T 0
(13,735')August 25, 2007
By Tim Briese
Brian and I left Ridgway at 4:40 a.m. and drove to the Blue Lakes Trailhead southwest of town. At 5:20 we began hiking up the fine Blue Lakes Trail in the dark with our headlamps. As the first bit of twilight began to appear after a while we could see the ghostly shape of Mt. Sneffels towering above to the southeast. We reached the lower lake at about 6:50, and walked past a silent, shivering backpacker standing in the trees outside of his tent. The elevation at the lake was about 11,000 feet, and we had climbed about 1700 feet in three and a half miles from the trailhead so far.
After a nice break we walked south along the western shore of the lake to a drainage that came in from the west, and then proceeded to bushwhack sharply uphill to the west along the south side of the drainage. We found good footing on steep grassy slopes in open areas amidst the woods about 200 feet south of the drainage. After climbing about 600 feet from the lake we angled northwest up more steep grass until the grade eased considerably at about 12,000 feet. From there it was an easy stroll west up a grassy drainage for a mile or so. We headed more or less due west from Lower Blue Lake toward Point 13,410, per an excellent trip report by Kathy Thomure we found on climber.org. The drainage eventually began to curve to the northwest but we kept our bearing to the west and climbed up onto a broad, gentle area at 12,600 feet. At this point we turned to the southwest and headed crosscountry directly toward T 0, which was now clearly visible on the ridge about a mile away. Hiking across this basin was generally fast and easy. I noticed many areas where the ground was littered with interesting flat, weathered pieces of rock surrounding the sparse low-growing tundra vegetation. I could not remember seeing this sort of rock in such a place before.
In short order we neared the base of the peak. After a brief break we proceeded to climb a steep 600 foot scree slope to a small saddle on the ridge east of T 0. This tedious climb took about half an hour. We found somewhat solid talus mixed with the scree on the right side of the slope which provided slightly better footing. From the saddle we headed up the ridge to the west toward the summit, which was about a quarter of a mile away. The rough ridge was quite loose and steep in places, but the difficulty never exceeded Class 2+.
We stepped on top at 10 a.m., and spent an exhilarating hour enjoying this beautiful spot. It was sunny and calm, with deep blue skies and unlimited visibility which enhanced the magnificent surrounding views. Mt. Sneffels stood grandly to the northeast beyond the basin we had hiked across. Along the ridge to the east was Dallas Peak, with its notorious summit tower clearly visible. The distinctive flat-topped summit of Potosi Peak lay beyond. On the south side of the ridge we gazed down at Telluride, as well as the ski area and the town=s airport. I wondered how many billions of dollars worth of real estate we were looking at down there in that expensive valley. From our vantage point it looked so insignificant compared to the vast and grand surrounding mountainscape. Frankly, I thought we enjoyed far greater riches up on this mountaintop this morning. Priceless and everlasting riches, not of the fleeting kind that checkbooks and credit cards supply.
Garratt and Martin describe a route to T 0 from the south, from the Mill Creek Trailhead outside of Telluride, but after looking down at the long, steep, loose slopes to the south and the terrain beyond, we thought the Blue Lakes route we had come up would be very hard to beat. We saw several familiar names from 14erWorld in the summit register. It showed that about a dozen climbers per year had been coming up, including about ten prior to us this year.
After a wonderful hour we left the top a few minutes before 11 and began our descent. It was nice to get off the rough ridge, and fun to scoot down the scree slope, which we did in about six minutes. After a pleasant stroll across the basin and down the grassy drainage, Lower Blue Lake came into view in the valley below, shimmering beautifully in its unusual color. On the trail below the lake we met numerous casual hikers on their way up to visit this beautiful place. We tramped back to the trailhead at 2:15, completing the eleven mile roundtrip, 4500 foot climb in about nine hours. It was a great climb on a great route.
I took Brian back to his car in Ridgway and began my five and a half hour drive home. This marked the end of a spectacular and memorable climbing trip. We had climbed five Bicentennial peaks over the last four days, Coxcomb, Pilot Knob, US Grant, Cirque, and T 0. As I drove home I thought about the four beautiful basins we had visited on those four days. Wetterhorn Basin, Ice Lake Basin, Yankee Boy Basin, and finishing today with Blue Lakes Basin. Incredible places they are, indeed. They hold some of the finest scenery in Colorado, which we were blessed to see not only from the basins themselves, but from the lofty heights above.
