WETTERHORN PEAK
14,015 feet
August 1, 2001
By Tim Briese
I left home on Tuesday afternoon and drove to Lake City to join my friends Brian and Jason to climb Wetterhorn and Handies Peaks. I was initially less than enthusiastic about reclimbing these peaks that I had already done, but I nevertheless looked forward to climbing with my friends and visiting the beautiful San Juans once again. Little did I know what a fine trip this would turn out to be.
I met Brian and Jason at Poker Alice’s and joined them for pizza. Brian’s friends Artie and Mark were there, too, and we had a good time together discussing our climbing adventures. Artie and Mark were going to tackle Redcloud in the morning while the rest of us took on Wetterhorn. Jason had developed a very sore knee while climbing San Luis that afternoon and wasn’t sure how well he would do.
We rose at 5 a.m. the next morning and I drove our trio up the Henson Creek Road to the four wheel drive trailhead for Wetterhorn. It had rained during the night and misty low clouds this morning spoke of the threat of more rain later in the day. It was a good thing this hike was not a long one. At 6:15 we left the trailhead and struck off briskly up the trail along Matterhorn Creek. It was interesting to note an unusual cloudiness in the stream from some mineral deposit in the water. Presently we could see the impressive summit of Wetterhorn jutting into the sky up at the head of the valley, and the sight of it lured us onward.
We broke out of the trees and ascended into Matterhorn Basin and found a faint trail that broke off to the left toward Wetterhorn from the main trail. I was dazzled by the grand beauty in the basin as the sun shone on arrays of wildflowers on the slopes around us and on the rugged summits of Matterhorn and Uncompahgre Peaks. Uncompahgre looked especially massive off to the east. I first visited here when I climbed Wetterhorn the year before, and it was a real treat to come back again, for this is one of my favorite places in Colorado. We stopped to take numerous photos as we hiked up the trail in the morning sunlight. It is important to have plenty of film along when hiking in the San Juans!
At about 8:15 we gained the crest of Wetterhorn’s southeast ridge at 13,000 feet and were treated to a fine view of the San Juans stretching off into the distance to the southwest. We chatted briefly with a couple from Woodland Park before continuing up the ridge. The terrain quickly became rougher and soon we began some exciting class three rock scrambling. Brian enthusiastically exclaimed, “Let the fun begin!” Brian has stated that Wetterhorn is his favorite 14er, and it is at or near the top of my list of favorites, too. It was indeed a lot of fun as we selected from multiple route options and picked our way along or just below the crest of the ridge on nice solid rock. In short order we were standing on a flat area at the base of the Ship’s Prow at 13,800 feet. We scurried up through a notch and scooted across a large, flat sloping rock to the base of the steep summit gully. The gully was just as steep as I remembered it from the year before. We waited a minute or two for a young couple above to scramble on up and then we took our turn. It was immensely fun scrambling up the steep slope using the fine rocky steps that it afforded for hand and foot holds. This gully is probably even steeper than the one on Little Bear, but it has many more convenient holds in the rock.
We stepped onto the spectacular summit at 9:15 and looked about at the grandeur around us. We identified numerous peaks surrounding us in the rugged San Juans, from nearby Uncompahgre Peak to the jagged mountains in the distant Needle Range. We peered over the dizzying edges of the cliff-encircled summit to distant points hundreds of feet below. There was an interesting little arch about two feet tall that someone had built out of stones on the summit. I had never seen anything quite like it before. We strolled around and visited with some of the dozen or so other climbers who were on top while we were there. A member of a group of five climbers from Oklahoma told us that this was their first 14er! What a bold choice for a first 14er! Steel nerves would be required for the rock scrambling and exposure if one had no experience on such terrain. One ashen-faced man in the group was terrified by the cliffy exposure of this airy place.
After lounging about for nearly an hour we began our descent. The descent of the steep gully seemed to be a little harder than the ascent had been. We decided it would be fun to climb the Ship’s Prow so we quickly scrambled to its top. It turned out to be such a dramatic perch that I backtracked to the base of the summit gully to get some pictures of Brian and Jason on it. Meanwhile the Oklahomans were slowly descending the summit gully, desperately clinging to the rocks like so many Spidermen.
We scrambled back down the ridge and soon reached easier terrain. Jason was contemplating a climb of Uncompahgre today as well, so we struck off across the basin toward it. Near the gentle pass between Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre we came upon a vast herd of several hundred sheep grazing in a lofty meadow. Accompanying the herd were two white sheepdogs and a dark-skinned shepherd who was toting an old rifle and a few Spartan supplies in a plastic sack. It was fascinating watching the sheep bleat and wail around us as we sauntered through their midst. When we reached the pass we sat down and took a break for a while, and Jason decided against making a run for Uncompahgre, given the length of the route, deteriorating weather, and his sore knee.
It was a beautiful hike as we strolled back across the basin toward the trailhead while Wetterhorn passed by in lofty review. It was then that I decided that Wetterhorn is one of my favorite 14ers, and that I must return to this spectacular place again sometime. Wetterhorn is not particularly difficult or dangerous to climb when the weather is good, but rather provides a wealth of pure climbing fun.
We returned to the trailhead and headed for Lake City as rain began to fall from the clouds. That evening we joined Mark and Artie for a tasty Mexican dinner at the Blue Iguana, and they glowed with excitement as they told us about their climb of Redcloud that day, and we related with equal satisfaction the details of the fine climb we had done.
