PT. 13,768
September 6, 2008
By Tim Briese
10 miles, 3500' elevation gain, 8:20 roundtrip time
I left my camp along Highway 82 in the morning darkness and headed toward Leadville to climb Pt. 13,768. I found it necessary to come to an almost complete stop on the highway a few miles south of town to avoid hitting a large bull elk standing in the middle of the road gazing awkwardly into my headlights. After cruising over Tennessee Pass I drove up the Homestake Creek Road and the Missouri Creek Road toward my trailhead, which was harder to find than I expected. After passing the Fancy Lake Trailhead I continued up a steep hill on a rather rough road that was best suited for high clearance vehicles. After half a mile I turned right at a junction and continued three-fourths of a mile on a smoother road to a large flat parking area which was my trailhead. I describe more detail here than I usually do about getting to this trailhead because there are other roads in this area not shown on my Trails Illustrated map which confused me at first and delayed the start of my hike by over half an hour.
At 9 a.m. I left the parking area with my lab Allie and walked 50 yards north up a road to get on the rough Holy Cross City 4WD road which I followed uphill to the left. This road rivals the infamous Como Lake road in roughness in some places. Part way up the road I came upon three shabbily dressed fellows who were camped in the woods nearby and who were target shooting with pistols in the direction of the road where I was headed. I hollered to alert them that I was coming past and they promptly held their fire while I quickly strolled by.
After walking a mile and a half up the road I left it at a point where it began climbing uphill to the left and I continued up the valley on the Fall Creek Trail. After half a mile I passed beautiful Hunky Dory Lake and continued up the scenic valley on the nice trail into the Seven Sisters Lakes area. Just after hiking between two lakes at 12,150 feet I left the trail and began bushwhacking northwest up the slopes toward the Point. The time was now 11:15. The climb to the summit looked a little intimidating from here. The slope was peppered with cliff bands and smooth rock faces but I was able to weave my way upward staying on grassy ramps and benches most of the time. I found my way to an upper lake at 12,750 feet. This was a wild, rugged, and apparently seldom visited place. The lake was well guarded by rough rocks and cliffs, particularly on its northern end. After studying the terrain a moment I elected to go around its southern side. This route was partially marked with cairns which guided me up and over small cliffs which plunged into the icy water. I worked my way around to the west side of the lake and headed north up a talus slope toward the east ridge of the Point. Garratt and Martin suggest going up to the saddle on the peak=s south ridge but that route looked rougher to me, and there were also remnants of a snow cornice lining much of the south ridge which looked unappealing to deal with. I was pleasantly surprised to find the talus slope much more stable than it had looked from afar and made good time climbing up to the peak=s east ridge at 13,500 feet. I headed up the ridge and climbed around the south side of the summit block and stepped on top at 1:20.
It was cool and rather windy on top but marvelous views presented themselves all around in the incredibly clear air. A helicopter was circling around Holy Cross, which lay a mile and a half to the north, and I wondered if a search and rescue operation was going on. There was a fine view of Mt. Jackson to the northwest, which I studied for a few minutes with an eye toward a future climb. The Seven Sisters Lakes were spread out below to the southeast in the valley I had hiked up. I found a register on the summit and noted that I was only the seventh to sign it this year.
After half an hour I took my leave and headed down. To my surprise I saw a climber some distance away on the south ridge of the peak. It took me an hour and a half to return to the trail by the lake and I proceeded to saunter back down the valley on this beautiful September afternoon. When I got back down to the rough 4WD road I passed a jeep inching its way through a particularly rough spot through some big boulders. Two guys were standing beside it, cold beers in hand, observing its progress and guiding its driver, while a girl stood nearby filming the memorable event with a video camera mounted on a tripod. They grinned when I noted that AYou must have a better mechanic than I do!@ as I strolled by. I continued on down the road and returned to the trailhead at 5:20.
