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I was beginning to think that the summer/fall hiking season was quickly coming to an end and that we'd soon be limited to routes that were somewhat safe with snow and ice. The unfortunate part of that is that my remaining 14ers are all in the "difficult" category under dry conditions... made even more difficult and sketchy with snow and ice. I was starting to hang up my hat on the idea of summiting any new 14ers the rest of this year.
But then, the forecast for the weekend instilled a little bit of hope in me. A few different options were tossed around - backpack in to Capitol Lake on Saturday for a Sunday summit; head to Willow Lake to finish our last "easy" 14ers with Kit Carson & Challenger; or head down to the San Juans to finish off the range with the Wilson Group?
My husband (jmc5040) had already done the Wilson Group two years ago and was done with the San Juan 14ers, but he wanted to go with me when the time came for me to do the Wilson Group peaks. Two years ago he had completed the El Diente - Mt. Wilson traverse and ever since then, the traverse was on my radar and it was not an option for me to pass up the traverse whenever I did this group. I needed it. And I wanted it bad. The weather forecast for the San Juans this weekend was the perfect opportunity to get it done.
So off we went. Friday night we left Denver around 6:30pm (silly work getting in the way, again) for the long drive out to Telluride. Seven hours later we were crawling into our sleeping bags in the back of my husband's Outback at the Kilpacker trailhead. We agreed to a lovely four hour night's sleep and dozed off. I was so excited that I probably only slept three hours off-and-on, but despite my excitement I still grimaced when my alarm woke us at 5:30am. We probably should have started a bit earlier, but considering our late (or early?) arrival time to the TH, it was difficult to concede to an earlier wakeup time.
We shoved down some breakfast and were on the trail by 6am. It was a fast hike to Kilpacker Basin, getting above the waterfall about 1.5 hours or so after our TH departure. The hike through the talus filled basin around to the base of the South Slopes of El Diente seemed to last forever, but we trudged along. We finally cut left to find our way to the base of the gully leading to the Organ Pipes. Finding the correct gully to spit us out at the correct spot was a bit of a challenge but we ultimately found our way up without having to backtrack too much. Our GPS seemed to lead us astray a bit but we quickly corrected our route.
It was just after we reached the Organ Pipes that my mind and body began to give up on me. We were about 300 feet below the summit and it was already noon. I had been moving incredibly slow. Maybe it was due to my lack of sleep? Not having been at altitude in a month? I don't know. The plan to traverse to Mt. Wilson was beginning to dissolve due to the time of day. The traverse was my ultimate goal for the weekend and the thought that I wouldn't get to do it was destroying my confidence and desire to move forward. "Why even summit El Diente today when I'll have to come back for the traverse?" Summiting El Diente and calling it a day wasn't enough for me. I sat down on a rock and had a "girl" moment while crying to my husband. He lifted my spirits, pulled me out of this small mental breakdown, and convinced me to keep moving forward. Sniffling, I pushed on.
We reached the ridge where we crossed to the north side of El Diente. Here, we got our first taste of snow for the season. There was a light dusting of snow on most northern aspects, but it wasn't anything that absolutely required any traction. We traversed around the north side and up the final gully. By 12:30pm we were standing on the summit of El Diente. At this point we were basically 100% decided that we weren't going to do the traverse. It was late in the day and I was absolutely trashed. I was nauseous, had a headache, and had been moving slow all morning. I agreed with Jordan that it wasn't in the cards for us this time. We spent 15-20 minutes or so on the summit and started our descent. We did put microspikes on for the descent of the north side, since we had them. We passed two guys going up just as we stepped off the snow onto the ridge. It was here where our mindsets about the traverse began to change.
The two guys mentioned they were still going to go for the traverse despite time of day and I started to wonder if we should too. I looked to the sky and it looked absolutely perfect. Just a few small, puffy, non-threatening clouds. It had been like this all morning. I evaluated how I felt. Better. Could I muster up enough energy to safely complete the traverse? Could I focus enough on my movements? I think so. We got to the point on the descent where we had to make a decision. Do we continue down the South Slopes of El Diente back into the basin, or do we cut left for the traverse? We debated for about 5 minutes until we made our decision. Let's do it.
Within the first few minutes of beginning the traverse, my mind and body did a complete 180. The excitement and adrenaline pumping through my body made me feel like a completely different person than I was earlier in the morning. It made me feel like the person I usually am when I'm in the mountains - excited, loving life, and full of mental clarity. Each step and move I made across the traverse was amazing and I felt HAPPY. The first half of the traverse was pretty "simple" technically, but the route finding was a bit more difficult. Luckily, Jordan had done the traverse before so we made quick work of it.
About two-thirds of the way across the traverse, the difficulty increased and the moves quickly became airy Class 4 moves. The climbing began. It was exhilarating moving along the traverse with nothing below me at times. The rock was solid so I wasn't scared at any point despite the high levels of exposure. Jordan spotted me a few times as I downclimbed some Class 4 sections. Whenever we crossed to the north side of the traverse, there was snow (just like El Diente). We did not bother putting on microspikes or anything - we were just careful as the rock was slick. When we crossed back to ridge proper or the south side of the ridge, we would scuff the bottom of our boots in some dirt so that our boots didn't slip on dry rock.
