Traverse: Gladstone Peak to Mt. Wilson?

[jared_j]

I'm curious about the possibility of a traverse from Gladstone Peak to Mt. Wilson (not Wilson Peak). That is, descending a southwest ridge off of Gladstone to a prominent col, and ascending the northeast ridge of Mt. Wilson. I haven't turned up any info on this searching, only info about traversing Gladstone Peak and Wilson Peak.

Anyone done this? Looks like there could be very steep sections, as this image suggests (showing Gladstone just left of center and Mt Wilson right of center) http://images.summitpost.org/large/732184.JPG.

My intuition from the image is that there's probably sections of 5th class that are crumbly and sucky. But figured it was worth asking about anyway. Does anyone know if it goes at 4th class or under?

Thanks!

[Scott P]

Back in July 2001, I tried it. I was alone, so found it too intimidating. It was quite loose and harder than the El Diente-Wilson Traverse, for example. It may be best to do it on snow, though it's steep enough that you will probably want to rope a few sections.

[Garrett]

I agree with Scott P snow would probably help and you'll probably need a rope. It's pretty steep on that side and I would guess you'll want to rap in a few places.

[CO Native]

Looks pretty rugged.

[jared_j]

Thanks, all. This is what I figured. If it went simply, there'd probably already be reports of people doing a massive ridgeline enchainment of the 4 peaks.

[geojed]

Staying ridge proper would be gnarly. The couloir with the red line in the pic below will get you very easily down off Gladstone across the glacier and to 13,400' on Mt Wilson's NE Ridge Route. I have a TR from last Labor Day where I almost did Mt Wilson from this 13,400' point after doing WP-Gladstone and descending that couloir. I have several pictures of the couloir in the TR. http://14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=14273" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
If weather had been perfect, I would've done all 4 peaks that day, but as you can see from that picture, storms were building!

16_2013090509432511_l.jpg (141.09 KiB) Viewed 1293 times

[jared_j]

Thanks, geojed! That looks like a viable alternative in the right conditions.

[Mark A Steiner]

You had good lighting and a steady hand to highlight those vivid rock colorations, geojed. Fine camera job.

[DaveLanders]

Rosebrough's San Juans guide mentions that the southwest ridge of Gladstone was climbed by George Bell.
It doesn't say when, or give a difficulty rating. (This is the same George Bell who did the first ascent of
Sunlight Spire; his son is also an active climber.)

[ChrisG]

I'm not sure what the climbing difficulty rating for Gladstone Peak is (a minimum of 4, possibly? No routes for Gladstone have been added to its 13ers page), but it sure looks like a cool spot for a 360 pano!

Too bad the San Juans have only one pano raken (Half Peak). Does difficulty have anything to do with it?

[BillMiddlebrook]

Too bad the San Juans have only one pano raken (Half Peak). Does difficulty have anything to do with it?

Nope, just gas money.

[d_baker]

Too bad the San Juans have only one pano raken (Half Peak).

This pano is pretty cool. Make sure you scroll to the side.

Bill, do we need to start a gas fund for you?