Cronin Peak, 13,870'

October 24, 2020

Cronin Peak 13,870'

Laura and I drove up to the Baldwin Gulch trail head and parked the Jeep a few hundred yards below the Baldwin Creek crossing because there was a downed tree blocking the road. We started hiking the road at 9:30 am and quickly made it to a point on the road where could see the entire north ridge of Cronin Peak. We cut off the road and went down a short talus field that lead to the very base of the long ridge. 

We climbed to the ridge proper and followed it the entire way to the summit. The lower part of the ridge has some class 3 scrambling and the upper 2/3 is mostly talus hopping and easy walking to the summit. We stopped part way up the ridge at a small area with a lot of quartz. We searched for some gems and minerals since the area around Mt. Antero is well known for its aquamarine. 

We summitted in 3 hours from the car and hid from the wind behind the large rocks on the summit. We descended the southeast ridge all the way to Mt. Antero road, moving slow and looking for more rocks as we went. Eventually we reached the road and walked the 3 miles back to the Jeep, getting back at 2:45 pm.

Climbing Notes

Clear Creek Canyon

Playin' Hooky 5.9, 3 pitches

Climbed upper pitch and then one to the right as well. Short pitches and easy for 5.9

Draws and few runners

Black Gold 5.7, 3 pitches - fun, easy and better than Playin Hooky

Devil's Head

Time Stands Still 10a, 7 pitches

Bottom half is slab. .10 pitch is only 1 move of .10a past roof. Upper half of route is better. Route is over bolted. Last pitch is best at .10a. Rope got stuck on first rappel. 

Single 70 gets you off but it's close. Draws and runners.

Sheep's Nose 

Lamb's Prey 5.9, 5 pitches

Climbed first pitch too far right and passed old angle bolt on 5.10 slab. Had hard time getting to belay for p2. Should have climbed more left on p1 to base of 3" crack rather than directly under crack forming large roof. 

All pitches were pretty good and need to go back and climb route again. Some runout 5.7 and lots of interesting gear placements. Description says 3 pitons present on p3, only found 1 and used for belay backup. 

Cams .1-3, doubles .4 - 2, single 3. Full set of stoppers including smallest ones.

Turkey Rock

Turkey shoot and J crack variation to 5.9 hand crack

With Ike and Nicole

Double set cams plus 1 #4 and #5 for turkey shoot. Cams to 3” for J crack variation 

Eldorado Canyon

Rewritten + Rebuffs Arete - Zot start 5.8, 6 pitches

Calypso, 5.6

With Ike and Nicole

Double set cams plus stoppers. Lots of small gear placements.

Garden of the Gods

Anaconda 5.10 - pitch 1

Cams .2-#2. Save .2 for pin scar before chains + draws

Rainbow Bridge 5.11a

Draws only. Very sequential.

Lake City 13ers - American Peak, Jones Mountain A, Pt 13, 832 Pt 13, 811, Pt 13,632

October 17-19, 2020

American Peak 13,806'

Jones Mtn A 13,860'

Pt 13,832'

Pt 13,811'

Pt 13,632'

We drove and arrived in the beautiful American Basin around 11 am. Since we did not want to drive 4wd roads with Hazel, we chose to climb American Peak and Jones Mtn from American Basin via the Patriot couloir except in summer conditions. We hiked up and around Sloan Lake, eyeing our gulley. Patriot would be a fun snow climb, but without snow it is loose gravel and loose talus. We stayed on the left side of the gulley and found a bit of more stable rock. From the saddle we turned left and climbed to American Peak. 

We turned back to the west and headed for Jones Mtn.  The traverse across the scree field on the south side of American Peak took over an hour. We went a little low; nothing too hard but it was just time consuming and slow. Once at the saddle, the class 3 scramble up to the Jones Mtn summit was fun and straight forward. Due to time and wanting to get back to Mom and Hazel at the trailhead, we chose not to continue on to Niagara Peak. 

We descended the west side of American Basin down a frozen but not snowy gulley. It was dangerous frozen and without microspikes but it would have been okay in summer. 

We stayed in Lake City and the following day went to the aptly named Silver Creek trailhead to climb Pt 13,832', Pt 13,811' and Pt 13,632'. The wind was blowing around 40 mph when we got to the ridge between the 13ers and Redcloud Peak. The area is beautiful. Mostly class 2 hiking with some side hilling on talus slopes. Made all peaks today and got down to less wind!

On our way home, we made a stop at Hartman Rocks in Gunnison and did a short hike. It's a beautiful area and would be fun to visit for a weekend of biking, hiking and climbing.

West Dyer Mountain, Dyer Mountain and Gemini Peak

September 26, 2020

West Dyer Mountain 13,047'

Dyer Mountain 13,862'

Gemini Peak 13,951

The weather was looking good for a trip to the park this weekend and Laura and I were planning to get redemption on the classic Culp-Bossier route on Hallett Peak. As luck would have it, the weather turned and winds were forecasted to be in the 50 mph range; far too windy for technical climbing on an exposed face 500’ off the ground. As usual, we altered our plans and decided instead to hike in the Leadville area and grab a new centennial peak as well as a few others along the ridge. We headed west from home at 7 am and after driving through several bands of brightly colored changing aspen groves we arrived at the trailhead a few hours later. The wind was already blowing and we knew we had made the correct decision to bail on Hallett. Starting from the car at 9:45, we hiked up grassy slopes and through a short cliff band. We quickly reached the saddle between West Dyer and Dyer Mountains. We stopped for a snack and then made our way to the summit of West Dyer. Hiding from the wind while we ate, we looked across at the spectacular ridge that would lead us to our only ranked 13er summit of the day, Dyer Mountain. We descended and then began what I think is one of my favorite class 3/4 scrambles I’ve done. Sticking to the ridge proper, the entire ridge was enjoyable with fun scrambling and exposed climbing on mostly solid rock. Smiling the whole way, Laura and I reached the 13,862’ summit of Dyer Mountain right at noon. We spent a few minutes taking pictures before the wind picked up and we decided to get off the summit.

Traversing across to Gemini was the most windy part of the day. Crossing the saddle it blew strongly enough that Laura and I would just lay down when the big gusts hit to prevent being blown off our feet. We crossed the saddle and followed the talus filled slopes to Gemini’s summit just an hour after leaving Dyer. We were the only ones on these mountains today but we waved at the crowds of people just a half mile away on Mt Sherman which crests the magical 14,000’ number. Leaving the summit of Gemini and fighting the wind, we made our way back to the saddle and chose a descent path toward the mine below. We scurried down the scree and made our way to the mine relatively quickly and then spent a few minutes wandering around checking out the old buildings and mining structures before walking down the road back to the Jeep at 2:30 pm. As we drove out, we stopped to take more pictures of the changing aspen leaves and made our way home wind blown but pleased with another fantastic day in the mountains.