I’m not one to go chasing down 14er summits, but when the opportunity came my way to spend some time in the Sawatch range, outside of Leadville/Twin Lakes, I couldn’t pass it up. My good friend, Eric Lee, has been working on a little project over the past couple of years. He wants to finish a gnarly route through the heart of the Sawatch Range, known as Nolan’s 14. I was game to help if I could, and decided to head down the day before and climb a few mountains.
Mt. Sherman (14,036) – Gemini Peak (13,951) – Dyer Mountain (13,855)
On Friday I woke up at 2:30 and hit the road to make the three hour drive down to Leadville. The first mountain of the day was Mt. Sherman, 14,036 feet. I planned to add a couple of other high 13ers and do a loop route around the Iowa Amphitheater at the head of Iowa Gulch. This included Gemini Peak (13,951), and Dyer Mountain (13,855). I made quick work of Sherman and was on the ridge as the sun lit up the high peaks. Sherman is a pretty uninteresting mountain, but the views are spectacular. I spent a few minutes on top and the made my way over to Gemini. This hill has a bit more character. The summit dome is small and steep. Makes for a cool summit “experience.” The wind was really ripping up there and it looked like some nasty weather may have been moving in, so I picked up the pace and made my way over to Dyer.
Fortunately, the weather held up just fine, but some light, wispy, clouds blew by all around me. I love being up on/near mountain summits and have clouds floating right by my face… so cool. I ran the ridge that led to Dyer and it was a blast. A sheer drop on my left, and nice rolling tundra to my right. This ridge went by pretty quick and I was soon on the summit of Dyer. Again, great views and dramatic clouds rolling by. A quick tundra/talus hop back down the ridge and I was soon back at my car and headed to La Plata.
La Plata Peak (14,336)
I took my time getting over to La Plata, stopped at a convenience store to get some goodies, and was hiking about an hour after leaving Iowa Gulch. La Plata has become one of my favorite mountains. The trail leading into the valley is beautiful, the mountain has tons of character and is in an amazing setting tucked deep in the Sawatch. But that sucker is steeeeeep! There is one spot in particular that is a series of about 24 switchbacks that climb straight up a very narrow gully. It was like the never ending zig zag. I was laughing out loud, yes, LOLing, as I was climbing when the switchbacks just kept coming. Once above, things flatten out a bit before another set of switchbacks that take you to the top of the NW ridge. The views of Ellingwood Ridge to the east are truly spectacular. That thing looks incredible. Two miles of sustained class 3+ at over 13,000 feet! You better have good weather!
From there it is a pretty straightforward, though steep, slog up to the summit. Though once you hit the ridge, there is still 1600+ feet of climbing, so it’s not as close as you may think. I kept my eye on the weather and was getting a little concerned as I could see some monster clouds forming far to the west. I knew it was just a matter of time. Things overhead and directly west looked fine, so I just kept watch and moved uphill. The higher I got, the worse the weather looked. But, again, things to the immediate west (the direction the weather was moving from) looked okay. There was a big black cloud to the south, but far enough away that I felt comfortable. So up I went. The temp dropped dramatically and the wind really picked up as I neared the summit and I could see that storm growing. I just about turned back, but thought I could get back to the trees pretty quickly if I had to, and that route isn’t horribly exposed if you just get off that NW ridge. So up I went.
About 400 feet below the summit it started snowing on me! I guess it’s that time. While I dread the dead of winter, those first flakes of the season are always fun. It was a very very light snow, but definitely snow, so fun nonetheless. I picked up the pace just for the sake of keeping warm. I wasn’t quite dressed for snow with a long sleeve shirt, a raincoat, and shorts. About 200 feet below the summit I heard thunder from that storm to the south. I usually panic if I hear thunder, but this time I just stopped and really took a good look around. It was definitely coming from that storm to the south, now to the southeast as it was moving on pretty quickly. I figured it was moving away, so slowed my pace, letting it get further, and kept pressing on. I’m so glad I did. The weather once I got to the summit, a few minutes later, was about perfect. Things cleared up nicely and that storm was well on its way east. Perfect! And I had the summit to myself! And what a summit it is! The views are mind numbing. The Sawatch is a pretty special range. Big mountains in all directions – hundreds of them! I didn’t spend too long because I was getting a bit chilled. So I boogied on down, taking my time on the overly steep parts, and jogging the moderate sections. I truly fell in love with this mountain and hope to climb it by some other routes at some point.
I made it back to the trail head and went into Leadville for lunch. I then went out to Halfmoon Rd to catch a quick nap before Ben, Amanda, Eric, & Pete were supposed to roll into town.
Mt. Massive (14,421)
Everyone made it in safely and we hit the sack early. We had a 5:00 wake up call and we were at the North Halfmoon Creek Trail Head to kick Eric off on his first of 9 summits via the SW slopes on Mt Massive. I have wanted to climb Massive for a while as it kind of looms over Leadville and is just, well, massive. The trail started out pretty flat, maybe climbs 700 feet over the first mile and half, then turns NE and gets serious real quick. Another steep Sawatch summit. Eric was literally flying up the trail. Pete and I were a little more lethargic. I couldn’t believe how strong Eric was climbing. I know he is a strong runner/climber, but to see him in action for something he had been planning for – holy cow.
We just kept plugging away, and soon enough we turned onto the summit ridge. Eric was already coming down, having summited in 2:01. We bid him farewell after Pete worked out some logistics with him for later peaks, and as Eric blew down the mountain, Pete and I took our time getting to the summit. We made it in 2:30, so quite a bit behind Eric. And Eric said he hadn’t even felt the climb and was feeling perfect! Only 8 more summits, about 46 more miles, and 25,000 feet of climbing to go! Whew.
Pete and I hung out on the summit for a good 10 minutes before heading back down. Just below the summit, we came across a little family of Mountain Goats. It was pretty cool! There was a female with her baby, and a young male. They were pretty curious as to what we were doing, but soon moved on up the ridge. Neat to see them well above 14,000 feet!
We had a fairly uneventful hike/run back to the trail head, and were soon headed back down Halfmoon Rd. I dropped Pete off at our campsite and made a hasty retreat back to Estes to see my ladies I had missed terribly! It was a fantastic couple of days doing something I hadn’t done in a while. It was good to be back in the high Colorado mountains with no agenda/time goal/distance to cover and only summits to climb at any pace/style I chose!
Until next time…
