Displaying items by tag: Ouray

Ray Payne on Teakettle

I had always dreamed of climbing Teakettle Mountain ever since seeing my dad's photo (left) of him standing in the Teakettle's handle back in the 1980's. Naturally, as a small boy, this feat was legendary, epic and awe-inspiring - surely one of the drivers behind my own quest to summit the highest 100 mountains in Colorado. So, when I received an email from Rick McBee asking if I'd be interested in climbing Dallas Peak and Teakettle Mountain, I was ecstatic. The climb up Dallas was remarkable and was probably one of my favorite ascents to date. After conquering Dallas, we were all thirsty for more technical climbing and prepared for an early morning start up Teakettle via the standard route in Yankee Boy Basin. An early morning drive to the start of the climb brought us to a small parking lot and the steep south slopes of Teakettle. Teakettle remained out of view for most of the climb, but it was always there in my mind. I had much less anxiety about Teakettle than Dallas Peak and felt quite confident after our success there; however, I knew it could still pose some significant challenges, especially on the upper parts of the climb prior to the ridge as well as the summit block. The 13,819 ft. summit of Teakettle Mountain is pretty close to the Yankee Boy Basin road as the crow flies; however, the route up takes you through some quite interesting and somewhat dangerous sections of "trail," mostly unmarked and full of loose rock and dirt. 

Our group composition shifted from the prior day - we lost Ben and picked up a new partner named Brad Tucker - a good friend of Rick McBee's from Montrose. Brad was a dentist and somewhat new to climbing high peaks; however, he had done many rock climbs with Rick in the past and was a reliable and experienced climber (much more experienced at roped climbing than me). 

We departed the parking lot at around 5:30 AM and bushwhacked straight up the side of the mountain, following game trails and small drainages until we reached a plateau below the huge and formidable boulder field below the ridge between Teakettle and Coffee Pot. We enjoyed views of Potosi Peak and the rising moon to the east of us on the way up the steep grassy slopes.

Moon rising over Potosi

We were all spread out across the slopes as to not damage the vegetation on the way up - we never did find a trail on the lower section of the mountain.

Teakettle grassy slopes

lI tried to stick with Natalie Moran so that I had someone to talk to on the way up the mountain - she was full of great stories!

Teakettle-4

As we climbed up the slopes, views of both Mount Emma and Gilpin Peak were fantastic - the only thing that was missing was some clouds to make the sunrise more exciting; however, I welcomed the opportunity and chance at a storm-free day climbing in the San Juans.

Mount Emma from Teakettle Mountain

As sunrise hit the valley, the views back across to the south were great. Yankee Boy Basin never seems to disappoint.

Views north from Teakettle

Finally, the sun hit the tips of the peaks across the way, briging new light Gilpin Peak and Yankee Boy Basin.

Sunrise in Yankee Boy Basin

The sun even began touching the tip of Mount Sneffels, which looks a bit less impressive from this vantage point than normal.

More sunrise in Yankee Boy Basin

As we climbed up the slopes quickly, the rest of our climb came into view - a chossy rock gully. Oh joy.

Brad looking across

It was cool seeing the little hole in the rock, which is not to be mistaken for the Teakettle's handle; rather, this hole was just another sweet feature of the area. The goal was to climb that rock gully to the right of the hole and follow a smaller gully up to the left below the hole.

Teakettle Mountain

Natalie points out the route to Brad and Rick on our ascent.

Group photo

As we climbed up the face, more nice light was hitting the peaks behind us to the south.

A bit of alpenglow in Yankee Boy

I spotted a Bighorn Sheep up above us to the east; however, I only had my 24-70 lens on me at the time, so this was as good as I could do to photograph him. He made a ton of noise as he deftly climbed the seemingly impassable terrain of Teakettle Mountain.

Bighorn Sheep

We reached the base of the chossy boulder gully - it looked pretty inviting - all I remember is that Natalie was thinking it would be much better to do this in spring when there was snow - I agreed. The rocks were loose and mixed with dirt and scree - a true climber's nightmare.

Choss

As we continued to gain elevation at a quick pace, Dallas Peak came into view for the first time - showcasing just how insane of a climb it really is - and how awesome it did feel that we accomplished that sucker just one day prior. It felt good to be knocking out the toughest peaks in Colorado.

Dallas Peak comes into view

The next shot is just to demonstrate how rugged the terrain around us was. It was impressive to say the least.

The higher we climbed, the more we could see out across Yankee Boy Basin. The tip of Sneffels came into view, giving some credence to my belief that it is one of the most impressive mountains in Colorado. This whole area is a sight for sore eyes.

