Apostles Traverse

Apostles Traverse
September 28, 2024

West Apostle 13,597'
Ice Mountain 13,960'
North Apostle 13,869'

Wyatt was hoping to meet Laura and I in the mountains for a day trip so we hatched a plan for the Apostles Traverse. We met at the Missouri Gulch trailhead and carpooled to the upper 4wd trailhead for Huron Peak and The Apostles - Ice Mountain, North Apostle and West Apostle. We made quick work of the rough road and were hiking at 5:45 am. 

Laura in Apostle Basin.  We would traverse these mountains from right to left.

Wandering through the forest on an excellent trail, we reached tree line and ascended a class 3 ridge to reach the summit of West Apostle at 8:45 am. 

Wyatt and Justing scrambling up the ridge on West Apostle

Wyatt on the ridge on West Apostle

Justin scouting out the best route on to the summit of West Apostle

Laura on the ridge on West Apostle

Summit of West Apostle

Laura checking out the route to Ice Mountain while Justin looks at the summit register

The traverse from West Apostle to Ice Mountain was tricky in some spots but we were able to keep the climbing relatively safe and easy at class 4 with a little bit of route finding and down climbing. I summitted a few minutes before Laura and Wyatt as they were caught in good conversation, and I was enjoying the scrambling on the amazing ridgeline. I reached the summit of Ice Mountain at 9:35 am. 

Justin scouting the ridge

Wyatt on the ridge between West Apostle and Ice Mountain

There were a few pretty exposed sections on the traverse

Wyatt and Justin on the summit of Ice Mountain

We relaxed for a few minutes and were quickly downclimbing the most technical section of the route. It looked a lot different than when Laura and I last down climbed the ridge between Ice and North Apostle in wintertime and with snow.  Despite the minimal snow this time, the route was still not easy, but with some careful route finding and a bit of backtracking, we were able to reach the saddle without issue.

Wyatt on the traverse between Ice Moutain and North Apostle

Laura on the ridge somewhere along the Apostles Traverse

Continuing on to North Apostle, we all reached the summit at 10:10 am. We contemplated our option of heading down the standard route, but since it was still early in the day, we opted to explore the ridge that connects North Apostle and Huron Peak. I had read a single account of the traverse; however it was from Huron to Apostle and we would be heading the opposite way. Unknown terrain was ahead and we headed out without knowing what to expect. 

Summit of North Apostle

For the most part, we were able to keep the climbing to 4th class scrambling, but about 1/3 of the way along the ridge we came to a headwall. Rather than having the climbing above us, we would need to down climb here. It appeared that there were no easy options and after some exploration, I estimated the down climb to be about mid fifth class. Up climbing a few moves of 5.5 or 5.6 is not out of our comfort range, but having completely unknown terrain below us, we made a collective decision to head down.

Wyatt navigating an interesting section as we continued along the ridge

The ridge was exposed and had a few technical sections

This is near where we turned back.  With unknown terrain ahead, we didn't want to downclimb this section.

While Laura and I would take a connecting ridgeline back down into the basin below the Apostles, Wyatt chose to head the opposite direction and add a few additional Centennial peaks to his rapidly growing summit list. 

Wyatt heading off toward Emerald, Iowa and Missouri Peaks

Laura and I returned to the car at 2:15 pm and headed home while Wyatt hiked into the night. I received a text from him around 10 pm stating he was safe and back to his vehicle as well. The best days are the ones with the best people and I am happy that we all made the effort to meet in this beautiful alpine playground.

The leaves were beautiful and we took a few pictures on our way back through Winfield