| |
Half Cup o’ San Juan:
The 56 Hour Sampler
Peaks: San Luis, Wetterhorn, Uncompahgre, Handies, Redcloud, Sunshine
Dates: June 17-19, 2010
Length: 53.2 miles RT
Vertical: 17,700 feet
Total foot time: 23 hours
Total time: 56 hours
Ascent Party: Solo
When high pressure settled into the Great Basin this week and the forecast opened up a broad weather window, I put down the back seats, threw in a mattress and some gear, and headed southwest.
Itinerary
Wednesday, June 16:
San Luis Peak: 3600 vertical, 13 miles
Thursday, June 17:
Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre: 6400 vertical, 20.7 miles
Friday, June 18:
Handies Peak, 2900 vertical, 7.5 miles
Redcloud and Sunshine, 4800 vertical, 12 miles
Wednesday June 16:
San Luis Peak: 3600 vertical, 13 miles RT
Twenty miles of deserted dirt road conjure up thoughts like, do I have a good spare? Shouldn’t I be carrying a water filter? Given a vehicle failure, even after hiking 20 miles out on these roads, you’d still be pretty much nowhere. But the lengthy dirt roads look like they’d be a lot of fun on XC skis for a winter ascent. I arrived at the Stewart Creek TH about 10:30 and got started at 11:00 am.
Arriving at the summit at 1:40, it was too windy to enjoy lunch. The stream crossing lower down made for more pleasant creekside dining. Keep sandals on after the first crossing; the second one is a couple hundred yards up the trail.
Originally, the plan called for taking forest roads over to Lake City, but after all the dirt, I chose pavement: 114 to 50 to 149. The scenery alone was worth the drive.
Arriving at the lower Matterhorn TH before dark, it was no trouble finding a desirable campsite; the place was deserted. I got started about six the next morning.
Thursday June 17:
Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre: 6400 vertical, 20.7 miles RT
Wetterhorn was fabulous. I had the summit to myself at 8:30 am under clear, calm skies.
The climbing reminded me of the San Luis Valley stuff my friend Louis used to call rhyolite. Back in the early 80’s, Louis was a schoolteacher in Del Norte, and an excellent boulderer. We had the pleasure of pioneering his discovery, the Penitente Canyon climbing area, along with a friend of his from Colorado Springs. Penitente was ok, but it couldn’t hold a candle to some of the stuff we found down there that ironically never got popular. The stuff climbs like granite, but can form incredible column-like flows similar to basalt. Wetterhorn’s rock bore some resemblance to this stuff and took me back to the pleasant reverie of many years ago…I was like a kid in the rock garden. I particularly liked how you are moving up short, easy ledges on maybe 50 degree rock, turn the edge above, and suddenly you’re on Wetterhorn’s cozy summit. This is a beautiful mountain.
Returning in the afternoon sun, my camp in the grassy meadows and aspens was so nice, it was hard to leave. I splashed in the creek for a while and had dinner before saying goodbye to this favorite place, and heading off to discover just how bad the road is over to American Basin.
Just before dark I parked in the pulloff at the stream crossing.
Friday June 18:
Handies Peak, 2900 vertical, 7.5 miles
Redcloud and Sunshine, 4800 vertical, 12 miles
I started 6:00 am. If you choose to hoof it like I did, the stream crossing is bridged to the left with a huge drift which should be around for a while. It’s quite solid.
The first hints of that pulled muscle from rock climbing Tuesday night blossomed into full tilt knee pain on the Handies descent. I could barely hobble to the car. Redcloud and Sunshine looked pretty much out of the question at this point, so I was about to call it at four peaks and go home.
At the Redcloud TH, I found myself making a half-hearted effort to repack, and started down the trail at 11:30 with serious doubts as to my sanity. I couldn’t imagine how on earth I was going to descend 4800 verts in this condition. There was only another 12 miles to go. I was lamenting breaking my rule about not doing much of anything the night before a big climbing trip. I threw in a roll of duct tape to lash the poles to the knee just in case. Food check: one cookie and two granola bars. I’m not really going to attempt this, am I? The only half intelligent thing I did was to pack three liters of water. It was a hot summer’s afternoon in the San Juan.
Two miles up the trail, Joe Winters recognizes me from past TRs. I can’t thank him enough for diagnosing the knee problem and encouraging me to get those last two peaks. After nearly twenty minutes of chatting, he realizes I’m stalling and won’t let me get away with it. Bless his heart; without his encouragement I’d probably have turned back. He even offered Advil. Hey Joe, thanks, and best wishes on your Capitol Peak and Snowmass attempts next month.
Right after our chance meeting things got better – the scree disappeared and turned into rolling hills of tundra in an asthetic rounding cirque with classic alpine switchbacks to a saddle, looking more like Switzerland than Colorado. The knee pain was only on the occasional downhill dip during the ascent – but I knew I was racking up quite a payback with every vertical foot of gain. The plan was to worry about it after getting these last two summits.
That three-mile stride out and back to Sunshine was murder. If I weren’t the only one up there at that late hour I’d have looked pretty funny with that hiking-pole-crutch-gait thing going on. But the weather was holding in what appears to be one of the best, broadest summer weather windows in quite some time.
I can’t believe I`m back at the car by 7:00 pm. Trashed, but immensely satisfied. I toss all the gear into the back and assemble all the finger foods on the passenger seat. After a quick douse in the stream and a change of clothes, I`m headed down the long road home, really happy to have six more in the bag, and nearly half the San Juan down in one short trip. That puts a smile on my face as big as the western sunset. |
|