TEAKETTLE MOUNTAIN
13,819'
July 31, 2005
By Tim Briese
I was a little uncertain about this one. Brian, Jason, and I had very limited technical rock climbing experience, and we had never climbed a technical peak on our own. We climbed Dallas Peak the day before under the leadership of a very skilled guide, and we picked his brain about Teakettle as much as we could. Although he was very helpful, he was not overly reassuring about our chances. We decided that it would be a good test piece for us, though, and would give it a try.
After getting up at about 3:30 a.m. for three days in a row for our climbs of Thunder Pyramid, Gladstone, and Dallas, it felt good to sleep in a little, relatively speaking, until 4:30 this morning, for our relatively shorter climb today. We checked out of the Ridgway Lodge and drove up to Yankee Boy Basin, where we parked in a pull-off along the four wheel drive road at 11,300'. At 6:15 we struck off to the northeast up a steep grassy slope in the faint early morning light. Teakettle=s rough ridge punctuated the sky high above. This climb was short and steep, without much of a trail to follow. We followed Roach=s directions and climbed to the highest grass at 12,300', then made a very tedious 1000' climb up loose scree and talus to a point just to the right of the Coffeepot. From here the views of Potosi and Teakettle were very impressive.
We studied Teakettle=s south ridge and identified the infamous Black Gully which held our route. It looked very steep and difficult from this vantage point. We dropped down a couple of hundred feet to a talus slope below and traversed around to the base of the gully, then proceeded to climb it. It was easier than it looked from afar, but we had to be very careful to avoid rolling loose rocks down on each other. At the top of the gully we held to the left and made a short Class 3 climb up onto easier terrain. From this point we followed a surprisingly easy Class 2 climber=s trail along the left side of the ridge up to the base of the summit tower. Just to the left of the summit tower was an impressive circular arch, the handle of the teakettle, which was quite a unique sight in this high elevation setting. It was now about 10 a.m.
We climbed up to a notch on the east side of the summit tower and inspected the 40 foot, Class 5 crack that we would have to climb to reach the summit. This was the moment I had been rehearsing over and over in my mind for the past several months. I had taken some climbing lessons in a gym and had a few hours of private climbing instruction in the Garden of the Gods earlier in the year, but I had never before climbed anything quite like this, other than Dallas the day before, when we were essentially taken by the hand and led up by the guide. I was primarily concerned about the danger of lead climbing the summit pitch, for I knew that once we got a climber safely on top he could tie in and simply top-rope the others up.
It was agreed that I would lead climb the pitch, so I helped Jason set up to belay me from the notch at the base of the tower. Jason tied in at the middle of our 60m rope, and Brian at the other end, so I could belay them up when I reached the top. Brian looked a little uneasy about the whole thing, and I tried to calm and reassure him before I headed up. I proceeded to climb about 15 or 20 feet up over solid blocks (upper 4th class), and placed a sling around the upper block and clipped into it with a quickdraw. Then I traversed left a couple of feet into an alcove where I found some nice cracks to place two more pieces of pro, a small and a medium sized stopper. The next 10 or 15 feet were the hardest of the climb (low 5th class). I carefully stemmed my way up the crack, and moments later crawled onto the tiny summit block. I did it! I was on top of my 99th centennial peak!
Brian yelled up and asked if there were room for all three of us up there, and I replied, yes, but just barely. The summit consisted of a flat block about three feet by six feet, and a smaller rock just to the north, with incredible exposure all around. I crawled over to a tiny notch between the two blocks and tied myself into an existing rappel ring that was secured by about a half dozen slings of various ages. When I was ready I began to belay Jason up and after a few minutes he joined me on the summit. After he untied from the rope I belayed Brian up. He was assigned the job of cleaning the pro that I had placed on the way up, but he was unable to dislodge the medium-sized stopper that I had placed, after working at it for a couple of minutes. He was very apologetic about failing to retrieve it, but I reassured him that it was a minor loss. I was actually glad to hear that the piece of pro that I had set was so secure.
The three of us clung securely to our tiny perch for a few minutes and signed the summit register that we found there. We noted that only15 other climbers had signed in so far this year. Jason stood up on the south end of the block for a daredevil photo, but neither Brian nor I felt inclined to follow his example. Brian remarked that he felt a little uneasy being on this exposed summit, and soon volunteered to be the first one to descend. Jason and I elected to rappel off the summit but Brian preferred to downclimb the pitch. After putting him back on belay he took off, noting that he might have me just lower him on the rope if the downclimb were too difficult. He handled it fine, though, and soon stood safely at the base of the tower. To prepare for the rappel, I tied an additional new piece of webbing around the rock and through the rappel ring, even though there were already five or six existing ones there, just for good measure. I like to stack the odds overwhelmingly in my favor where matters of life and death are involved!
Jason rappelled down first, looking like an experienced pro. Then I took off on my rappel, hesitating a little at first to work my way past an awkward block. When we were all down we retrieved the rope and found a nearby spot to relax and eat lunch, exulting in the climb we had just done. I felt ecstatic, savoring the thrill of one of my finest climbing moments. After all the mental and physical preparation for this climb, we had pulled it off!
After taking some photos of Jason in the handle, we left about noon and began our descent. Clouds were beginning to build in the sky but were not yet threatening. We quickly scooted down, and took turns going down the Black Gully for safety. Below the gully we elected to go down an incredibly long, steep slope littered with talus and scree, rather than re-climb up to the Coffeepot. We split up laterally to avoid rolling rocks on each other, and Jason soon cruised far ahead of Brian and I. We rejoined later on a grassy slope below, and rapidly went back down the steep grass to my truck, where we arrived at 1:40. Sprinkles began to fall from the sky just as we arrived there. We completed the three mile, 2900' climb in about seven and a half hours. It was probably the hardest three mile hike I have ever done!
I was jubilant as I drove back home to Colorado Springs that afternoon. We had successfully climbed four tough Centennial peaks, Thunder Pyramid, Gladstone, Dallas, and Teakettle, on four consecutive days. We had been blessed with great weather and everything went right. It was an accomplishment that I will never forget, an unlikely run of difficult peaks perhaps unmatched in my climbing days.
