MATTERHORN PEAK (13,590’)

August 8, 2011

By Tim Briese

6.0 miles roundtrip, 2900’ elevation gain, 6:00 roundtrip time

I drove to the 4WD Matterhorn Creek Trailhead at 10,720 feet with my wife Teresa and lab Abby on this beautiful August morning. At 7:10 we headed up the well worn trail along roaring Matterhorn Creek. It was quite cold at first and frost glistened on the grass. We climbed steadily up into the grassy basin below Wetterhorn and Matterhorn Peaks.

View of Matterhorn as we approached

 Wildflowers glowed vibrantly in the early morning sunshine. It is always a scenic treat to visit this beautiful place. We passed the Wetterhorn trail turnoff and continued on the main trail up to 12,200 feet. Teresa usually accompanies me to the summit on these climbs but today she had other interests and found a splendid grassy spot near a tiny creek to relax and read a book she had brought along while I headed up the long grassy slope toward Matterhorn.

the grassy slope to Matterhorn

 The views of Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn grew more spectacular as I climbed higher up the slanting flowery meadow.

wetterhorn peak

When I approached the summit the pleasant grassy slope gave way to a rocky ridge.

the rocky ridge to the summit

In short order I finished the climb with a minor class 3 scramble, and stepped on top of the small summit at 10:15. What a gorgeous day to be on top of a mountain! It was pleasant and calm, without a cloud in the sky. The air was so clear today that I could see all the way to the Blue Mountains in Utah.

view of wetterhorn peak from the summit

view of uncompahgre peak from the summit

The summit register revealed that Matterhorn is a rather popular climb for a 13er, with about 75 visitors so far this year. After a pleasant half hour I left the top and made the easy descent back down to Teresa and Abby. I wanted her to see the incredible view of Uncompahgre from this area so we took a little side trip and hiked a half mile up the trail to the east to a broad 12,450 foot saddle where Uncompahgre stood grandly before us. We retraced our steps back down through the basin and stopped at timberline to visit with a couple coming up the trail with their teenage daughter and small dog. The girl wanted to "climb a mountain" and they asked what the trail to Wetterhorn was like so I informed them about the difficulties of that climb. We continued on down the trail and returned to the truck at 1:10, leaving us plenty of time to drive home that afternoon.  Chronic illness limited my climbing considerably this year, but I was starting to feel somewhat better now and this easy peak served as a nice test run. I was pleased to pass the test.