From the parking area, walk northeast a short distance up the road and pass the gate, near the Shoe Basin mine -
1. Continue 0.5 mile and turn left on an old mining road at 11,350' -
2. Follow this road for another 0.5 mile to reach a small junction, near 11,700' -
3. Turn right and continue west (
4) to reach a small mine area at 11,800' -
5. Here, cliffs block easy gain to the east ridge, so turn left and ascend southwest (
6) for over 0.1 mile. Once you're near 12,000' (
7), turn right (north) and hike to gain the crest of the east ridge, near 12,300' -
8.
The first major bump on the ridge looks gnarly, but it's fairly easy to keep the difficulty at Class 2. Continue to the base of this bump (
9) and start climbing. After a short distance, you'll encounter the crux area which contains some large talus and cliffs -
10. Locate an easy way
left under the cliffs (
11) and continue up to the left as you work your way around some small ledges and over loose rock -
12. With careful route-finding you can keep the difficulty at Class 2 and regain the ridge crest in short time -
13.
Continue west up the east ridge (
14 and
15) to reach the top of ridge where you can see the summit, to the southwest -
16 and
17. Walk 0.3 mile (
18) to reach the top -
19.
(WINTER) HOLD ON! If you don't have much high-elevation, winter climbing experience, be careful in your planning and take a partner. All 14er routes are more difficult and more dangerous in winter.
