CANBY MOUNTAIN
(13,478’)STONY PASS PEAK
(13,165’)July 28, 2013
By Tim Briese
Canby Mountain: 2.1 miles, 800’ elevation gain, 1:20 roundtrip time
Stony Pass Peak: 1.0 miles, 500’ elevation gain, 0:50 roundtrip time
The weather forecast for today sounded awful for mountain climbing. Rain all day, with precipitation chances at 90-100%! Any climbers in their right minds would have stayed home, but not Brian and I. We were crazy enough to go out and climb in spite of the elements. We selected two very easy peaks accessible from Stony Pass and were prepared to climb them in the rain if need be. We left Ridgway and drove to Silverton and went up the nice 4WD Stony Pass Road, with sprinkles or rain all the way. When we arrived at the 12,650 foot pass the temperature was a surprisingly moderate 55 degrees, but a stiff wind and light rain made it feel a whole lot colder. We parked at the pass, donned our gear, and embarked for Canby Mountain, whose summit lies scarcely a half mile north of the pass.
canby mountain from stony pass
We circled around to the right of a cliff band above the road and found a trail that we followed back to the left, or northwest, on a gentle ascending traverse on a grassy slope to a saddle west of Canby. From there we turned to the right and walked up a gentle ridge to the summit.
the gentle ridge up to canby's summit
We arrived on top at 9:20. We stayed just a few minutes, for there is not much to see or do on a rainy and windswept foggy summit. I was getting pretty chilled by the wind and light rain. At least there was no lightning yet today.
on the summit of canby
We hustled back down to the pass at 9:55 and jumped in the truck to warm up for a while, with the heater blasting at full force. After a while the rain let up a bit so at 10:20 we took off for Stony Pass Peak, which lies about a half mile south of the pass.
stony pass peak from the pass
We went cross country across some grassy tundra for a ways and up onto the peak’s gentle northeast ridge.
on the way to stony pass peak
We found a climbers trail up through a rocky area, then a bit more grass, and then made a short steep climb up the rocky summit ridge to the top.
view of my truck (the white one) at stony pass, and canby mountain above
brian on the summit. that is not fog obscuring the view, it is rain!
It rained all the way from the pass to the summit and I was still cold, having not fully warmed up in the truck. We arrived on top at 10:47 and left immediately. We scooted back to the truck and jumped in at 11:10 and headed to Silverton, where a fine lunch at Handlebars awaited us.