Yankee Boy Basin Panorama

The chossy gully was really loose and steep and at times we had to stagger ourselves to prevent rock fall injury - groups really should take caution in this part of the climb due to how loose the rocks are. We knocked rocks down continuously as we went up.

Choss Gully

Here is another view of the ugly chossy loose nastiness we went up.

Choss Gully

And here is a view looking down the gully and out across a sea of San Juan peaks.

A view down the gully of Teakettle

Once at the top of the gully, the views really opened up and we could finally see Coffee Pot, an unoffical peak to the east of Teakettle and impressive in its own right.

Coffee Pot

As Natalie emerged from the gully, she also enjoyed the views of Coffee Pot - with Dallas Peak behind her for scale!

Natalie Moran on the slopes of Teakettle

And of course, the selfie.

Matt Payne Teakettle Mountain

The ridge also afforded us views of Uncompahgre to the east - such an impressive view!

Sea of Colorado Peaks in Black and White

After enjoying the ridge for a few minutes, we decided to move on. The route took us up and over a few more small ridges and the actual mountain finally came into view - such a small little spire of a peak above us.

Teakettle Mountain

The trail from here became less solid but easily climbable, just not very sturdy. A lot of loose dirt and worn scree.

Dirt trail on Teakettle

From the loose dirt trail, Natalie enjoyed the views, snapping off some photos with her small camera.

Base of Teakettle Mountain

We finally reached the infamous Teakettle handle at the base of the technical portion of the climb and we all got a chance to celebrate from inside the handle - a San Juan classic! Brad -

Teakettle Mountain

Matt enjoying the views of Dallas Peak.

Matt on Teakettle Mountain

Natalie - 

Natalie Moran on Teakettle

While we were busy having fun in the handle, Rick was prepping the climbing gear for our ascent up the 5.3 face of Teakettle Mountain. 

Setting up the technical climb

Rick led the climb quite easily and set some bomber protection for us to follow.

Teakettle Mountain crack

Here is a view looking up the face of Teakettle - an impressive spire with lots of great holds.

Brad on Teakettle

I went next to last and found the climb quite challenging but highly rewarding. Not nearly as difficult as Dallas Peak or Vestal Peak by any means, but the route was harder than I was expecting. I found the crux quite exhilerating and the summit was insane! It only measured 6 square feet at best and there was room for two or three people tops. The view of Sneffels and friends was outstanding. Who else can say they carried a Nikon D800 up to the top of both Dallas and Teakettle? :-)

The view from Teakettle Mountain's summit

I stayed on top while Brad belayed Natalie from below. Here's Natalie topping out. This is seriously how big the summit is. That's my boot.

Airy Teakettle summit

Here I am giving the two thumbs up on top. Such a strange summit - no room to even get up and move around. No 360 pano this time!

Matt Payne on Teakettle Mountain

After successful summits from the whole group, we stopped to let Rick bask in the glory in the handle of the Teakettle. This shot is one of my favorites I've taken, ever. I just LOVE it. I hope you do too! This photo one grand prize at the Colorado Springs Creative Photography group's annual photo contest in 2013 and I also submitted it to the National Geographic Travel Magazine's contest a few months ago.

Teakettle Mountain Black and White

As we descended, we came across a few groups of people and we were all noticing storm clouds starting to build - we pondered a climb of Coffee Pot but after examination of the route by Rick and Natalie, we decided against it. 

Coffee Pot Storms moving in

The whole party was quite ecstatic for our success - two for two. Here's Rick celebrating our conquest.

Rick happy

Another shot of Rick with the rugged San Juans behind him.

Rick

Unfortunately, Brad got really bad altitude sickness on the way down, which was good timing, considering the alternatives. We all helped him down the mountain as he vomited several times throughout the way out. We all really felt bad for the guy, but he was a real trooper! Natalie surely did not let it get her spirits down in this shot of her.

Natalie

And this final image - hopefully not my last photograph of myself on the side of a Colorado Peak. I've since moved to Portland, Oregon and won't have many opportunities to climb in Colorado. I do have two trips planned this year, but my days of 20-30 peaks in a season are probably over. I'll continue to write about my adventures here in the Pacific Northwest, and I've begun recruiting other writers to keep this site alive, including Regina Primavera. If you are at all interested in contributing and getting trained, and want to reap the potential benefits - fame, fortune, experience (hahaha). Seriously though, let me know! Until next time... 

