COXCOMB PEAK
(13,656')August 22, 2007
By Tim Briese
Brian and I decided to go after the most difficult Bicentennial peaks, saving easier ones for later. This put Coxcomb Peak squarely in our sights. They don=t get much harder than this one.
I met Brian late in the afternoon in Gunnison and we followed each other west on Hwy. 50 to Cimarron, where we turned south onto the Cimarron Road and drove up a very scenic valley past Silver Jack Reservoir. We continued south on a road along the west fork of the Cimarron River, past the turnoff for Owl Creek Pass, until we reached the end of the two wheel drive section of the road. We left Brian=s vehicle here and four-wheeled in my truck an additional mile and half to check out the trailhead at the end of the road. Here we were treated to a splendid sunset view of Coxcomb at the head of the valley. We returned to the 2WD parking area to camp for the night. That evening we checked our climbing gear and reviewed some rope techniques in preparation for the climb the next day. I felt optimistic about our chances for a successful climb. We were armed with the proper gear and preparation, so the main thing we needed yet was a good weather day.
In order to bolster our chances with the weather we rose early at 3:30 in the morning, drove to the upper trailhead and hit the trail at 4:00 with our headlamps. Under a beautiful starry sky we briskly hiked up the fine trail to 12,500 foot West Fork Pass, arriving at 5:40, after hiking about three miles and climbing 1800 feet of elevation gain so far. We were actually a little ahead of schedule at this point because we desired daylight to see the terrain as we proceeded beyond the pass, so we took a 20 minute break while waiting for adequate light.
We descended on the trail south of the pass, studying the terrain on the left for a reasonable place to leave the trail and begin the ascent toward Coxcomb. Trip reports had cautioned us to not leave the trail too early. After descending about 400 feet in a half mile from the pass we rounded a rocky shoulder and found ourselves in a broad, grassy basin where the trail leveled off. We were treated to a spectacular view of Wetterhorn towering above to the southeast. This looked like a good place to leave the trail so we struck off uphill on grassy slopes to the northeast. At first I thought Coxcomb was the rocky ridge directly to the north, but after I carefully studied my topo map and Brian checked the bearing to the summit on his GPS, we determined that the summit ridge was actually northeast of us, mostly not visible from this location. We did an ascending traverse to the northeast on slopes of grass, then on increasingly rougher slopes of scree and talus to 12,800 feet. This route worked out quite well, but we discovered later on the descent that it would have gone even a bit better if we had stayed on the trail an additional quarter of a mile or so before beginning the climb toward the peak.
Above 12,800 feet we found a faint climber=s trail that we followed up through talus to the base of the summit block at 13,300 feet. We arrived here about 8:15. I had brought along copies of some photos that I had downloaded from SummitPost that proved quite helpful in identifying the prominent couloir that we were to climb in order to conquer the nearly impregnable summit block. We made a short Class 4 climb to get up into the bottom of the couloir and then identified a crack almost straight ahead that we would climb to gain the top of the summit block above. We noted a second straighter and steeper crack to the right that is often used for rappels on the descent. We climbed up into a small alcove at the base of the first crack and proceeded to don our helmets and harnesses. I went up the 50 foot crack first, finding it relatively easy to climb except for the awkwardness of taking my pack with me. We probably should have hoisted it up with the rope. Brian left his pack in the alcove but I took mine along because there was climbing gear in it that we needed to have with us. I was prepared to set protection in the Class 5.2 crack but never felt the need to do so. At the top of the crack I anchored myself to a rock at a place where numerous other slings had been left, then belayed Brian as he smoothly climbed up the crack.
We scampered east along the crest of the summit ridge about two hundred yards and quickly came to the second crux of the climb, the infamous notch. This obstacle seemed more intimidating to me than it had appeared in photos and trip reports. The near wall of the notch dropped vertically about 20 feet to a narrow base with sides sloping sharply away on both sides, and the opposite wall required an exposed Class 4 climb on the left to regain the summit ridge. The summit itself was a tantalizingly short distance away on the other side. There was a large rock conveniently located at the edge of the notch around which I set a sling and then rappeled to the base of the notch. Then I belayed Brian as he downclimbed the Class 5.6 wall. We carefully climbed a sloping ledge on the left out of the notch and then walked along the crest of the airy, exposed ridge a hundred yards to the summit, where we arrived at about 10:10 in the morning.
We were ecstatic when we arrived on the summit, and congratulated each other on climbing one of the hardest peaks we had ever done! We spent an exhilarating half hour on top gazing about at the splendid views. Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre looked particularly grand from this vantage point. There was also a fine view to the north of nearby Redcliff and of the valley we had hiked up in the darkness several hours before. The weather was holding up beautifully today, just what we needed for this climb. I would certainly not want to be rushed by deteriorating weather on this one!
We finally took leave of the splendid summit and hiked back along the ridge to the notch. We tied back into the rope and I went up the wall first, using the rope to aid my climbing a bit, and then I belayed Brian up. We opted to downclimb the crack we had come up rather than rappel down the other one, and so proceeded to belay each other back down to the alcove. From there we continued belaying each other all the way down to the base of the couloir below the Class 4 section, partly for convenience sake and partly for the fun of it.
It was now 12:30, and we took a well deserved break for lunch before continuing the descent. We followed a climber=s trail south from the summit block on talus, then scree and grass all the way down to the main trail in beautiful Wetterhorn Basin, rejoining the trail at a point some distance to the southeast of where we had left it in the morning. It was not much fun climbing the 400 feet back up to the pass, but it nevertheless helped to be buoyed along by the lightheartedness we felt after successfully climbing such a difficult peak. We descended from the pass back down into the scenic west fork of the Cimarron valley, pausing several times to turn back and gaze up at Coxcomb. It was nice to enjoy this pretty valley now in the daylight. We returned to the truck at 4 p.m., after covering about nine miles and climbing 3800 feet of elevation gain on this twelve hour outing. We drove over Owl Creek Pass to Ridgway, where we stayed that night, in anticipation of tackling Pilot Knob the next day.
