopped onto the rocks and did my best to avoid the dirt. Doug, Scott and I spread out to keep from kicking rocks at each other, and after a little cussing we met up at the notches on the standard route. As I neared the top I heard yelling from the summit, Keith and Otina had beat us to the top by losing an extra 1000ft...I guess the ridge traverse isn't exactly efficient. But seeing Otina on the summit gave me the motivation I needed to pick up the pace a little.

Otina's view from the summit as we ascended the east face

Looking up the east face (image by Scott)

We finally reached the summit of Wetterhorn after 3:45 on the ridge traverse, It was great to have Otina waiting for me up there...I needed a shoulder to cry on. We received our congratulations from Keith and Otina, sat around for an hour, and then the group, minus Doug, descended together, arriving back at camp in time for the madness that is the Fall Gathering. Doug found a more interesting way down the mountain and then magically appeared around the fire later.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

d_baker	Fantastic 9/30/2010 2:14am Or is that, ass-tastic? Oh, and what is, ”3000 feet of suck?” ;) Nice TR, Darrin.
scottfarish	McNasty 9/30/2010 3:50am Yeah, that traverse was a beast. That was us (me, waolsen, Uffda, and Chary) that intersected with you guys about 1/2 way across the ridge. Thanks for the pointers - that helped us to navigate the rest of the spires along the route. I guess our only advantage was that we didn't have a half liter of Scotch in us from the night before Great TR - thanks for posting it.
edlins	AJS 9/30/2010 7:00am Nice! I had a blast meeting everyone new and seeing some familiar faces! What an adventure, and only burned one pair of pants.
KeithK	Darrin has a(nother) man crush!!! 9/30/2010 11:02am Nice job dude! Your little journey across that spiky beast looked harrowing from our vantage point, to say the least. Especially when we saw Doug turn around and go back along Broadway Jr, or maybe we should call it Matterway. I'm glad you posted this, to prove that some sort of mtn. climbing took place at this thing, and it wasn't only a bunch of drunk people trying to catch themselves on fire.
akmpolsen	Daaaam.... 9/30/2010 2:59pm Wish I could have joined you. Instead I got two speeding tickets in 2 states in 12 hours. That's my version of ”71 MPH of suck”. Nice TR Darrin!
Jon Frohlich	Title? 9/30/2010 9:48pm What happened to the originally proposed title for this report? I'm so glad I didn't join you guys for that traverse.
kansas	Thanks! 9/30/2010 10:47pm Darin- that was the best word I could come up with for the rock at the time... and I said don't ask! Scottfarish-I was shocked to see someone coming the other way...I couldn't believe anyone else would equal our stupidity! edlins-Thanks for making it a great day out, I couldn't have asked for better partners. Even though it was an Alpine Junkshow... Keith-Thanks! It was kinda strange knowing we had an audience for the whole adventure. Is that ”other” report done yet? Marty-That's what you get for snubbing the Gathering! John-That title is reserved for the ”official” TR that Keith is dragging his feet on... Great to meet you up there! Darrin
Doug Shaw	well-written 10/1/2010 5:11pm Damn, somehow I missed this TR until now! Nice meeting and climbing with everyone (and re-meeting, Jon)! Thanks for the company on the traverse, Scott and Double-R - it was great climbing with you guys. Some good pics in here that I hadn't seen previously. The ”can you find Doug” pic is pretty ... much moreso than it actually was, in fact. And... I'm not entirely sure about that title, 'Doug's 6” discovery'
druid2112	Epic! 8/17/2013 1:56am Great pics too
jladderud	Agreedâ€”itâ€™s not faster 9/29/2018 8:58pm Our party split in two today, with me and a friend doing the traverse from Wetterhorn to Matterhorn and three others heading down and back up to gain the summit. We made it in 2 hours and they still beat us by 50 minutes!

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