| "Clever Title Here": Quandary Peak's West Ridge Trip Report |
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| "Clever Title Here": Quandary Peak's West Ridge   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: Colorado, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 39.39700°N / 106.106°W Date Climbed/Hiked: Jul 28, 2006 Activities: Hiking, Mountaineering, Scrambling Season: Summer | Page By: jfox Created/Edited: Oct 31, 2006 / May 3, 2007 Object ID: 240228 Hits: 3130 Loading... Page Score: 89.84% - 25 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
What do you want to climb this weekend?For a bit I've been wanting to climb some interesting ridges and/or peaks with more "zip" than a class-2 walk-up. Ever since our successful summit of Middle Teton three weeks prior, Dan and I were eager to get back in the mountains and try our luck again on terrain with a little more "spice".
I had poked around the forums on 14ers.com and was told to try Kelso Ridge on Torrey's Peak or the West Ridge of Quandary Peak. I've been up on Gray's before and wasn't interested in heading back to the same area again so soon, that's why we chose to do Quandary.DawnI left my house in Gilpin Co. at about 5:30am for the ~2 hour drive to Quandary Peak. I chose to wear shorts since it was July afterall, and when I got outside of my house which sits at ~9,000' it was balmy and not too shabby for still being dark!
However, when I got to the trail-head it was a whole different ball-game! The winds were strong coming down the valley from Fletcher Peak, over Blue Lake and the dam. It was down-right cold! Luckily, I had a rain jacket in the back of my truck. Other than that all I had on was a t-shirt, shorts, boots and socks. Oh-well. Once I get moving I'll be warm!The West Ridge...From the parking area, we started walking W/NW towards the dam and Quandary's south slope. There is a nice hiking trail from here on the north side of Blue Lake. One continues along this trail and begins angling up-slope towards the first drainage/valley coming off of the connecting ridge between Quandary and Fletcher. We then followed the drainage creek upwards towards the beginning of the West Ridge. At this point we had lost the trail and were sort of making our own way up the side of the mountain towards the drainage. “Just keep going north and we’re bound to hit it.” I thought.
 The basin between Quandry and Fletcher. Gain the ridge from here.
Up in here it was nice…cold…but nice! There was still plenty of snow even this late in the season as well. A myriad of small lakes greeted us and there was plenty of stream hopping that needed to be done in order to keep the feet dry. At this point too, we noticed another group of three above us to the west. We began to drift more to the north to access some steeper rock and gain the ridge more quickly. We never did run into this group as our route put us ahead of them.
Gaining the West Ridge. |
Once you have gained this part of the ridge, the real fun begins! From here you start traversing east along the ridge over loose talus staying on the south side.
We meandered along the south side until we came to an area where it was impossible to continue. From here, we cut up-slope to a notch and passed over to the north side of the ridge. Looking back, you can see Fletcher and its connecting ridge to Atlantic Peak. At this point the wind was horrendous! It was strange how there was little to no wind on the south side of the ridge, then WHAM….hurricane force on the north. This made the trudge a bit more difficult since not only were we walking on loose rock, steep slopes, facing the rising sun, but now we had high wind to contend with!
From here, the climbing steepens. One must hike up Class-2 to Class-3 talus on the north side of the ridge for a while until you come to some minor peaks/false summits. (There are several!) The first one is Class-3. We followed it up to an easy to find notch and passed down the other side. From here on to the summit, the climbing is Class-3 to Class-4. You will pass back and forth from the north side to south side of the ridge several times, depending on your route finding abilities. From here on out we had to be careful! There is a lot of exposure up there and loose rock abounds!
We kept hiking along near the top of the ridge but remained on the north side. There is some extreme exposure over on this side. Up and down, up and down we went. Gullies, gullies everywhere! The route is not cairned at all that I can remember. We passed back onto the south side of the ridge a one point and were greeted to a several-hundred foot sheer drop! Oops. Turn around. Wait…can we get up this chute to our left? Lets try. I went first and Dan remained out of the way of any rocks that I might have kicked down. It is loose, loose, loose! Made it just fine and then Dan came up behind me.
Dan negotiates some of the more exposed section on the north side of the ridge. |
The remaining route to the summit. |
The Chimney'sIf you've stayed on the right path, you'll come to one of the Class-4ish chimneys now. We down climbed from the ridge's top to start the ascent. This section was extremely steep and care must be taken not to slip. I have a bit of trouble differentiating Class-3 from Class-4, but if you fall near some of these chimneys on the north side of the ridge…YOU COULD DIE!!! Once you finally reach the bottom of the first of the two ‘spicy’ chimneys, take your time, pay attention to your hand-holds and climb up on the left side of it.
After you've got that one down, you’re well on your way…to another one! The final chimney is a lot of fun to attempt, but don’t take it for granite (Sorry…I’m a geologist! I couldn’t resist!). We sat atop the ridge for a bit to look over the final climb. Again, care must be taken to get down to it. This climb is an easy Class-4 but is very exposed and airy! Be careful, study your approach and take your time. I went first. At the base looking up, this thing seems BIG!! It’s not too bad however, depending on your comfort with exposure. The rock is solid. I angled towards the left side and hoisted myself up on a boulder that is wedged in the thing 2/3’s of the way up. What a relief it was to get on top! Dan came next and from there we could see many people on the summit.
Once you have gained the top of this chimney, it is an easy walk, Class-2, over to the summit of at most 100m. We closed the final distance to the summit in no time and were delighted to find that the wind was gone and the sun was warm! There must’ve been 15 – 20 people up there and more continuing up from the East Ridge. Dogs, children, garbage, cell-phones etc. and we were instantly brought back into the world of Colorado 14ers that are close to Denver. It was nice to have had most of the mountain ourselves prior to the summit. The West Ridge is a route not too many do. At one point we were asked by two women where we had come up from. I think they took notice of our helmets and maybe saw us pop up from the west as well.
Descent: The Cristo CouloirAfter eating some lunch, and warming ourselves on the rocks, we decided to descend via the Cristo Couloir. This would take us straight down Quandary’s south slope and plop us right on top of the dam. I could even see my truck from up here! Looks easy and short…lets go! Good God! It was soooo loose! From the start you could almost “scree-ski” down the thing. Dan and I spaced ourselves apart and descended parallel to each other after he dislodged several rocks above me. It might also be a good idea to let people on the summit know you’re going down this way so they won’t accidentally knock rocks down on you. It’s that dangerous and loose! We had read that it was a measly one mile down…that mile seemed like ten! I don’t know why but this route seems to take forever! It’s steep too, so it’s bad on the knees. I was in pain for quite a while. However, if you’re a geologist or a rock hound like me, there are some fantastic specimens to be discovered!
The Cristo Couloir. |
We finally reached the bottom and our vehicle exhausted but also delighted to have been fortunate enough to have made the trip!
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Tenmile Range > Quandary Peak > "Clever Title Here": Quandary Peak's West Ridge