Before we knew it we were standing at the base of a section that looked impossible at first. Ah, this must be the Mt. Wilson summit block crux. I looked to the right and immediately thought "nope." I looked to the left and saw a potential line to climb that would only be Class 3. Off I went. Jordan spotted me from behind since the move was a bit of a stretch for me (I'm 5'3") and my boots were still slightly slippery from the snow. I made it up no problem and watched as Jordan ascended. Good. I walked a few steps and was standing on the summit of Mt. Wilson at 3pm. The traverse took us about 2.5 hours to complete. We ate some food and prepared for what would likely be a terrible descent off Mt. Wilson back to Kilpacker Basin.
We had no desire of downclimbing the summit block crux, so we descended the way Jordan had descended two years prior - down a SW facing gully directly off the summit. We would descend a ways and cross over a rib to the right into another gully. We continued doing this until we were in a gully that spit us out into the basin (the other gullies got very steep and sketchy, so we kept crossing over). The condition in these gullies is just as you'd expect - somewhat loose rock that required careful foot placement and good balance. Finally we were out of the gully and back into the talus filled basin. I don't know if this was better or worse than the gully. The talus field did not have a route through it so we had to pick our way across until we would finally intersect with the morning's original route to El Diente. The talus and boulders in this field were loose and almost every single one would move under foot. There were a couple close calls that could have ended in an injured ankle/leg but we made it back to the trail mostly unscathed (minus a few scratches and bruises).
It felt so good to be back on a rock trail, and even better when we made it back to the nice forest trail. We put it in autopilot, trudged along, and pushed through the pain. It was at this point that we had 100% decided that we weren't doing Wilson Peak the next day. We were both too exhausted from such a long day that hiking and then driving back to Denver sounded like no fun at all. We had to put our headlamps back on about 2 miles from the trailhead as it started to get dark. Fourteen and a half hours after leaving our car that morning, we were finally back. I peeled off my boots and socks and we made our way to Telluride with hopes of getting some pizza at Brown Dog Pizza. Upon entering town we were shocked at the amount of people walking and biking the streets. Hmmmm. We walked down to Brown Dog and found that there was an hour wait for a table at 9:30 at night. Ummm, no thanks - we're starving. Turns out the Blues & Brews Festival was this weekend. Oops. We walked down the main street until we found a restaurant that looked pretty empty - Esperanza's Mexican Restaurant. In fact, we were the only ones there. The food was pretty good and the margaritas strong, but the next day Jordan had what appeared to possibly be a case of food poisoning. It definitely made for a long drive home, but we made it.
What started out as a rough trip for me both physically and mentally, ended as a highly successful one. I was a roller coaster of emotions and probably drove my husband crazy, but my ultimate "low" on El Diente made the "high" of the traverse even more exciting and rewarding. Despite not getting Wilson Peak, I accomplished (mostly) what I set out to do this weekend - my first of the four Great Traverses. I feel like I have grown as a hiker and have added "Completing the four Great Traverses" to my goal list in addition to completing the 14ers. I had always thought at least two of the traverses were out of my reach, but I now think otherwise. The traverse to Mt. Wilson taught me a lot about myself and my ability - for instance, apparently I like hanging off rock with hundreds of feet of air below me. Who knew?
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Alicia - thanks for the great report. I'm the old guy you and Jordan passed on the traverse - and you said you were having an exhilarating time. I didn't get back to my Kilpacker camp until almost 9:30 - a 15.5-hr day. For two people I met on the summits, it was peak 57. For me, it was the last of doing all the ”hard” ones. All the best, Bill Oliver, Colorado Springs
So cool that we were the two you met coming down from El Diente! What a long day, but so glad we did it. Bill Oliver was an inspiration at 71 years young! We didn't get back to camp until 9 that night! I finished on sunday on Wilson Peak, what a great weekend! Keep on pushing yourself!
Chief Blaze a Trail - you must be Justin, who shared the Mt W summit with me and two others at 4:00 pm. Congrats on also making Wilson Pk your 58-peak List Finish on Sunday - that's awesome. I was hoping to climb WP today (having mostly recovered), but the forecast Monday morning was 40% chance of rain in Telluride later on Monday. I'm happy to be safely home, and Wilson Pk will bring me back next year to the amazing San Juans. We were all blessed to have perfect weather for a very long day Sat - and blessed to have 14ers.com route descriptions and trip reports. Way to go, Bill Middlebrook! Cheers, Bill Oliver
It was so great meeting all 3 of you that day! Bill - 71?! I would not have guessed!!! Great job!!!
Justin - congrats again on finishing! What a long weekend!
mojah - The weather was fantastic. We all couldn't have asked for a better day. Thank goodness it was so great or we may not have gotten the traverse in!
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