Pt 6965 in Waterton Canyon

Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
Forum rules
  • This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
  • Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
  • Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
  • Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
    For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
Post Reply
User avatar
boudreaux
Posts: 621
Joined: 5/17/2012
14ers: 57 
13ers: 113
Trip Reports (11)
 

Pt 6965 in Waterton Canyon

Post by boudreaux »

I don't always climb 14ers, so this is what I did to get a little exercise on Monday. Rode the bike 4.3 miles into the canyon to the Rattlesnake picnic shelter and Mill Gulch, climbed the long north ridge to the summit, the scrub was thick and nasty, leaving me bloody and battered. You don't wear your best gear, blue jeans and a t-shirt worked well. Make lots of noise to scare off any critters that might be nearby, I usually break the low hanging branches off trees or bang sticks together with my favorite baseball beat ending with "Tulo" It was a 2 hour climb along the sometimes rugged ridge, but mostly it was just the scrub. The summit has no views of any kind and choked with scrub too, you can barely see Strontia Springs Res to the west. Lacking time, I just went straight down slope to the Waterton Canyon road, dropping down a steep bank from a hanging gulch. I didn't choose too wisely on the correct gulch to drop into, I was hoping it wouldn't lead me to a cliff, but it was all good in the end. That downclimb took 48 minutes! Your always glad to be back on the road, almost to the point of kissing it!

Pt 6965
Image

The summit
Image

Rugged terrain
Image

Blood and tears
Image

some new blood in the canyon
Image
Last edited by boudreaux on Sun Nov 04, 2012 8:01 am, edited 2 times in total.
Ragin Cajun
User avatar
Derek
Posts: 1156
Joined: 5/22/2006
Trip Reports (57)
 
Contact:

Re: Pt 6965 in Waterton Canyon

Post by Derek »

Thanks for posting!

I've heard a few horror stories of evil scrub oak trying to climb 6965. (As well as the peak to the north...7100 I believe?) I wanted to head there a while back, but it was when access to the canyon was still closed.

I seem to recall you are a Goat Mt fan, I bet the closure was annoying for you!

--D
User avatar
dsunwall
Posts: 808
Joined: 5/7/2007
14ers: 58  58 
13ers: 399
Trip Reports (1)
 

Re: Pt 6965 in Waterton Canyon

Post by dsunwall »

for a really good time, make the traverse from 6965 to 7100. :twisted:
User avatar
Derek
Posts: 1156
Joined: 5/22/2006
Trip Reports (57)
 
Contact:

Re: Pt 6965 in Waterton Canyon

Post by Derek »

dsunwall wrote:for a really good time, make the traverse from 6965 to 7100
Well that looks just awful. Terrifyingly awful.
User avatar
boudreaux
Posts: 621
Joined: 5/17/2012
14ers: 57 
13ers: 113
Trip Reports (11)
 

Re: Pt 6965 in Waterton Canyon

Post by boudreaux »

Yep, going for the grid on Goat, probably the only grid I ever do!

Is it easier do a traverse over to 7100 from 6965 along that ridge or just go back down into Mill Gulch and climb up the northside to 7100? Does it really matter, it's gonna be hell anyway! I did 7100 a couple months back from the river at the overhead conduit, getting over the canal wall was hard. If I remember, I'll put a register on each, they're lonely little summits!

Never seen so much bear sign in my life in the canyon, they gorged on the cherries this year!
Ragin Cajun
Post Reply