HUMBOLDT PEAK
14,064 feet
September 1, 2003
By Tim Briese
South Colony Basin is one of Colorado’s spectacular places. My wife Teresa was eager to see this beautiful valley in the Sangre de Cristo Range after hearing glowing accounts of my adventures there for several years, so we planned an outing to go visit it.
We left home at 5:30 a.m. on Labor Day and drove into the mountains. Fog filled the Wet Mountain Valley around Westcliffe and unfortunately obscured the fine view of the Sangres rising above the valley to the west that can normally be seen. However, we drove up out of the fog into bright sunshine as we passed the two wheel drive trailhead and headed up the rough four wheel drive road toward the Basin. I was concerned that Teresa wouldn’t like this notoriously rough old road, which requires nearly an hour to cover its five mile length, but she found the four-wheeling exciting and adventurous! I had planned to drive only part of the way up the road and hike up the most rugged final two miles, but my Tundra handled it better than I expected so we decided to four-wheel all the way to the upper trailhead.
At 9 a.m. we reached the trailhead and struck off up the trail with our two labs Allie and Jorie in the bright golden sunshine. Our goal was to hike up into the basin and climb Humboldt Peak. It was a beautiful day to be in this magnificent place. The Crestone Needle loomed grandly above the valley to the northwest. We hiked past Lower South Colony Lake and continued to the upper lake where we stopped for an early lunch. A chilly wind blew from the northwest and I wondered how cold it would be up higher.
Presently we headed up the fine trail that switchbacks out of the basin toward the saddle on Humboldt’s west ridge. Jorie ran all about inspecting marmots that stood on rocks calling out their chirping warning cries. She ran far up steep slopes for a closer look, but they merely toyed with her, simply ducking into the rocks and vanishing when she approached. Three older men were coming up the trail just behind us and we stopped to visit with them when we reached the saddle. They were Californians on their first climbing expedition in Colorado. The next day they planned to tackle the technical east face of the Needle, a rather impressive undertaking indeed.
After a short break we headed up Humboldt’s west ridge. The ridge looked a little steep to Teresa, for this was only her sixth 14er, but she handled it like a veteran. We scrambled up on talus on the left side of the ridge before working our way over to the south side of the ridge where we found easier terrain. The wind almost miraculously died down and some foggy clouds began to drift in around the summits. The view of the Crestones across the valley to the west was stunning. On my first climb of Humboldt in 1997 I looked across at the rugged Crestones from this vantage point and was filled with chilling trepidation about the prospect of climbing them, which I went on to accomplish within the following year. It was fun for me to come back now and fully enjoy this incredible view without the burden of that dread.
Eventually we reached Humboldt’s false western summit at 13,900 feet and skirted around its southern side. The true summit was now visible a few hundred yards away. We followed a cairned trail across the talus and at 12:50 we stepped on top. It was quite a thrill to be there, especially for Teresa. We signed the register and gazed around at the magnificent views afforded from this fine vantage point. A few minutes later the Californians arrived.
I was surprised that the register showed only a half dozen or so visitors per day over this holiday weekend. I had expected to see far more people here. I suppose that the extremely rough access road tends to limit the number of climbers on Humboldt somewhat, compared to comparable peaks that are easier to get to.
After a few minutes we left the top and headed back down the ridge, pausing a couple of times to enjoy the grandeur of the moment. Clouds continued to build but posed no imminent threat. Teresa found the talus a little tedious to descend and was pleased to reach easier terrain lower on the ridge.
We saw a herd of elk in the valley below as we descended toward the upper lake. They slowly drifted off to the west away from us when they saw us approach. We found a nice grassy spot to rest near the lake and spent a few minutes observing the elk through my binoculars while they grazed about two hundred yards away.
At mid-afternoon the clouds dissipated and sunshine filled the spectacular basin. We lightheartedly hiked down the trail in the golden afternoon sunshine and arrived back at the trailhead at 4:45. We slowly proceeded to four-wheel back down the rough old road. It was surprising how some spots looked much rougher than they had on the drive up in the morning. After stopping for dinner in Westcliffe we drove back home that evening.