Matt

Published in Trip Reports
Thursday, 16 September 2010 03:44

Mount Sneffels - A taste of the Southwest Ridge

I've had my eye on Mount Sneffels for quite some time. This gem of a mountain located near Ouray, CO, is one of the most splendid-looking mountains in all of Colorado. Sneffels first caught my attention back in February, when I snowshowed on Miller Mesa, to the North of Sneffels.

Sneffels_Zoom

Mount Sneffels as seen in February, 2010.


Additionally, I was able to get great views of Sneffels and the surrounding rugged peaks back in June from the summit of Handies, and in July from the summits of Arrow and Vestal.

Sneffles_and_Teakettle

Sneffels and Teakettle as seen from Handies. Sneffels' pinnacles can barely be seen at the base of the Southwest ridge.

Sneffels_Group

The Sneffels group as seen from Vestal.

The surrounding mountains are all very rugged, and access to the peak is accentuated by the well-traveled and world-famous Yankee Boy Basin.

Sneffels_Pano_2

The Sneffels "sub-range" (seen above) is probably the second most rugged group of mountains in all of Colorado, next to the Grenadier-Needle range. Sneffels is generally climbed via Yankee Boy Basin from the upper trailhead at 11,600 ft and up what is known as the Southeast Couloir route; however, for this trip, I'd had my mind set on the Southwest Ridge route of Sneffels, which follows the same basic start path of the standard route, but instead of going up the couloir, you gain the top of "Blue Lakes Pass" and then continue up the ridge to the top. In fact, the first recorded ascent of Sneffels, on September 10, 1874 (almost exactly 136 years before) was made by the Hayden Survey via the Southwest Ridge. The Hayden Survey had to "climb with care" because this route is "quite steep in some places."1

From Yankee Boy Basin, the Southwest Ridge looks to be unclimbable because of the jagged pinnacles, known as "The Hand." However, these are avoided by going up the back side of the pinnacles and up a series of steep gullies to gain the ridge, and eventually the top of Sneffels.

Here are some meaningful statistics from this adventure:

Peak summited:

Mount Sneffels: 14,150 ft. (ranked 27th in Colorado)

Total elevation gain: 2,550 ft.

Total distance hiked: 3.86 miles

Total time hiking: 5.5 hours

Total photos taken: 330

Total distance driven:  620 miles

14er # 41 for me.

Joining me on this ascent of Sneffels was my wife's best friend's husband - Arron Shaver. Arron is not an experienced mountaineer by any stretch of the imagination; however, he is a very athletic and fit individual with a love for the outdoors. Arron and I made plans earlier in the summer to tackle Sneffels together in September, and when the week we had planned to climb it rolled around, I received a very prompt call from Arron and we finalized our plans. We left Colorado Springs on Friday night and arrived at Yankee Boy Basin at around 10:30 PM. The drive was made more interesting because the power steering of my Jeep had begun to fail on the way over. Fortunately, this did not prove to be a huge problem and we were able to make camp near where the road has a sign that indicates that "short wheel-base 4WD vehicles only past this point." Although my Jeep is very capable, I did not know what to expect up the road, and did not want to test my vehicle in the dark. We set the alarm for 5 AM and crashed very quickly.

When the alarm went off we were both amazed by the huge drop in temperature from the night before. I am guessing that we woke up to 25-30 degree temps in the morning. After a quick breakfast of oatmeal, we were off to the races. We continued up the road another mile to the end of the road and the start of the trailhead. I was not overly impressed with the difficulty of the road and in retrospect, I would have driven much further had I known it was not a very difficult road. Once at the trailhead, Arron and I were greeted there by a few other hikers, about 5 in total. We started up the trail and quickly reached the fork in the trail for the two different routes available from this trailhead: the Southwest Ridge route (Blue Lakes Pass) and the standard Southeast couiloir route (Mt. Sneffels trail). We broke to the left towards Blue Lakes Pass and watched as the rest of the hikers headed up the standard route. From this point until the summit, Arron and I did not see another person the rest of the ascent.

Sneffels Route

Our route up Mount Sneffels.

Views of the surrounding peaks were outstanding, right from the start. Teakettle Mountain, Gilpin Peak, and Potosi Peak were impressive. Having seen them all at a distance from many vantage points this summer, it was great seeing them up close and personal!

Gilpin in Sunrise

Gilpin Peak in alpenglow.

Gilpin in Sunrise 2

Gilpin Peak at sunrise.

Sneffels Spires

Sneffels' pinnacles.

Arron1

Arron Shaver - trusty hiking partner.

Potosi Early

Potosi Peak.

Gilpin at sunrise pano

Gilpin Peak in the early sun.

Matt at Pass

Matt Payne nearing the top of Blue Lakes Pass. The ruggedness of the pinnacles can be seen.

