WETTERHORN PEAK
14,015 ft.
July 23, 2000
By Tim Briese
(Note: For another trip report on a climb I have done of Wetterhorn Peak, which includes several additional photos of the summit gully, see the More Climbs page.)
My daughter Emily and I drove out to the Lake City area the afternoon before the climb, stopping along the way at Blue Mesa Reservoir for a swim. We went up the Henson Creek Road west of Lake City early in the evening, and turned off and continued up the four wheel drive route all the way to the trailhead, to see where our hike would begin in the morning. We found a nice campsite on a flat spot just below the trailhead, with Matterhorn Creek roaring in a gorge below us.
As I gazed at some high peaks across the valley to the south from our camp, I thought about how wonderful it was to be in the San Juans again, with their towering, rugged peaks, extensive aspen forests, and deep canyons. While we sat eating dinner in the cool, clear air, a group of about ten young backpackers came huffing up the trail past our camp. They were an Outward Bound group of teenagers from all over the United States, on a 23 day backpack outing. They had started in Silverton, and hiked from 5 to 10 miles per day. They were on their way to climb Wetterhorn, after which each member would be doing a 3 day solo stint. I was still thinking about this adventurous group as we crawled into our tent around 8 p.m.
We rose at 5 a.m. and broke camp after a sound, comfortable sleep. We sat in our 4-Runner and ate breakfast before hitting the trail at 5:40 in the faint early morning light.
Emily was energetic and enthused about this climb, and set a brisk pace up the trail, with me following behind. Our dog Allie ran about exploring through the woods. Soon we could see a sharp, pointed summit in the clear sky a few miles ahead and decided that it was Wetterhorn Peak. After a mile or so the trail left Matterhorn Creek and switchbacked up a grassy hill to the right, where we passed the Outward Bound group’s camp. Allie’s bark broke the morning silence, and I hoped she didn’t awaken any campers. The trail then ascended through a pine forest where it crossed the boundary into the Uncompahgre Wilderness Area, and then climbed above timberline into beautiful Matterhorn Basin, just as the first rays of sun began to shine on the highest peaks. This was an idyllic place. We watched for a turnoff from the main trail to angle left toward Wetterhorn, but never saw one, and soon just bushwhacked across the beautiful high alpine meadow through gorgeous stands of wildflowers toward Wetterhorn. Looking to the east, we got our first view of Uncompahgre Peak, a most impressive sight.
It was a clear, beautiful morning in a spectacular place. The sun rose above the ridge to the east and cast its golden rays on us as we strode through the wildflowers. Allie was running all about excitedly. We crossed a small stream in the upper part of the basin and started heading steeply uphill on a trail we found. At 8:15 we stopped for a break on a high grassy bench with a grand view of Matterhorn and Uncompahgre Peaks off to the east. High above on Wetterhorn’s south ridge we could see a second group of Outward Bound climbers just below the sheer cliffs that guard the pointed summit, clearly visible with their uniform white climbing helmets.
We climbed further and reached the crest of the south ridge at 13,000 feet and began following it toward the summit. The view off to the west was spectacular, with a beautiful basin below and the expanse of the San Juans off in the distance.
The ridge was easy at first but became increasingly difficult as we ascended. Soon we found ourselves doing some hand and foot rock scrambling around the west side of some gnarly looking towers, with multiple cairned routes complicating our progress a bit. Emily was tiring but pressed gamely on, determined to make the summit.
At about 13,600 feet we crossed over the crest of the ridge to its east side and traversed through a cliffy area on some ledges below the summit block. Emily was uncomfortable with the loose material on the ledges. The summit looked far away yet, until a climber appeared on top and gave us a better perspective of the remaining distance, revealing that we were actually quite close. After getting through the ledgy area we walked up on some loose gravel to a flat spot at 13,800 feet beside a massive rock tower called the Ship’s Prow, and rested for a few minutes before the final push to the summit.
We were very close now, but the hardest part remained. We climbed up through a notch, where I had to give Allie a slight boost, and found ourselves on a big flat rock that sloped downward away from us. I walked to the far end of it, turned to the right and looked up at the steep gully that led to the summit. I was startled by its steepness and realized immediately that it would be a challenge to climb. The Outward Bound group had a climbing rope stretched up the length of the gully, which made it look even more intimidating, and were slowly proceeding to come down two at a time. Most of the climbers in their group were novice mountain climbers, and needed the rope to steady their nerves as much as for physical protection. I calmly discussed with Emily how we would climb up the 100 foot long gully, using the nice hand and foot holds that it afforded. The steep gully was so narrow that only 1 or 2 climbers could safely be in it at the same time. We waited a minute for a pair of climbers on the rope to get to the bottom, then took our turn and headed up, not finding it necessary to use the rope. Emily went first, while I followed just below, and Allie scampered on ahead. The last 30 feet was very steep, and while Emily scrambled on up I dropped back and took Allie around a slightly easier ledge to the left, after judging the final summit pitch in the gully too steep for the dog to safely handle.
At 10:30 we burst onto the tiny summit, with Emily a few moments in front of me, and received congratulations from others standing on top. There were about 8 climbers remaining on the summit from the Outward Bound group, and 2 other climbers from Denver. Someone asked Emily if she came up alone, not realizing that I was with her. Others marveled at our dog making it up there, echoing my thoughts.
The summit was surprisingly flat, perhaps 30 feet by 50 feet, with cliffs dropping off every side. I walked around looking off the edges, marveling at the sheer dropoffs and the dizzying views to points hundreds of feet below. The summit gully we had come up was the only feasible way to get to this remarkable place without making a difficult, class 5 roped climb. It was calm and pleasant on top, with incredible views in every direction. The rugged San Juans lay off to the southwest, and towering Uncompahgre was very impressive a few miles to the east. This was a wonderful place to lounge about on a nice day like this, but during a thunderstorm it would be something like sitting on the tip of a giant lightning rod.
We stayed on the summit nearly an hour, waiting as others slowly descended the gully, and then took our turn. It was harder to climb down than it had been to come up. I went below Emily, and helped guide her footholds, while Allie whimpered and carefully crawled down, having met her rocky match.
It felt good to get back down to the flat rock at the bottom of the gully. Here we met two more climbers going up, who also marveled at Allie being up there. As we continued down we stayed on the west side of the ridge in order to avoid the loose ledges we had faced going up, but this route was only a little better, with steep scree and sharp rocks to contend with.
Emily was becoming exhausted, having used up much of her energy in an adrenalin rush early in the hike. It was a relief to get back down to the easier part of the ridge. We were getting quite thirsty, though, and quickly descended to the nearest water below, where we filtered 3 quarts and drank and rested a while.
We slowly hiked back down into the basin, while watching numerous other hikers far below heading up the main trail into the wilderness area. At 3:20 we arrived back at the trailhead on this beautiful summer afternoon. We were tired out but excited about what we had done.
It was a great feeling to have accomplished a climb of Wetterhorn, for I had been a little intimidated by other’s reports about it. The climb was a fun and exciting challenge, without great difficulty or danger. It certainly has a spot on my mental list of 14ers that I would like to climb again. The climb would have been more intimidating for me a couple of years earlier, before I had been seasoned by more difficult climbs such as Capitol Peak and Little Bear. It was a great accomplishment for 12 year old Emily, too, for this was her most difficult 14er yet.
