American Peak from Boulder Gulch (via SE ridge)?

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Writhdar
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American Peak from Boulder Gulch (via SE ridge)?

Post by Writhdar »

We saw a trail in Boulder Gulch that went up to the SE ridge of American Peak and wondered if this would be a nice ridge hike to the peak. Has anyone done this?

The trail starts near/above timberline and goes up a steep grassy ramp to the SE to meet the ridge.

The ridge is between Boulder Gulch and North Snare Gulch/Basin. This Boulder Gulch is the one off Cottonwood Creek and opposite Square Gulch.
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sunny1
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Re: American Peak from Boulder Gulch (via SE ridge)?

Post by sunny1 »

I was in the area earlier this week.
I saw the trail you mention. I started at Cuba Gulch TH, came up the Snare Stairs on foot (road is closed), went NW into the east side of Snare Gulch.
On the TI map, 141, there is a SE ridge with point 13,468 on it - assume this is the ridge you are investigating?
From my view in the gulch between that ridge and the shorter more southerly ridge, the trail circled the SE ridge and ended in talus alongside the ridge, it wasn't on top of the ridge itself.
I don't recall seeing anything non-passable on that ridge.
But then, I may not be looking at what you are interested in! #-o

We went up into the small gulch between the short, lesser SE ridge and the longer SE ridge with Pt 13,468 on it, then angled west to access the lesser SE ridge to American Pk. The talus is quite intense there - slid a few times. The ridge was definitely more solid. Had a few adventures sidehilling on talus after accessing the ridge.

I don't know if this helps at all - hopefully someone else will chime in!

You may need to go check it out! Either way, have fun - beautiful area.
The older you get, the better you get, unless you're a banana.
Writhdar
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Re: American Peak from Boulder Gulch (via SE ridge)?

Post by Writhdar »

Thank you very much. BTW, we were there Tuesday and parked where the bullet-ridden truck used to be opposite Square Gulch.

On my maps, the point on the ridge is 13,466 but I think we are referring to the same ridge. The trail we saw in Boulder Gulch would reach the ridge at about 12,200' and it is a distance from there to Pt 13,466.
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Randy1983
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Re: American Peak from Boulder Gulch (via SE ridge)?

Post by Randy1983 »

If this is the ridge with unnamed point 13,466(that’s what my Gaia shows it as). I did this ridge from Cuba Gulch yesterday. Figured it would make a fun route to American and the rest of the Jones group. I wasn’t expecting it to be very technical. I was wrong. To me, this ridge is nearly all class 3, maybe 3+/4 depending on your tolerance for exposure and loose rock. Fun ridge. But even Roach doesn’t include it as a variation and I can’t really find any more info on it. Hope to hear if anyone else has done this and what they thought of it.
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Looking across the more gentle parts of the ridge.
Looking across the more gentle parts of the ridge.
A617EBF8-CFF5-4E82-B21A-23DB603300CB.jpeg (345.5 KiB) Viewed 837 times
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Marmot72
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Re: American Peak from Boulder Gulch (via SE ridge)?

Post by Marmot72 »

That ridge looks really fun! So American is one of those peaks that has thwarted me, because I thought I had skipped it when I first attempted from Snare years ago and only had 6-7 hours total, so I have down that I did Jones, Niagara and the double Crowns. A few years later, I did a spring climb up the Indy Couloir, but I got fooled by a really high cornice and, looking back up at it from American Basin, I realized that I had not climbed the high point.

However, now, after seeing this post and the ridge, and looking back at the topo, it seems likely that I have climbed this peak, as I stopped at a lake around 8:00 am, the trail led me to that lake, and the only such lake with a trail to it on the tops that seems to fit the vantage similar to the pictures I have seems to be the lake at approx at 12600 in upper Boulder Gulch.

But I'm not convinced. I might just have to climb this dang ridge to remove all doubt.
I have phenomenal route-finding abilities. Specifically, I have an uncanny knack for selecting the path of most resistance.
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