The hike up to Blue Lakes Pass was quick and painless, and before we knew it, we were enjoying intense views of Dallas Peak, West Dallas Peak and "T 0" after crossing into the Mount Sneffels Wilderness Area.

Dallas and Sneffels Shadow Pano

Blue Lakes Pass provided awesome views of Dallas Peak.

matt at the pass

Matt Payne at the top of Blue Lakes Pass.

From the top of Blue Lakes Pass, the route heads directly behind the pinnacles and up a somewhat steep boulder field.

Backside of Spires

The backside of the pinnacles of Sneffels.

The trail here was fairly easy to find and the route seemed fairly self-explanatory - up! As the sun continued to rise, we could see the awesome Blue Lakes basin below Dallas Peak.

Gilpin to Dallas non HDR pano

As we continued to climb up the gullies, Lizard Head finally came into view for the first time. Lizard Head is a tall spire near the Wilson group to the Southwest of Sneffels and is only climbed by experienced rock climbers, as the route up it is 5.8 on the YDS. For a great read on the Lizard Head approach and climb, see Sarah Thompson's site, 13ergirl.com.

Lizzard Head - Dallas Zoom

Lizard Head is barely seen at far left, with the Wilson group rising above the ridge between Dallas Peak and Gilpin Peak.

Lizzard Head

Lizard Head - zoomed-in.

As we continued to climb up the first gully on the Southwest ridge, we finally reached the top of the gully and were forced to down-climb to a ledge, which led us to the base of some class 4 sections just before the obviously last ridge section.

Sneffels SW ridge

The terrain on the Southwest ridge was crumbly and jagged.

matt starting the ridge

Matt Payne starting the Southwest Ridge of Sneffels.

Arron on the Southwest Ridge

Arron Shaver on the Southwest Ridge of Sneffels.

The climbing up the ridge was quite enjoyable. The rock was quite solid, with ample hand-holds and foot-holds during the class 4 sections. Finally, Teakettle and Potosi came back into view, and they did not disappoint. Teakettle is one of the most appropriatly named mountains in Colorado. Shaped like an actual teakettle, sporting a spout and a handle - Teakettle is both a geologist's and a photographer's dream.

Teakettle Mountain

Teakettle Mountain is seen at far left, with it's handle represented as a large hole in the rock. Potosi Peak seen at far right.

I remember being very impressed by Teakettle, even as a child. My dad climbed Teakettle in the 1980's and this photo was taken of him inside the handle of the teakettle:

Ray_Payne_Teakettle

Teakettle Mountain

Teakettle Mountain, zoomed-in.

At this point, our views of Yankee Boy Basin below was quite impressive as well, with the golds, browns, yellows and greens of fall accentuating the pristine basin.

Yankee Boy Basin

Yankee Boy Basin.

Looking in any direction, we could see some amazing peaks. Teakettle, Potosi, Gilpin, and Dallas made for quite the fall back-drop.

Teakettle to Dallas

On the way up the ridge, we were able to find the Kissing Camels rock outcropping that is often described on route descriptions for Sneffels. The landmark is almost impossible to miss.

Kissing CamelsMatt Payne Photographing

Dallas Peak can be seen through the Kissing Camels rock outcropping. Arron caught me in the act of taking that photo...

Yankee Boy Basin

Yankee Boy Basin far below.

The climb from the Kissing Camels was very straight-forward - we continued up the steep ridge, appreciating the added difficulty and greater views of the Southwest Ridge route over the standard route.

Teakettle Mountain was difficult to keep from staring at. It truly is one of the more remarkable mountains I've seen. So remarkable, that I had to get a super-zoomed in view of it!

Teakettle Mountain

Almost to the top of Sneffles

Arron was also excited about the route - being that Sneffels was his first 14er of his life - I think I may have spoiled him with one of the more fun routes of any 14er.

ArronMountain looking like cake batter

Arron with the ridge behind him. "Cake Batter" spills down the ridge between Dallas and Gilpin. (Zoomed in at right)

I suspect that the "cake batter" looking stuff is probably caused by mud slides during the monsoon seasons that often plague the San Juan Mountains.

We finally reached the summit just as the other group was reaching the top as well. The weather was perfect. No clouds. No wind. Warm. We could not have picked a better day to climb.

As usual, I took several photos from the summit and celebrated with the other climbers.

Matt Payne Photographing from Sneffels

Arron on Sneffels Summit

Arron's summit shot.

Matt and Arron on Sneffels summit

Matt and Arron on the summit of Mount Sneffels.

