Mellow 13ers near Aspen

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jblyth
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Mellow 13ers near Aspen

Post by jblyth »

Hi all -

The wife, dog and I are headed to Aspen for a wedding this weekend. We're hoping to find a mellow 13er in the area we can bring our dog on, any suggestions? We've got Sopris or stuff around Indy Pass as backups, but I'd really prefer to be in the Elks if possible. High elevation/mileage is fine, just can't be higher than class 3 for the pooch.

Thanks!

Jason
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Re: Mellow 13ers near Aspen

Post by bergsteigen »

Electric Pass Peak and Leahy are pretty mellow 13ers, up the road to Castle.
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TravelingMatt
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Re: Mellow 13ers near Aspen

Post by TravelingMatt »

Electric Pass Peak. Class 1 to the summit, although there's one steep section below treeline and a short stretch of loose scree near the top.

Buckskin Benchmark is another option, although requires paying to go back to Maroon Lake.
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Re: Mellow 13ers near Aspen

Post by Scott P »

High elevation/mileage is fine, just can't be higher than class 3 for the pooch.
Is snow OK? I'm guessing 13ers might have a fair amount? I'm not sure which ones are mostly free of snow. The conditions reports from last weekend seem to indicate that there is a fair amount in the area. If you are OK with snow, it would be easier to choose 13ers (some of the easier ones have already been mentioned).

It's not a 13er, but Mount Thomas would be a good one. There will be some snow banks around, but it shouldn't be a problem.

Sopris (your backup plan) may be fine since the last part is on a ridge. We'll be up there this weekend.
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Re: Mellow 13ers near Aspen

Post by PaliKona »

TravelingMatt wrote:Electric Pass Peak. Class 1 to the summit, although there's one steep section below treeline and a short stretch of loose scree near the top.

Buckskin Benchmark is another option, although requires paying to go back to Maroon Lake.
Buckskin would be awesome but I think there's a lot of snow up there (based on what I saw on West Maroon Pass from below). Maybe check with the local ranger.
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Re: Mellow 13ers near Aspen

Post by Chicago Transplant »

Pearl and "Oyster" aka "West Pearl" are pretty mellow as well, class 2 anyway. You approach via the Pearl Pass road, so a good portion is a road hike. It was pretty snowy 2 weeks ago, see d_baker's trip report... but snow can be a good thing in the Elks because it hikes the loose talus :)

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Re: Mellow 13ers near Aspen

Post by Dave B »

Chicago Transplant wrote:Pearl and "Oyster" aka "West Pearl" are pretty mellow as well, class 2 anyway. You approach via the Pearl Pass road, so a good portion is a road hike. It was pretty snowy 2 weeks ago, see d_baker's trip report... but snow can be a good thing in the Elks because it hikes the loose talus :)

http://14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.ph ... ki=Include
^^ This was gonna be my suggestion.

Also, the view from atop the Geisslers near Indy Pass are pretty hard to beat, even if it's just a back-up.
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Re: Mellow 13ers near Aspen

Post by jblyth »

Thanks for all the great ideas everyone! Snow isn't an issue for us, so all of these are solid options. Much appreciated!
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