ARGENTINE PEAK
(13,738')June 29, 2007
By Tim Briese
I went on a pleasant mountain outing on a fine day in late June with my daughter Nicole to explore the Leavenworth Creek Valley and to climb Argentine Peak. We drove south of Georgetown on the Guanella Pass road about two and a half miles and then turned right onto the Waldorf Road. The first mile of the road was rather rough and steep, so we used four wheel drive here, but the route soon leveled off and became much smoother as it followed an abandoned railroad grade for several miles up the scenic valley. We passed the old Waldorf Mine at 11,600 feet, and continued south up the valley on a narrow jeep road. The road climbs all the way to Argentine Pass, at nearly 13,200 feet, but our progress was blocked by snow at about 12,300 feet. This was the point at which we parked and began our climb.
The summit of Argentine lay about a mile and a half to the south. At about 10:30 a.m. we left the truck and proceeded to hike cross country in the direction of the peak, crossing a bank of snow, then bushwhacking up grassy slopes all the way to the north ridge of the peak. Once we gained the crest of the broad ridge we turned to the left and gradually climbed about a quarter of a mile south to the summit. It was cool and pleasant on top, and we enjoyed the surrounding panoramas while we ate lunch. There were nice views of Grays and Torreys, as well as Evans and Bierstadt from this vantage point.
The descent back into the valley was quite enjoyable, as we hiked across the soft green carpet of tundra. We returned to the truck around 1:30 and headed back down the valley toward home.
