Kit Carson Peak (14,165 ft.) and its north ridge

GPS profile of our route

Elevation and Google Earth profiles

So far, 2010 has been all about improving my scrambling and climbing skills. As the fair weather days are winding down, I will soon need to get into winter mountaineering mode. It has been a dry autumn for most of Colorado; there’s no harm in taking advantage of the weather! The weather forecast was actually looking a bit iffy for Saturday, though — 30% chance of snow. I had no desire to be on a Class 4 ridge climb while snow was falling without the proper gear. I also didn’t know how much snow had already fallen in the Sangre de Cristos as most of the 14ers in the state had their first dusting of snow in the last two weeks. We would have to make a last minute decision about whether we were going to attempt the climb when we saw the conditions for ourselves.

Jerry and I left my place at 2:00 AM. We were aiming for a 5:30 AM start since sunrise was approaching 7:00 as we get further into Autumn. We arrived at the Willow Lake trailhead at 5:15 and prepared ourselves for the day. Being that I injured my right ankle during the after-hike festivities last weekend (that’s another story altogether), I had to purchase an ankle brace for additional support. My ankle had been really swollen on Sunday and Monday, but thanks to RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) during the week it felt good enough to hike and climb on. Jerry knew about the injury and I was a little concerned about whether the ankle was going to be able to hold up on a Class 4 climb. That was something else we were going to have to evaluate before hitting the tough stuff. We hit the trail at 5:31.

I counted the switchbacks from the trailhead register to the top of the initial ascent on our way back down and discovered that there were twelve. Once up the initial pitch, the Willow Creek Trail descends a little bit and parallels a wide field to the right known as Willow Creek Park. Because it was still dark outside we couldn’t see anything outside of the trail, but we knew it was there. I knew there were a lot of switchbacks on the way up to the first crossing of Willow Creek, so as soon as we passed the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness sign, I prepared myself to count them. It always seems to help knowing how many switchbacks there are so you’re not like, “Another one?!?” on the way down. This was my third trip up to Willow Lake this year: Once in May; once during an attempt at the north ridge in July in which I was spooked off by weather; and once during this attempt. I was surprised that I didn’t think to count the switchbacks before now.

From the Wilderness sign, there are twenty-six switchbacks before reaching Willow Creek. Jerry had been calling me “Speedy” all morning because I was out-pacing him, but he was still feeling the effects of working a 60-hour week and only getting three hours of sleep the night before. A little later on, he told me that he wasn’t feeling that well, either, like a cold was coming on. We passed a guy whom I recognized from our Little Bear/Blanca trip. He was riding an ATV down from Lake Como. After Willow Creek, the trail ascended again before leveling out for a bit and crossing over the creek again. We spotted a few tents as we approached the lake and continued on. The last time I attempted the north ridge of Kit Carson, I followed the standard trail up Challenger Point for a little longer than I probably should have, so I wanted to see if we could stay lower and closer to the creek once we reached it again above the falls. As we got higher in elevation, we got our first glance at Kit Carson’s north and west faces — and there was snow. Jerry commented that our game needed to be stepped-up a few notches because of it. I looked at the ridge; in the early morning light, it seemed to be pretty sun-exposed. Even though there wasn’t a lot of snow there were probably going to be patches of ice that we were going to be exposed to, but the ridge itself should have been pretty dry. Jerry asked me again if I was sure I wanted to attempt it. Onward and upward! Jerry said that since he had been leading all summer, it was my turn to lead. This was going to be interesting….

At some point during our hike between when I took the first photo of Kit Carson and we left the standard route up Challenger, I lost the lens cap for my camera. Fortunately, I always have at least a UV filter on so the camera lens is protected, but it was going to be interesting getting up the north slope without chipping or shattering the lens.

Photo 1	Photo 2	Photo 3
Photo 4	Photo 5	Photo 6
Photo 7	Photo 8	Photo 9
Photo 10	Photo 11	Photo 12

Photo 1 shows the ridge highlighted in yellow. After crossing Willow Creek again above the falls, Jerry and I angled left close to the creek (photo 2). Almost immediately after leaving the standard trail, we located another trail heading in the direction we were going. I knew that Willow Creek Lakes were further up in the basin, but didn’t realize that there was a well-worn trail to them. The last time I was up here, I stayed high beneath Challenger and Kit Carson on broken slopes that became a serious PITA to traverse. It was going to be nice to not have to deal with that again. To get to the beginning of our ascent route, we needed to get past the obvious cliffs that can be seen beneath Kit Carson. It starts very near the Outward Bound Couloir. Once I spotted the line I wanted to take, I headed straight toward it (photos 3, 4). I found a gully that was composed of pretty stable rock (photos 5, 6, 7). We stayed close to the right side of the gully as we scrambled up the Class 3 rock. At the top of the gully (photo 8), we started getting glimpses of the north ridge (photos 9-11). We eventually angled up and to our right while our sight was fixated on the ridge.