Views of the Grenadier Range (Vestal, Arrow, etc), and the Needle Range (Eolus, Windom, Sunlight, Pigeon, etc) were great as well as views of Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn. What I was most impressed by was the views of the Grand Mesa and the land between Sneffels and the mesa. The town of Ridgway, Ridgway State Park, and Ridgway Reservoir could all be seen easily as well. What was also impressive were the views of the Telluride Ski Area, the Wilson group (Mount Wilson, Wilson Peak, El Diente, and Gladstone Peak), and the La Plata Mountains.

Mount Sneffels Summit Pano

Mount Sneffels East to West Summit Pano.

Gilpin Peak and Telluride

Gilpin Peak and Telluride Ski Resort. The Grenadier and Needle ranges seen in the far distance to the left.

Teakettle Mountain and Potosi

Teakettle Mountain and Potosi Peak zoomed in.

Mount Sneffels Wilderness Area

Teakettle, Potosi, Yankee Boy Basin, Gilpin, and Telluride.

Mount Sneffels Summit looking North

Mount Sneffels 360 panoramic

360 Degree Summit Pano from Sneffels.

Mount Sneffels South to West Panoramic

Sneffels summit pano - north and east

Mount Sneffels looking East Panormaic

Uncompahgre seen in the distance...

Mount Sneffels Summit Pano - South

Sneffels Summit - looking south

Dallas Peak Zoomed In

Dallas Peak, Zoomed-in.

Grenadier Range Zoomed In

The Grenadier Range - Zoomed-in - including Vestal Peak and Arrow Peak. See that trip report here.

Lizzard Head Zoom

Lizard Head Zoomed-In

And of course, a summit photo is no fun unless I'm posing in a silly way...

Matt Payne On Watch

Matt Payne Photographing

Matt Payne taking photos on the summit of Sneffels.

After quite some time on the top, Arron and I decided to descent the same way we ascended. The down-climb was challenging but solid. There were some tricky sections that required some in-facing down-climbing, and a few spots where we needed to wait for each other to ensure neither of us were hurt by rock-fall from above.

Mount Sneffels Southwest Ridge

Down the Southwest Ridge!

Teakettle Mountain minor zoom

Teakettle Mountain

Teakettle Mountain Zoom

Teakettle with digital zoom.

We reached the camels again in no time and I took one last shot of the Wilson group.

Wilsons Peak and Dallas Peak

The trickiest part was when we came across some class 4 rock that we had to negotiate. It was a fun challenge for sure.

Heading down Mount SneffelsAaron heads down Mount Sneffels

Arron looks down Mount Sneffels

The class 4 section provided some entertainment.

We headed back down to the Blue Lakes Pass ridge without any problems.

Blue Lakes Pass Pano

Blue Lakes Pass. I wonder why it is called Blue Lakes Pass?

Mount Sneffels Trail Pano

The Blue Lakes Pass trail and Mount Sneffels.

We hiked down the Pass back towards Yankee Boy Basin and decided to take a side trail that led us to a small lake at the base of Gilpin Peak.

Gilpin Lake

Gilpin and Mount Sneffels Lake Pano

Gilpin Peak and Mount Sneffels.

As we hiked down, we were blessed with one last great view of Yankee Boy Basin.

Yankee Boy Basin Pano

Yankee Boy Basin

We reached my Jeep at 12:00 PM and drove out. The road was quite enjoyable in 4WD without power steering...

Awesome road up Mount Sneffels

If you've never been up the road, it is worth it to drive up it. There is a really awesome overhang about halfway up the road that is quite impressive.

 

We drove into Ouray and ate lunch at the Ouray Brewery, which proved to be a great decision because they have a patio on their roof that made for excellent fall weather dining.

I hope you found this trip report useful and / or enjoyable! Thanks for reading!

References:

1 Rhoda, Franklin, Summits to Reach, An Annotated Edition of Franklin Rhoda's "Report on the Topography of the San Juan Country," edited and with preface by Mike Foster, Boulder, Pruett Publishing (1984).

2 Rosebrough, Robert F., The San Juan Mountains: A Climbing and Hiking Guide, Evergreen, Cordillera Press (1986).

Published in Trip Reports
Friday, 05 February 2010 02:50

San Juan Mountains

The San Juan Mountains span approximately 6,000 square miles in the southwestern portion of Colorado and contain several sub-ranges, including the Grenadier Range, Needle Mountains, West Needle Mountains, La Garita Mountains and the La Plata Mountains. The San Juans are home to some of the most rugged and breathtaking mountains in the continental United States.

Grenadier and Needle Range