Mt. Wilson -> El Diente Traverse

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painless4u2
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Re: Mt. Wilson -> El Diente Traverse

Post by painless4u2 »

Geckser wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 5:08 pm . I have heard the descent from El Diente back into Navajo Basin can be pretty grim, so I would avoid that if at all possible.
We backpacked into Navajo Basin to do the Mt. Wilson-El Diente traverse, descending from El Diente and it was pretty terrible. But we really enjoyed the traverse, and later climbed Wilson Peak from the Basin. All of it was great with the exception of that descent. Tough call.
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Re: Mt. Wilson -> El Diente Traverse

Post by Scott P »

KingHenryJames3rd wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 3:54 am I'm trying to plan my trip to do the traverse this summer. I was hoping some of you could provide some opinions on what you think is the best way to approach it.
I did it from Silverpick and Navajo Basin, but when the worst of the talus slopes were covered in snow. It was much more pleasant then than on my repeat ascent of Mt. Wilson from the north and without the snow. The north side routes on El Diente especially suck once the snow melts

If you know how to use an ice axe, and want to come from the north, those are great snow climbs and quite enjoyable. The traverse itself didn't have that much snow when I did it, but the routes up the two peaks did.

I don't know the south side routes though, but I did enjoy the north side routes as snow climbs. The snow climbing season is probably almost over for those routes though.
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Re: Mt. Wilson -> El Diente Traverse

Post by KingHenryJames3rd »

I want to thank everyone for the replies. I've got all the info I need now just need to make my decision! It will be my last of the Colorado great traverses and I look forward to the challenge but not the crappy rock.
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Re: Mt. Wilson -> El Diente Traverse

Post by cshanek »

Also did the traverse via late last summer. Camping was fantastic, nobody was around. The traverse was actually slower and a bit more exposed than I expected. We only had one section where we took a wrong turn, where I followed a route that looked good but then had to commit to 5th class stuff. My partner stayed a bit closer to the ridge and his path was much easier. You also have options for the final push up Mt. Wilson. We decided to descend the loose gully just South and West of Mt. Wilson, which was fine, but slow.
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Re: Mt. Wilson -> El Diente Traverse

Post by pbarn »

cshanek wrote: Tue Jun 22, 2021 9:16 am Also did the traverse via late last summer.
...via what?
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Re: Mt. Wilson -> El Diente Traverse

Post by Skimo95 »

Just my 2 cents... Navajo to buttress, followed by a descent of N slopes is a great route. The majority of the people I saw descending the north side, were completely off-trail, and hence all the bad talk on said route. If you are able to stick to the large talus down-scrambling and stay on the route it's perfectly fine. I have GPX if interested, agreed to do it in a day via Kilpacker would spare time

"Skimo95"
Last edited by Skimo95 on Tue Jun 22, 2021 3:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Mt. Wilson -> El Diente Traverse

Post by ltlFish99 »

When I have done this, it was from camp at Navajo lake.
We went up mt. Wilson 1st via the north slopes, then to ed, then back to Navajo lake.
One time there was still enough snow to glissade coming off ed. This made the descent much more enjoyable and saved a lot of time.
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Re: Mt. Wilson -> El Diente Traverse

Post by Phill the Thrill »

I've done this from both Navajo Lake and Kilpacker Basin, and I really like the Kilpacker experience more. We backpacked approx 90 min and set up camp with a beautiful view of El Diente, then climbed El Diente, traversed to Mt. Wilson, then descended the class 3 SW Slopes to Kilpacker and back to camp. Loved this trip!
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Re: Mt. Wilson -> El Diente Traverse

Post by DeTour »

Since we are still talking about this I’ll chime in to say I did the traverse from Kilpacker camp, same is Phil, and it was one of the very best days in the mountains for me. The exposure on the Mt. Wilson end OT the traverse is exhilarating, and the rock is solid until you descend MtW into Kilpacker. And our camp right at tree line in Kilpacker was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.
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Re: Mt. Wilson -> El Diente Traverse

Post by BillMiddlebrook »

Phill the Thrill wrote: Tue Jun 22, 2021 3:28 pm I've done this from both Navajo Lake and Kilpacker Basin, and I really like the Kilpacker experience more. We backpacked approx 90 min and set up camp with a beautiful view of El Diente, then climbed El Diente, traversed to Mt. Wilson, then descended the class 3 SW Slopes to Kilpacker and back to camp. Loved this trip!
Absolutely, no question, the best way to do the traverse in summer is via Kilpacker Basin. Up the ElD South Slopes to the summit->traverse to Mt. Wilson—>descent via MtW Southwest Slopes route.

It’s the way to go.
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Re: Mt. Wilson -> El Diente Traverse

Post by NatDog »

BillMiddlebrook wrote: Tue Jun 22, 2021 4:52 pm
Phill the Thrill wrote: Tue Jun 22, 2021 3:28 pm I've done this from both Navajo Lake and Kilpacker Basin, and I really like the Kilpacker experience more. We backpacked approx 90 min and set up camp with a beautiful view of El Diente, then climbed El Diente, traversed to Mt. Wilson, then descended the class 3 SW Slopes to Kilpacker and back to camp. Loved this trip!
Absolutely, no question, the best way to do the traverse in summer is via Kilpacker Basin. Up the ElD South Slopes to the summit->traverse to Mt. Wilson—>descent via MtW Southwest Slopes route.

It’s the way to go.
+1. Even better if you do this route in early summer in my opinion. My only time in Kilpacker was last weekend and we did the loop as described above. It was late enough in the season for the snow to be melted out up high on the traverse, but Kilpacker Basin was still covered so we were able to glissade about 1000' vertical coming down Mt. Wilson SW Slopes instead of having to deal with boulder hopping.
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Re: Mt. Wilson -> El Diente Traverse

Post by yaktoleft13 »

I'm contraction, here's a vote for Navajo. The N buttress on El D was a top 5 14er route for me, and the north slopes descent of Wilson wasn't really THAT bad. Haven't done kilpacker, but didn't look fun
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