Gladstone Ridge sits unassuming and alone between its fourteener neighbors Mount Yale and Mount Princeton. Surrounded by roads it nonetheless is a very overlooked peak, which is too bad because it's both easy and gorgeous.

After yesterday's big day nabbing the unnamed thirteeners west of Mount Princeton, and with afternoon snow rolling in, we were looking for something we could get up and down quickly in the morning. Gladstone Ridge nearby provided just such an easy day. We didn't want to ascend its north side, which most other reports describe, since we figured it'd be very snowy, so we pulled a route from Peakbagger done by Paul Stratmoen up Jonesy Gulch. Thanks for the inspiration, Paul. We drove up the road and passed a small parking area at the bottom of Jonesy Gulch (38.761483, -106.350717) but it was full. We drove a bit further and grabbed two small pulloffs on the side of the road, then just jumped into the forest heading north. (I forgot my phone in my car so all photos were taken by Whiley and Marisa.)

The lower portion of the route up Jonesy Gulch is a massive aspen glade. There's copious amounts of deadfall but because they're mostly small aspen instead of larger pine or spruce the going is easy.

The entire route from the road all the way to the summit is relatively steep - approximately 1,000 feet of gain per mile. The route can generally be described as "go up." That's part of the beauty of this thing, is the utter simplicity of it. It's almost impossible to go wrong or get lost. Numerous small streams bubble down the slopes of Jonesy Gulch, so many that they were impossible to keep track of as we wound our way up.

With things being consistently steep it sometimes made sense to use the trees as uphill assistance. Only in one short section of maybe 100 vertical feet did the route feel very steep, and this was obviously short lived. As we hiked the trees slowly changed from aspen to evergreen.

Our first goal was simply to reach an unnamed lake nestled high in the gulch. From this obvious waypoint we would continue generally northeast to the summit. There was a little snow to contend with, and a few postholes, but nothing beyond a mild annoyance. The lake was easy to find, we just followed the streams to their source. This would be quite a pleasant picnic spot, and you'd be almost guaranteed to have it all to yourself!

At the lake we discussed whether we wanted to continue all the way up the gulch and contour along the ridge for a longer, more scenic route or just go in as straight a line as possible.

We debated for only half a minute or so and decided to take the direct route since we'd been getting drizzled and snowed on intermittently all morning and dark clouds were building up to the west over Taylor Park.

We had a few hundred feet of semi-open trees/willows/tundra to hike before reaching treeline, where everything gave way to expansive tundra.

The summit wasn't visible from here and wouldn't be until we were almost on top of it, but the direction of travel was obvious. By now it was cold, windy, and blasting snow. The surrounding peaks kept oscillating between visible or not as the clouds swirled through the sky.

The summit came quickly today as we powered up the hill - less than two hours to the summit! There aren't many 13ers that can be climbed that quickly, so this would be a good one to do as an early morning/late afternoon ascent on an otherwise busy day.

With the mini-blizzard whipping around us we didn't spend long on top of Gladstone Ridge, just long enough to take some pictures and exchange fist bumps for another nice climb.

We flew down the upper mountain back to treeline, then slowed down a bit as we took a more direct route down, avoiding the lake. The initial section at treeline was quite steep and the snow had made the ground slick.

As we descended we'd pick a stream and follow it for a bit, then latch onto another and follow it, and then another, and another.

Pretty much all day we couldn't stop remarking about how beautiful this climb was. It's easily one of the more scenic climbs I've done in a while, and the level of effort required to get that scenery fix is next to nothing compared to many others.

We entered the aspen grove and just absorbed it as we descended. It was sunny and warm again, and the light filtering through onto the baby aspen buds was quite handsome. We reached the road barely an hour and ten minutes after leaving the summit, an overall lightning fast round trip climb. Gladstone's one of those easy peaks I'd probably do again and again, with or without partners or with or without a plan, just because. It struck a great balance of beauty and effort, and I think Jonesy Gulch to be a truly fine route and one that more people should climb.

Statistics

Climbers: Ben Feinstein (myself), Whiley H., Marisa W.
Trailhead: Chaffee County Road 344 (parking at 38.761483, -106.350717)
Total distance: 4.44 miles
Total elevation gain: 2,629 feet
Total time: 3:00:32
Peaks: One ranked thirteener

• Gladstone Ridge, 13,209'

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