ellingwood pt to twin peaks?

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High_On_Thin_Air
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ellingwood pt to twin peaks?

Post by High_On_Thin_Air »

Has anyone on here done or heard of someone climbing ellingwood pt from zapata falls trailhead and traversing the ridgeline to twin peaks. The goal would be to descend back to the zapata trail but not sure if there's a doable path.

There probably is a way to get back down that way or the ridge but I don't have a GPS and would like a bit of assurance it goes before trying a long day ending in a bushwhack.

Thanks,
Nathan
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bdloftin77
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Re: ellingwood pt to twin peaks?

Post by bdloftin77 »

I did that! And I did Blanca as well. If you're very conservative, you can go back along to ridge to C3, and take that down. If you're slightly adventurous, you can take the gully at the low point on the ridge just before you start gaining tons of elevation for the Twin Peaks. If you're very adventurous, you can just go down the face between the Twin Peaks. (that's what I did) If you stay too far left, you'll encounter some very steep rock/dirt down lower, and will have to find a route through like I did. If you stay a bit more to the right, you can go down a more gentle grassy slope. Since it's all above treeline, you won't have to worry too much about undergrowth and downfall. If you keep heading east and slightly down into the valley, you'll hit the trail again, or at least be close to the lake if you go too far to the right.

I hope that was helpful.. Feel free to ask any questions or PM me if you'd like. I had a GPS with me, and could send you the tracks, just for you to look at if you'd like. It was 15-16 miles total, 11:45, and 7800 feet of gain total. (Ellingwood, Blanca, back over Ellingwood, along the ridge to the Twin Peaks, down the face between the Twin Peaks, and back to the TH). The ridge traverse isn't too bad.. It could be class 3/4 in places if you wanted it to be, or you could easily keep it to 2/2+. Took a decent amount of time, though. It might have been about 2 hours from Ellingwood along the ridge to the Twin Peaks.

The view from the Twin Peaks is amazing.. You can see Lindsey, Ellingwood, Blanca, Little Bear, the San Luis Valley, and the Crestone group/the northern Sangres.

There wasn't a path going down from the Twin Peaks. But as I got a little closer to the trail, I happened upon a very faint trail (beaten down grass), and some cairns I believe, that descended and connected with the main trail. Getting lost wouldn't have been a problem for me even if I didn't have my GPS.. I'd have just headed in the general direction of the trail, and eventually would have intersected it.
Last edited by bdloftin77 on Mon Sep 14, 2015 5:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: ellingwood pt to twin peaks?

Post by High_On_Thin_Air »

Thanks for the thorough reply! Very helpful indeed and that's what I was hoping to hear. I'd likely do what you did, maybe explore further down the ridge west toward the valley. Do you recall if it looked like a bad idea or not?
Thanks again!
Nathan
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Re: ellingwood pt to twin peaks?

Post by glenmiz »

I haven't been all the way up to Twin Peaks but have been up C2 to Ellingwood and back across the ridge to C3 and down. Although difficult, this part of the ridge is doable. We didn't follow the ridgeline which was recommended but contoured and dealt with VERY loose talus and boulders. I can't speak to the ridge from C3 up to Twin Peaks. Coming down C3 required skiing the 6" diameter talus which wasn't any better than C2 with fewer rocks but very steep and plenty of loose rock.

Here's our path and a few pictures that might be helpful. I don't think you'll have to whack any bushes on this path. Good luck.
GPS Track
GPS Track
GPS Track.jpg (54.93 KiB) Viewed 540 times
Looking west along the ridge (C2 near low point)
Looking west along the ridge (C2 near low point)
DSC04019__1442270629_65.128.103.227.jpg (136.45 KiB) Viewed 540 times
Looking up C3 (Twin Peaks on right)
Looking up C3 (Twin Peaks on right)
DSC04024__1442271003_65.128.103.227.jpg (49.58 KiB) Viewed 540 times
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Re: ellingwood pt to twin peaks?

Post by bdloftin77 »

Yep, both C2 and 3 are pretty steep and loose. C2 is steeper and narrower, but with mainly loose dirt and some loose rock. C3 is basically filled with loose, bigger rock. Having done a lot of elevation gain already, I tried contouring along a lot of the ridge to save some energy. Encountered a lot of loose rock... Staying on top of the ridge is better. From C3 to the S Twin Peak, as long as you stay at or near the top of the ridge, it isn't too bad.

I decided to go down the Twin Peaks E slope, because it saved me a lot of distance vs going back along the ridge, and it is just a grassy slope, with a few rocks here and there. If you stay a bit to the right, follow the grassy slope down further, you can bypass steeper rock/dirt areas on the left. From there back to the trail, you just continue down and to the left til you meet it.
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Re: ellingwood pt to twin peaks?

Post by bdloftin77 »

Looks like about 2 miles, and about two hours from Ellingwood to Twin Peak N.

EDIT: Further west toward the San Luis valley? I didn't really look or head that way much. It looked gentle at first, but I'm not sure further on. If you were talking about continuing along the Twin Peaks ridge northish of N Twin Peak back toward Zapata Falls.. That might be a possibility. I think that looked fairly gentle as well, but you'd have to check it out when you get there. I'm not sure if you'd be able to easily connect with the trail if you went along that ridge a ways.. You could find a place to descend, or it could get pretty loose and steep on its sides. Descending via the E face/slope of the Twin Peaks seemed the most logical for me, for returning at least.
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Re: ellingwood pt to twin peaks?

Post by TallGrass »

C3 (goes to the UPPER Zapata Lake) was the only one melted out when I was ther in July and had either dirt or small scree down the middle like a trail through larger stuff. Run the ridge to get it, don't try to traverse the steep loose dinner plate slate and slabs. The rock is different there versus the other jaunts twixt couloirs. There are GOOD cairns from USZL down to trail. You can also class2 California Peak via the North Fork Trail from the SZL one if you fork left midway to keep the ridge.
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Re: ellingwood pt to twin peaks?

Post by bdloftin77 »

When I went on July 25th of this year, I went up C2, and didn't have any snow issues. Some mountains (the Bells) may be getting a few inches of snow this week, so I'd watch the weather and look at conditions.
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Re: ellingwood pt to twin peaks?

Post by DaveLanders »

If you want to avoid the descent off Twin Peaks to South Zapata Lake, you can just stay on the north ridge of Twin Peaks, which is easy class 2. You can get off the ridge just before the Zapata Falls trail reaches the creek.
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