Vestal Peak 13,864
Arrow Peak 13,803
The Weminuche wilderness is a special place in Colorado but with its long approaches and being 6 hours from home, Laura and I do not get there nearly often enough. We have a list on our refidgerator at home and several of the peaks and routes listed are here, so we knew we wanted to get there this year before the snow hit. Just two weeks prior, the peaks did have snow, but with the warm temps, I was able to talk Laura into making the trip over to see the conditions for ourselves.
Regardless of if the mountains were climbable, the autumn leaves made the drive worth it. They were spectacular and Laura and I enjoyed the views as we drove thru Ouray and over Red Mountain Pass.
So after driving for 6 hours to the trailhead, we had a beer and fell asleep in the back of the Jeep. Alarm set for 3 am, we had a plan to get to Telluride for dinner. Hiking in, you descend 1,700' from Molas Pass to the Animas River before starting to gain elevation while hiking toward the peaks. We moved quickly, once again enjoying the changing colors of the aspen trees and were catching great views by the time the sun began to light the morning sky. Vestal Basin is a spectacular place and the peaks rise above you with perfect climbing lines.
It's 8 am and we are at the base of Wham Ridge. At low class 5, we felt comfortable climbing the entire route without rope, but we did bring our rock shoes. So on the sticky rubber shoes went and up we climbed. The climbing was spectacular and the rock solid. We followed cracks up the beautiful ridge for several hours, reaching the summit around 9:30 am.
Sitting there eating and enjoying the morning, we discussed how long it would take to get to Arrow and back down. We decided that 2 hours would do, but reminded ourselves that we needed to still make dinner in Telluride.
We jumped up and headed off down the awful and loose scree that the connecting ridge between the two mountains holds.
Reaching the saddle, we knew we didn't have any route information for Arrow Peak, but we chose a spot and went for a line we thought would lead to the summit without too much difficulty. The route steepened and quickly became 5.6 - 5.7 climbing. For the next hour, we climbed the interesting rock on a path few likely have before us. We reached the summit of Arrow Peak at 11:30 - right on schedule! We once again ate, enjoyed the views and discussed our intended path off the mountain.
Happy that we didn't have to descend the entirety of the loose scree on Vestal Peak, we found a cairn and our descent path off the mountain. Following a faint path and working our way down the loose hillside, we were soon back to solid ground and were refilling water for our long hike out and back to the car.
Ugg...7 miles later and we're now at the 1'700 feet of uphill to the car. We look up and our legs remind us that we've already climbed 2 mountains today. We stop for salami and cheese at the Animas River crossing and watch the train go by, dropping off several Colorado Trail hikers.
We stopped several times on our way out to look back at the amazing peaks we had just stood atop of. It was rewarding to know that we were capable of the big days when the others we passed on the trail had overnight backpacks and thought our day trip distance was a bit crazy. We reached the car around 4:45, making a 13.5 hour day - Good training for a 50 mile race, probably?!
Packing up and leaving the parking lot, we made our way to Silverton and then over Ophir Pass that connects close to Telluride. The road not being a real challenge for the Jeep, we were able to enjoy more bright yellow and orange vistas of the autumn colors and enjoy our drive over amid being pretty tired out.
In Telluride, we ended the first half of our adventure eating at Brown Dog Pizza with a gift card from our friends Joe and Mareshah who had just recently spent a portion of their honeymoon in Telluride.
We were now off to Lizard Head Pass, getting ready for the scary, chossy, crumbly neck of an ancient volcano. This one, however would require ropes...and all the focus I could gather to stay safe.
Very cool guys, Rick
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