PT. 13,795
July 22, 2010
By Tim Briese
7.9 miles, 3500' elevation gain, 6:35 roundtrip time
Brian and I drove to the Silver Creek/Grizzly Gulch trailhead the night before the climb and camped in my truck. We thought we would find a number of other climbers at this popular trailhead but surprisingly we were the only ones there. I slept very soundly because I was not yet fully recovered from our marathon climb of Grizzly C the day before.
At 5:05 the next morning we headed up the Grizzly Gulch Trail, using our headlamps for the first 30 minutes or so. A heavy dampness hung in the air. We made good time up the excellent trail and at about 12,000 feet we left the trail and headed up a grassy slope to the south toward an unseen lake on a bench above at 12,350 feet. We were pleased to find a rather nice trail up to the lake. After a short break by the lake we headed south up a steep and loose rocky slope that turned out to be less unpleasant than it looked. At 12,900 feet we entered a lofty upper valley. It started to rain so we donned the appropriate gear to stay dry. A cloud ceiling at about 13,000 feet made visual orientation impossible and for a few minutes we weren= t sure where to go. Brian studied his GPS and I looked at my map and we soon concurred that the peak should be somewhere a short distance to the south. Fortunately the clouds soon lifted and we beheld the point towering above the basin. We quickly decided the easiest route would be to climb a grassy slope to the right up to the ridge and follow it around to the summit. The rain stopped while we hiked up the grass and we presently topped out at the crest of the ridge. From here it was an easy stroll along the grassy ridge over to the base of the impressively pointed summit pyramid. After a short rocky finish we stepped on top at 8:50.
Low clouds hung in the sky and numerous rainshowers could be seen surrounding us. We stayed on top long enough to have a quick snack and gaze around at the views, including the ridge over to Handies Peak and Redcloud and Sunshine Peaks across the valley.
At 9:10 we headed back down. The descent to the lake was fast and smooth, and the hike back down the trail to the truck was uneventful. We arrived at the trailhead about 11:40. There were numerous vehicles here now, and right next to us at his vehicle was D= Arcy Straub, a fellow member of FourteenerWorld, with whom we visited for a while. Then Brian and I drove into Lake City for pizza at Poker Alice= s, where Brian presented a discount coupon he had obtained here many, many years before, and management admirably honored it! After lunch we headed for Gunnison to prepare for climbing Castleabra, the next day= s adventure.
