PURGATOIRE PEAK
(13,676')ALAMOSITO PEAK
(13,466')VERMEJO PEAK
(13,723')July 12, 2008
By Tim Briese
7 1/2 miles, 3800' elevation gain, 6:15 roundtrip time
These peaks lie on the private Cielo Vista Ranch in the southern part of the state near San Luis. Brian suggested we include them on our climbing itinerary this year so I contacted the ranch to inquire about details. I found a Texas phone number for the ranch on the internet and called and spoke to a very pleasant and accommodating woman named Carole. She said that due to very low demand for climbing these peaks they were offering only one day this summer on which they could be climbed, and only if at least five climbers signed up. The date didn=t work in our schedule so I asked if we could climb on another day if we could round up a party of at least five people. After checking with the owner she called me back a couple of days later and said that would be fine. Brian promptly went to work and e-mailed an invitation to several 14erWorld members whom he considered likely candidates and in short order we had the required number of climbers and everything was a go.
There were nine climbers in our group. Besides Brian and myself the 14erWorlders included Ryan Kowalski, Pete Krzanowsky, Dominic Meiser, Mike Rodenak, and Sarah Thompson. Jim Mallory intended to join us as well and drove down to the ranch after getting off work but unfortunately arrived too late after the ranch gate was closed and everyone was gone. Also climbing with us were Jim Patrick and Mike Bromberg, who had apparently contacted the ranch on their own and were offered the chance to climb with our group. Interestingly, Brian and I had met Jim on Baldy Alto last year and Brian remembered Mike from a climb over ten years ago.
After climbing the Kelso Ridge on Torreys Peak on Friday I drove down to San Luis to meet Brian the evening before the climb. We stayed at a motel in town and early the next morning drove out to the ranch. We arrived at the gate at 5:30 a.m. and met our fellow climbers who had car camped there overnight. A few minutes before six the friendly ranch manager, Carlos, drove out to unlock the gate and escorted us onto the ranch. We formed a line at the ranch office to check in and pay our climbing fee of $150 each. There was also a group there climbing Culebra Peak today so the line was somewhat lengthy. After check-in Carlos led a caravan of those of us who were climbing the 13ers back off the ranch and several miles south to another ranch entrance where he directed us to drive up an old logging road toward our peaks.
We followed the steep but relatively smooth logging road for about three and a half miles up to a highpoint near timberline before descending steeply into the Alamosito Creek drainage. The entire drive could probably be done with a two wheel drive vehicle in dry conditions except possibly for returning up that last steep hill. Once in the drainage we took a sharp right and drove a short distance to a meadow where we parked to begin the climb. The elevation here was about 11,600 feet. We had a copy of an excellent trip report by Duane Nelson which was quite helpful in getting to this point as well as for the climb itself.
We all headed off to the east up the drainage through the woods at 7:50. I fretted a bit about such a late start and hoped the weather would hold long enough for us to get these peaks climbed, especially considering the amount of money we had paid for the opportunity to do so! We would have started considerably earlier if we had the choice but that was beyond our control today. We soon broke out of the last of the trees and aimed for the obvious saddle between Alamosito and Purgatoire at the head of the drainage. The younger, energetic climbers surged ahead but we all made good time in reaching the 12,800 foot saddle, except for Mike Bromberg, who started a little after the rest of us and was lagging way behind. Brian and I arrived at the saddle a few minutes after the rest of the party, at about 8:40. After a brief rest we proceeded up the ridge to Purgatoire. The 800 foot climb was quite easy and there was even a faint trail in places. We arrived on the expansive summit at 9:25 and visited with the others a bit and took a group photo. It was obvious by now that there was quite a disparity in climbing speed in our group so Brian and I encouraged the younger climbers to go on ahead at their own pace and not worry about us. They wanted to climb a nearby 12er in addition to the three 13ers if possible and we didn=t want to slow them down.
After a few minutes we left for Alamosito and headed back down to the saddle. The younger climbers flew on ahead while Brian, Jim, and I hiked together for a while. We climbed 600 feet up the ridge from the saddle to Alamosito, where we arrived at 10:30. Clouds were darkening and it was still some distance over to Vermejo so we left after only a short break and headed down to the Alamosito/Vermejo saddle. The descent was a little rocky for a stretch but mostly smooth going. Jim began to pull away and Brian and I hiked the rest of the day by ourselves. It became abundantly clear to me today that climbing speed is inversely proportional to age. The younger climbers who were in their thirties, or thereabouts, flew on ahead while the three of us who had passed the half century mark in recent years lagged behind, and 60 year old Mike Bromberg brought up the distant rear.
We hiked across the broad 12,900 foot saddle and headed up the ridge toward Vermejo. At first we stayed mostly on grass but finished the last few hundred feet on a talus slope. We met the fleet climbers coming down this slope as we ascended. Once atop the summit ridge we crossed over a false summit and hastily made our way a quarter of a mile on easy terrain to the true summit. We met Jim Patrick returning along this ridge and we did not see him again today.
We stepped on top of Vermejo at 11:55 and quickly took a snack break and signed the summit register. Clouds began to engulf the summit and a few raindrops fell from the sky but so far we heard no thunder. After ten minutes we left the top and made our way back down to the saddle where we met Mike Bromberg on his way up. We did not care to climb back up over the summit of Alamosito so we descended to the west from the saddle into the Vallejos Creek drainage on steep grass. Most of the north slope of Alamosito consisted of a nasty-looking scree and talus slope which we wanted to avoid, so we dropped 800 feet to about 12,100 feet and then contoured southwest on easy terrain below the talus slope toward a 12,300 foot saddle between Alamosito and Pt. 12,754. Our aim was to go over this saddle to return to the Alamosito Creek drainage without dropping all the way down to the marshy basin below and giving up too much elevation gain in getting to the saddle. This route worked out quite well, with even a faint trail to follow part of the way. While nearing the saddle we heard and saw some of the members of our party coming down the ridge after climbing Pt. 12,754.
We descended from the saddle on easy grass and headed back down the drainage to the truck, where we arrived at 2:05. The others returned a few minutes later and we sat around and visited for twenty minutes or so. We drove back down to the ranch entrance and signed out and afterwards joined the others in San Luis for a Mexican dinner. After dropping Brian off at his car at the motel I headed for home, where I arrived about 7:30 that evening.
