REDCLIFF
(13,642')July 6, 2010
By Tim Briese
6.4 miles, 2900' elevation gain, 8:00 roundtrip time
Teresa and I left Gunnison at 5:15 a.m. and headed for the trailhead. We went up the Cimmaron Road past Silver Jack Reservoir and continued south on FR 860 to the end of the road, four wheeling the last mile or so. This beautiful area has become one of my favorite places in Colorado in recent years so I was really looking forward to this climb.
At 7:45 a.m. we headed south on the excellent trail that goes up the West Fork of the Cimarron Valley. It was a beautiful clear morning and frost adorned the luxurious grass growing along the trail. A herd of cattle ambled across a meadow. Coxcomb and Redcliff towered majestically above the head of the valley in the early morning light.
We briskly hiked up the trail to the head of the valley and left the trail at timberline, or about 11,400 feet elevation, and headed left up the steep slope toward the Coxcomb/Redcliff saddle. The easy part was over, because ahead of us lay a 2200' foot climb in about one mile to the summit! We bushwhacked up a nice route along a steep drainage, staying on grassy slopes for the most part. We skirted around banks of snow in a couple of places, and were glad there was not more snow to deal with. We paused often to enjoy the magnificent views all around on this pristine morning.
We followed a climbers trail up a steep slope toward a gap in some cliff bands a little to the left of the saddle. This route went well but it was very steep and loose near the cliffs and we found ourselves hanging onto the cliff walls for support. After climbing through the gap between the cliffs we continued on steep grass up to the 13,150' saddle. The saddle was quite a spectacular place, offering a point blank view of magnificent Coxcomb as well as the slopes up to Redcliff.
After a short break at the saddle we headed up the slopes for the remaining 500 foot climb to the summit, where we arrived at 12:25. The surprisingly small summit was an exhilarating vantage point from which to observe the surrounding magnificent scenery, including Wetterhorn, Coxcomb, and Uncompahgre peaks. We were the 7th and 8th climbers to sign the summit register so far this year. The beautiful weather continued to hold so we basked in the pleasant sunshine while soaking up the views for 45 minutes before taking our leave of the summit.
We took our time on the descent and proceeded gradually back down the steep scree and grass. Clouds finally began to fill the sky when we got back down into the valley and a few sprinkles fell on us. We met a half dozen casual hikers as we neared the trailhead, the only other people we saw on the trail today. We returned to the truck at 3:45 and headed over Owl Creek Pass to Ridgway.
