Select Peaks of Summit County

The following are some of my collected thoughts so far while taking part in the Summit 62 Project, where all 62 of the highest points of Summit County, Colorado are reached.


“In the summer, I spend a majority of my time running and climbing mountains. In the winters, it’s about the same, just subtract running for skiing. In short, when one is able to take a truly objective look about where I spend a large majority of my time outside of work, it’s doing something in the alpine. I could get technical, talk about how much of that time is truly spent in the alpine, as myself and my partner, Sarah, consider ourselves part-time locals of the desert as well, but in all reality for true honesty’s sake, let’s say I spend nearly as much time as humanly possible out in the middle of some wilderness, whether it be arid or high.

Why? Because I can. In the most self-serving and selfish way that I can convey it, because I can. Because I have the freedom to be able to live my life that way. Why? (but again, in the more objective sense) because I don’t really like other people all that much. Yes, I have friends, family, and the whole gamut of individuals in my life to keep the government from thinking i’m some sort of terrorist, but in reality, I really don’t like being around a lot of people. Cities disgust me, towns get on my nerves, and large gatherings of people genuinely confuse my overall senses. I know, I know, everyone says that they “hate people” nowadays, but I believe that my aversion has a little more weight behind it. I do not “hate people,” I honestly get along fine with most that I interact with, I just don’t like being around a lot of them is all.

Before other members of my generation and the like turn these statements into manifestos, I am not the same as you. I do not go to parties. I barely waste my money in bars nowadays. I find solace in a nice open and quiet spot where I can watch my dog take a nap beside me. I do not say these things out of spite or arrogance. I am no better than anyone else, as everything is truly objective, I just state these things plainly to get the record straight. It has occured to me clearly, even more so crystal-clear as I advance chronologically, that life is fragile. All things of our terrestrial nature are fleeting. Our demise can be caused by such small and trivial things, yet we can survive incredible circumstances all the same. Not to say that life on earth is something entirely of chance, as any one system of belief or religion could try and negate such a claim, but to say that humanity is fragile is not a lie.”


-(09/01/2022)


I could feel the buzz of electricity above my head. All my hair was not yet standing, but a few of the select longer strands rose from my scalp like weird little antennas. The storm over Breckenridge was close. Damn close. I skipped along the grassy slopes leading down from the summit of Peak 8. I had decided to tag it along with Peak 9 during an after-work run. Another point down for the Summit 62 project, something that I had been picking at on and off for the past two years. I was and still am thankful for the high places that it has brought me closeby to our home in Leadville, Colorado. It’s sort of developed this close relationship with the Tenmile-Mosquito range that I thought I would have never developed.

My favorite part of the project so far has been topping out on the selected peak for the day, and looking out on the country beyond it. There is something truly special about standing on top of a peak, and being able to pick out the summits that you’ve already been on, perched alongside of the ones still to do. Granted, I will admit that a large majority of the ranges surrounding Summit County, Colorado are pretty gentle, there is still more than the welcome ability to gain some good exposure here and there. The Tenmile range in specificity is a good example of that, as half of the range can be reached via easy running/hiking along the grassy and open tundra connecting Peaks 6 through 9. Though, when one tries to cross from Peak 1 to 4, a good amount of scrambling is involved. The same goes for the western escarpments of the Front Range, to which border the county to the east. There, one is able to easily pick their way up the class 2 talus to the summits of Ruby Mountain, Argentine, and Mount Edwards, but they must contend with the infamous Kelso Ridge if they mean to gain a worthy ascent of the famed fourteener, Torreys Peak. In the next couple paragraphs I’d like to touch on a few of my most favorite so far.


Mount Baldy (Bald Mountain “A”), 13,684’

Reached via the bald mountain trailhead outside of Breckenridge, Colorado, Bald Mountain remains one of my favorite “easier” points on the list. I maintain that status for the following reasons:

  1. It is easy to run up in less than 3 hours (While still having enough distance and vert to constitute good training).

  2. It has a good view of Breckenridge, the Front Range, and the eastern Tenmile-Mosquito Range

  3. You can ski the lower flanks on a powder day (Trees!).


Stats: 10-11 mi roundtrip/3200’ gain via/North Ridge (II) 

Trailhead: Baldy Road (Co Rd. 520) Trailhead


Ruby Mountain (Ruby Mountain “A”), 13,277’

I included this one along with Baldy as another easier objective on my current recommended list. While the drive into Horseshoe Basin might be harder than the jaunt up the peak, it’s worth it’s toil in views. Enjoy commanding views of the rest of the Argentine Pass area, including the ridgeline leading up to Grays Peak.

