The Wilsons?

[nunns]

On the thread about "finisher peaks" Wilson Peak and Mount Wilson seems to come up a lot. I am planning to attempt both (and El Diente) this August. I am curious as to whether they are substantially more difficult than some other 14ers rated at class 3+/4-, or this is just a result of small sample size, or perhaps the relative remoteness of the peaks. It seems from what I have read that Little Bear and Capitol are "tougher". Just curious.

Sean Nunn
Raytown MO

[JQDivide]

They deserve the C3 rating.

But the one thing you don't normally hear about with these peaks... the loose rocks.
This group is loose.
Not like Hour Glass, but still looser than most.

[nsaladin]

Out of the three, El Diente was the hardest for me. Did Mt. Wilson and El Diente the same day without traverse. Wilson Peak was the easiest of the three in my opinion.

Little Bear and Capitol are definitely harder. I would probably even add the Bells and Snowmass (west slopes) as harder than the Wilson group as well.

[CaptainSuburbia]

Mt Wilson was one of my last and unofficial finisher. This was mostly because of the 15+ hour roundtrip drive from FC and finding it hard to schedule, find partner, etc. The traverse was probably the easiest of the 4.

[Will_E]

You’re a machine Captain.

[disentangled]

My guess would be that it has less to do with difficulty and more to do with distance. The Wilson group and the Chicago Basin peaks are the farthest drive for anyone from Denver and north, so people naturally put them off.

[nunns]

Out of the three, El Diente was the hardest for me. Did Mt. Wilson and El Diente the same day without traverse. Wilson Peak was the easiest of the three in my opinion.

Little Bear and Capitol are definitely harder. I would probably even add the Bells and Snowmass (west slopes) as harder than the Wilson group as well.

Good to know. This was kind of my thought process also. I have done some class 3 peaks (Wetterhorn, Crestone Needle, Longs) and I am gearing up for the Wilsons in exactly the manner you describe above. (Also Chi basin peaks, but those don't sound crazy hard outside of the last 30 feet of Sunlight.) Then the plan is Little Bear and most of the Elks next summer, if God is gracious enough to allow all of that.

Also, post 2 about the fractured rock is a point well taken. I know the Wilsons are in the same group as high 13er Gladstone Peak, which is notorious for loose rock. One centennial finisher (High Pilgrim?) once told me that Gladstone was the scariest of all the centennials.

Sean Nunn

[Gubber13]

Not especially difficult, but very loose rock on the traverse. My wife and I took a break to chat some 30 feet below the ridge a couple years back, and with no warning the sofa sized rock (which she had been standing on for some time) just slid out. Luckily she just stepped off and nothing else went with it, but it sure as hell made us very wary of trusting anything up there.

[Trotter]

They deserve the C3 rating.

But the one thing you don't normally hear about with these peaks... the loose rocks.
This group is loose.
Not like Hour Glass, but still looser than most.

+1

While climbing the 13er next to Wilson, my buddy almost died when a car sized group of rocks on the ridge under his feet went with no warning. Then those rocks tore down across the trail 1000 feet below, luckily the lady down there almost below it dodged them.

On those peaks, test your holds.

[randalmartin]

One point I would make about Wilson Peak, a lot of the focus is about the final section after the ridge where you descend down and back up to the summit. I found that part straightforward and enjoyable. However, the section right after ROA saddle was more tricky. We didn't descend down off ROA but tried to not lose elevation. I found that section to be tricky an uncomfortable at some points.

We did El Diente --> Mt. Wilson traverse which was mostly tricky at the point where you downclimb towards the notch in the ridge just below the final pitch to the Summit of Mt. Wilson. Wouldn't want to do that downclimb with snow/ice on it.

[CaptainSuburbia]

One point I would make about Wilson Peak, a lot of the focus is about the final section after the ridge where you descend down and back up to the summit. I found that part straightforward and enjoyable. However, the section right after ROA saddle was more tricky. We didn't descend down off ROA but tried to not lose elevation. I found that section to be tricky an uncomfortable at some points.

Yeah the final climb to the summit of Wilson Peak is not that hard as my buddy shows here.

[dr_j]

I'll second the post about the section of Wilson Peak between the saddle and the false summit, it's not clearly defined, and easy to get into some uncomfortable exposure.

And as for Mt. Wilson, I did see a lady tumble after stepping on a loose rock descending in the direction of Kilpacker, she was pretty banged up and that is *not* a good place to have an injury. It's 5+ miles in from the parking, and for her, it was a difficult and likely painful trek back.