"EPAULIE" (13,530’)

ROSALIE PEAK (13,575’)

August 18, 2015

By Tim Briese

4.8 miles, 1700’ elevation gain, 3:40 roundtrip time

These two thirteeners are gentle peaks on a ridge that runs southeast from Mt. Evans.

I left home at 540 with my lab Abby and headed into the mountains and drove up the paved Mt. Evans road. There was no toll collected when I drove past the entrance station prior to 8 am. I had not been on this road in many years and found it rather rough in some places and definitely in need of repair.

view of rosalie peak, at the left, when i was part way up the road

I parked at a pull-off along the road at 13,200 feet to begin the hike. I could see my peaks off to the south.

the slopes up to epaulie, which is the middle of the three points visible.  rosalie is at the far left.

With such a high elevation start, mountain climbs don’t get much easier than this. The only problem was that a sharp cold front had just passed through the night before and it was cold and very windy, maybe 40 degrees or so, but it felt much colder with the howling gale. August wasn’t supposed to be so cold! I bundled up with my coat and all my wind gear and took off about 825. Abby ran all about exploring as I cruised across the easy terrain on the grassy and rocky tundra and headed up the gentle slope toward Epaulie.

looking back at my truck parked along the road, at the far right.  the summit of mt. evans is above.

there was a nice view of mt. bierstadt and abyss lake to the northwest.

I walked right past the gentle summit of Epaulet Mountain, an unranked peak only seven feet lower than Epaulie, choosing because of the brutal conditions to ignore it for now in favor of the two ranked peaks that I was going after.

on the slope approaching the summit of epaulie

I reached the summit of Epaulie at 915 and stayed only five minutes. I carefully crawled up on the summit block to touch the topmost rock, crouching low due to the heavy wind.

the summit block of epaulie

Then it was time to head on to Rosalie.

view of rosalie from epaulie

The descent off Epaulie was a little steep but I found a nice route on grassy ramps to the south/southeast from the summit.

looking back at epaulie.  i went down the slope to the left of the summit because it  looked easier to descend than the one to the right.

I soon reached the 12,950 foot saddle between the peaks and headed up the easy grassy slopes to Rosalie. 

the gentle slope up to rosalie

I arrived on the summit of Rosalie at 1015. It seemed slightly less windy now but not by much.

looking back northwest from rosalie.  mt. evans is at the right, and mt. bierstadt is to the left, above the cairn.

the view to the south from the summit.  pikes peak is barely visible in the center in the haze.

some hardy tundra flowers near the summit

After ten minutes I left the top and headed back. When I neared the saddle I saw three climbers coming down off Epaulie headed for Rosalie. They had chosen a rougher descent route on the eastern side of Epaulie so I did not run into them as I went back up the easier slopes on the southern side of the peak.

abby on a rock checking things out

I hiked back up over Epaulie, chose once again to ignore Epaulet because of the unfavorable conditions, and returned to my truck at 1205. I had not been on Mt. Evans in a long time so I decided to drive on up the last few miles of the road to its summit before heading home. It was a little bit warmer and less windy by now. It was fun and interesting to revisit this peak again.

the summit of mt. evans

looking down at the parking area from the summit of evans.  rosalie is the gentle peak to the right.