  1. If you go fast, it won’t take you long.

  2. Cool mine ruins (don’t touch anything!).

  3. Link this up with Gray’s, Argentine, and Mount Edwards if you’re rad.


Stats: 5 mi/2300’ gain via/East Ridge (II)

Trailhead: Argentine Pass Trailhead in Horseshoe Basin (approached via Peru Creek road)


The Fletcher Group

Pacific Peak 13,950’

Atlantic Peak 13,841’

Fletcher Peak 13,951’

Drift Peak 13,900’

I chose all of these as they are some of the first points that I climbed in the beginning of the project. Why do I love them so much? Well, for starters, they’re pretty. Mayflower gulch is picturesque as hell. Secondly, they’re a good time year-round. Climb them in the winter and you can ski parts of them and mixed climb the rest. Go in the summer and you can easily scramble across the ridgelines to link them all together. Do the same in the winter and it’s even more rad.

  1. Year-round fun times.

  2. Lots to look at.

  3. More mine ruins (don’t touch!).

Stats: Do your research. There’s really no “standard route” on these. There’s routes more used than others, but I can assure you any way to the top is something to have fun with. Check out the “Mayflower Cirque Traverse (5.6 II)” if you want to throw in some scrambling.

Trailhead: for most routes, the Mayflower Gulch Trailhead.


I have done many more points on the project than just those above already, but there’s plenty more to do to finish. If you’d like to get a good start on a Summit 62 project of your own, I’d begin with the ones I mentioned above.



***ALL PICTURES PROPERTY OF TRENT HILLIER AND ISSAC ROY. ALL WRITING PROPERTY OF TRENT HILLIER***

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Afternoon Hang: BoCan's Tonnere Tower

Image
  Tourists meandering to Boulder Falls beyond us seemed to move with a distinct lack of purpose. Sarah yelling for slack cut me away from the dull overwhelming lull of noise emanating from Boulder Creek below. For a second I was almost relaxed enough to nap, even despite the slight hanging position I was sitting in at the second belay on our way up Tonnere Tower in Boulder Canyon. We had considered climbing this jutting formation within BoCan many times before, as each time we’d whizz by on our way to Nip and Tuck, Sports Park, anywhere else, the dominating position it took above the hustle and bustle of the Boulder Falls lot cut through the normality of stopping your car simply to gander at water falling down. Each time we’d considered it though, as if guided by fate, weather moved in, or there was someone on the route we’d wished to do already. This time was different. The summit was clear. The sky was a nice hue of deep blue in the mid-May sun. It was a Monday. There was no specific
Read more

A Long Walk: Hayden Spire

Image
I tried to look past my headlamp in the very-early morning darkness, and in all honesty I couldn’t. Matt, Scott, and I had met in a parking lot only less than an hour before, three men on a mission to go to one of the most remote peaks in all of Rocky Mountain National Park. By the end of today, with a little luck and a whole lot of skill and toughness, we would summit Hayden Spire. Laying on a ridgeline extending from Sprague Peak and off of the western side of Stones Mountain lays a massive crater-like formation of rock and cliffside. Along that cliffside sits a series of huge spires above Hayden Lake, one of many year-round pockets of glaciated lake that sits quiet among the high peaks in the park. Hayden Spire is easily seen from Trail-Ridge Road, and the Forest Canyon Overlook, but never easily reached by any sort of insertion point into the park. On this particular morning, we had chosen to take the overland approach route to the spire from the Bear Lake Trailhead. This
Read more

3-Star Chossaneering: Wild Ridge via/El Diablo de Oro (5.8 III)

Image
  I could feel the heat of the late-day sun, its rays giving a light burn to the tops of both of my arms. Below me fell away the rest of Wild Ridge for about 1000 feet with New York Peak beyond. Nary a cloud in the sky, the air was warm interspersed with the light breeze from the west. I couldn’t hear any of the cars below on highway 82. Some lady in Aspen was probably buying a martini for $35 about now. I couldn’t have been happier. For as much of the Indy Pass obsessive that I was, it had never occurred to me to give Amos Whiting’s long route “El Diablo de Oro” (5.8 III) on Wild Ridge a look. Having been established in about 2014 or 2015 or so, the route certainly wasn’t grand-spanking new, but it was definitely modern compared to the Harvey Carter classics that surrounded it. I was a fan of Mr. Whiting’s work, many of his newer additions to “The Pass” were near-perfect, with great bolt placements when needed and fantastic movement for whatever grade they went at. Sarah and I had c
Read more