San Juan 13er recommendation

Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
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ahrendse
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San Juan 13er recommendation

Post by ahrendse »

Looking to do a 13er this upcoming week/end somewhere in the northern San Juan range. Looking for something relatively short in length (6-10 miles) and class 3 or less. Any suggestions to help narrow the research a bit?
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Jon Frohlich
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Re: San Juan 13er recommendation

Post by Jon Frohlich »

Northern San Juans is a pretty big area. Lake City? Ouray? Silverton? Near San Luis? Do you have 4wd or not? More detail might help narrow down some ideas.
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ahrendse
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Re: San Juan 13er recommendation

Post by ahrendse »

I do have 4wd. I would say something near Ouray/Silverton.
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sheller
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Re: San Juan 13er recommendation

Post by sheller »

It is hard to beat the Ice Lakes. Can choose from Golden Horn, Vermillion or Fuller peak. Just outside of Silverton.
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Re: San Juan 13er recommendation

Post by Tony1 »

A little south of Silverton, but the Grand Turk/Sultan combo from Little Molas Lake right off 550 looks like a good one (class 2). I'm thinking of doing it Friday.
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TravelingMatt
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Re: San Juan 13er recommendation

Post by TravelingMatt »

Grand Turk/Sultan is really class 1 without a trail for the first mile or so. Easy peasy.

Snowdon is Class 3 near the summit, but the rock is solid and a trail exists all the way to the ridge. A nice little outing.

The peaks above the Ice Lakes basin are still holding a good bit of snow. Only saw it from afar and you can probably get to the lakes fine, but summiting something will likely require substantial snow travel, especially Vermilion. Pics below.

With AWD you can start pretty high for a lot of the 13ers east and north of Silverton. The Kendalls, Brown, Tower, the peaks east of Highland Mary Lakes... can't go wrong.

Rolling has a couple of tricky creek crossings but the southeast ridge is very pretty.

I hope to hit a few 13ers near Sneffels in the next couple of days if the blister on my toe cooperates. Give me some time and I may have a couple more ideas.

US Grant vicinity from Snowdon:
US Grant from Snowdon 7/3/16
US Grant from Snowdon 7/3/16
us_grant_jul3.jpg (211.49 KiB) Viewed 396 times
Vermilion group from Proposal Peak (unnamed 13330 south of Emory):
Vermilion Group 7/4/16
Vermilion Group 7/4/16
vermilion_jul4.jpg (212.17 KiB) Viewed 396 times
Sultan and Grand Turk looked mostly dry, although you may run into some snow on the ridge up to Sultan:
Sultan and Grand Turk 7/3/16
Sultan and Grand Turk 7/3/16
sultan_grandturk_jul3.jpg (311.43 KiB) Viewed 396 times
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ahrendse
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Re: San Juan 13er recommendation

Post by ahrendse »

Thanks for the recs! Much appreciated!
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Re: San Juan 13er recommendation

Post by snowypeaks »

Take a look at San Miguel.... a bit more off the beaten path!
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