GLADSTONE PEAK
13,913'
July 29, 2005
By Tim Briese
Brian and I were turned back on Gladstone the year before, one of our rare misses on a peak attempt. On that ill-fated attempt we arrived early in the morning at the Silver Pick Trailhead, only to find a sign advising us that this route had been closed by landowner Rusty Nichols. After a brief discussion we drove to the Sunshine Mesa Trailhead and proceeded to hike to the peak on the longer Bilk Basin approach, but the delayed start caused us to be turned back by threatening weather at about 12,700'. This was quite disappointing, of course, but at least we were now armed with a familiarity with the route all the way into Upper Bilk Basin. We were determined to get Gladstone this time!
Brian, Jason, and I rose early and left the Ridgway Lodge a little before 4 a.m. and drove to the Sunshine Mesa Trailhead. It was a little tough starting so early after our long day of climbing Thunder Pyramid and then driving all the way from Aspen yesterday, but we were motivated to achieve our objective today. We left the trailhead at 5:10 and hiked in the dark for a while with our headlamps. I was expecting a rather easy climb today compared to what we had done the day before, but it turned out to be tougher than I expected.
We hiked up the Lizard Head Trail past waterfalls cascading down Bilk Creek, and were treated to our first view of Gladstone to the southwest when we broke out of the trees at 11,000'. We walked across a snowfield in Lower Bilk Basin, the remnant of an avalanche resulting from prodigious snow in the San Juans the past winter. We marveled at broken trees and branches lying twisted upon the snow, after being tossed around like little sticks by the powerful avalanche. In Lower Bilk Basin we left the Lizard Head Trail and switchbacked up an old overgrown mining road, climbing up through enchanting flowery meadows in the early morning sunshine. At 7:45 we reached a charming little lake in Upper Bilk Basin at 12,000', and stopped for a nice break. Lizard Head was a striking sight off to the southeast.
We found a route up the steep slope southwest of the lake on talus and grass, and soon arrived in a snowy bowl directly below Gladstone at 12,700'. This was the point at which Brian and I were forced to turn back by deteriorating weather last year. Before our climb today I had been concerned that excessive snow might make this upper portion of the climb more challenging. There was indeed plenty of it still lying in the upper basin.
The standard route entails climbing west to a 13,140' saddle on Gladstone=s north ridge and then following the rough ridge a half mile south to the summit. Brian and I had crampons along and decided to climb directly southwest up the glacier on Gladstone=s north face to reach the ridge much closer to the summit. Jason didn=t have crampons with him but managed to get by with his ice axe on a lower route. I had never used crampons before in my life, and at first found it quite fun ascending on the snow. However, as the angle became steeper and steeper I became a little uneasy and clutched my ice axe tightly in case I slipped and fell. We climbed about 600 feet on the snow before reaching bare, loose rocks about 200 feet below the crest of the ridge. It was rather precarious climbing over these rocks up to the crest because many of them were prone to sliding on the steep slope.
We were aware of Rusty Nichols= mining claim on Gladstone=s north ridge on which access was prohibited, and we wanted to avoid it. Its location is unmarked and difficult to determine with any certainty, but nevertheless, we believe we most likely avoided it by climbing up the snow to reach the ridge crest well south of the saddle.
As we began to climb up the ridge we were startled by a blood-curdling shriek that reverberated through the basin, and our eyes were drawn to its source, a shadowy figure standing on Gladstone=s summit a few hundred yards away. A few moments later the howling shriek was repeated. It was quite a shock to see anyone else in this wild place, let alone someone displaying such bizarre behavior! A few minutes later the mysterious figure began carving turns on skis down the steep snow below the summit! Then he climbed back up to a point on Gladstone=s east ridge and skied down again. We found out the next day from our Dallas Peak guide that this skier was a local eccentric and legendary skier from Ophir, known as AJaime@ .
The rock on the Class 3 ridge was very loose and precarious, and we found it necessary to inch along tediously using extreme caution. It was one of the worst and most hazardous ridges that I could ever recall being on. It would certainly be a poor place to be if the weather were threatening! Fortunately we had clear blue skies today, though. Brian and I had considered making a dash up the ridge last year with bad weather approaching, but I noted now that such an attempt would have been foolhardy, because the ridge is much more difficult and time-consuming to climb than it appears from below. When the going seemed too rough on the crest of the ridge we dropped down a little on its left side. That seemed rather dangerous to me, though, because of the loose rocks that teetered above. It was nice to have our helmets on.
At 11:15 we finally scampered up to the airy summit. It was a fine perch to enjoy on this beautiful day, with great surrounding views of Mt. Wilson, Lizard Head, and Wilson Peak. After half an hour we left and began our descent. We found that the going was a little easier right on the crest of the rugged ridge than it was dropping below to the east, as we had done on the ascent. As soon as we reached a point where it was feasible to drop off the ridge to the snow below on the right, Jason did so and quickly glissaded to the basin below. Brian and I were a little uncomfortable with the very loose rock from the ridge crest down to the snow, so we continued a little further down the ridge until we found an easier place to get down to the snow and then glissaded down as well. Unfortunately Brian jammed his ice axe into his ribs while glissading and suffered a nasty bruise. We rejoined Jason at the far end of the upper basin and together proceeded down a very steep but reasonable route to the lake. We arrived there at 2 p.m. and treated ourselves to a relaxing break.
The descent from the lake was a pleasant one, down grassy slopes carpeted with wildflowers that glowed in the afternoon sunlight. Gladstone rose majestically over the ridge behind us to the southwest. On the trail below down through the woods we enjoyed colorful columbines and fine views of the falls of Bilk Creek, sights we had largely missed in the darkness and twilight on the way up in the morning. How good it was to be hiking in this beautiful part of the state once again!
At 4 p.m. we tramped back to the trailhead, completing the 13 mile, 4300' hike in about 11 hours. After returning to Ridgway we feasted that evening on a delicious Mexican dinner at the Adobe Inn. We reveled in our successful climb of Gladstone, and discussed our anticipated climb of Dallas Peak the next day.