Photo 13	Photo 14	Photo 15
Photo 16	Photo 17	Photo 18
Photo 19	Photo 20	Photo 21
Photo 22	Photo 23	Photo 24

Jerry and I headed west toward the ridge. Instead of a direct ascent up to the ridge, I decided to switchback and save some energy. There were grassy and rocky ledges that were easy enough to follow (photos 13-16). We continued an ascending traverse toward the base of the north ridge (photo 17). As we approached the base, I spotted from a distance what looked like a cairn (photo 18). We approached the base of the ridge and discovered that it was, indeed, a cairn (photos 19, 20). It appeared that we were on the right track! Instead of climbing right on the ridge at first, I went a little further (probably about fifty feet or so) and began to climb up a northwest face (photos 21, 22). I tried to switchback up it as much as possible and eventually made it back over to the left, back to the ridge (photo 23). There were a lot of grassy ledges and platforms to rest on. Columbia Point loomed large to the east (photo 24).

Photo 25	Photo 26	Photo 27
Photo 28	Photo 29	Photo 30
Photo 31	Photo 32	Photo 33
Photo 34	Photo 35	Photo 36

On the way up, I couldn’t help but make note of how dramatic the exposure actually was (photos 25, 26). It reminded me a lot of Little Bear’s northwest face although climbing a face and climbing a ridge pose different sets of difficulties. As Jerry and I neared the top of the initial pitch (photo 27), I began to notice that not all of the conglomerate rock was solid. Sure, it was a lot more solid than some of the other stuff that we had climbed this year, but I found a slight looseness in some of the rocks, so I made sure to test each handhold and foothold before pulling/pushing myself up. Challenger Point’s large summit ridge soon came into view to the west (photo 28) and I knew we were making progress.

Past the initial pitch, Jerry and I continued to climb directly on the ridge (photos 29-32). When I looked back to the northeast, I expected to be able to see parts of the Wet Mountain Valley. What I saw was a valley covered by a layer of clouds (photo 33). Apparently, some low-level moisture had moved into the valley from the east or south, but didn’t have enough momentum to push over the high peaks of the Sangres. I didn’t have any complaints about it; Jerry and I were enjoying blue skies and a warm sun which we were both thankful for. We continued climbing directly on the ridge (photos 34-36) and there were some hairy moments that made me think, “If I slip and fall, I’m going to die.” It didn’t deter me from continuing, though. Despite the gloomy thought, I was having a lot of fun!

Photo 37	Photo 38	Photo 39
Photo 40	Photo 41	Photo 42
Photo 43	Photo 44	Photo 45
Photo 46	Photo 47	Photo 48
	Photo 49

Jerry and I continued up the steep ridge (photos 37, 38). Ahead of us was a gendarme that looked pretty significant (photo 39). I sort of wanted to avoid climbing it, if possible. I was getting pretty fatigued and wasn’t sure if there was a large drop-off behind it. We spotted a large, snow-covered ledge down to the right. This ledge is highlighted in yellow in this photo. On steep, snow-covered ledges, I began to try a descending traverse down to the ledge, but there was nowhere safe to try and get down from our current position. I took a few minutes to scan the area and I think this made Jerry a little nervous because he was concerned that I froze. My left calf started cramping-up, though, so I knew I couldn’t stay there for much longer. Jerry suggested that we re-gain the ridge and headed back. I followed him a few moments later while taking care to make sure I had a solid foothold underneath the snow. Crossing snow normally doesn’t bother me — at least not as much as it used to. This was the first time that I encountered a little bit of snow and ice on a Class 4 route, though, and it wasn’t enough to warrant snow gear. So, yeah — I was nervous.

Panorama taken from Kit Carson’s north ridge

Back up on the ridge, I looked over at Columbia Point again (photo 40). I’m going to have to summit that sometime. Along the ridge, we encountered a notch that we had to down-climb into and climb back up the other side (photo 41). The notch can also be seen behind and to the right of Jerry in photo 43. From there, we approached the gendarme which didn’t look as bad as it did from further down on the ridge. In fact, it looked extremely climbable (photos 42, 44). While on the gendarme, I saw the ridge to the right rounding-off to the summit of Kit Carson (photo 45). I had expressed to Jerry several times during the climb that I thought that ridge was the one we were supposed to be on. As it turned out, we were right all along.

On top of the gendarme, the slope of the ridge eased to Class 3 for another pitch (photo 46). Jerry, still allowing me to lead, kept close to me as we climbed over the gendarme (photo 47). Over the short Class 3 scramble, the summit came into view (photo 48)! We continued to walk along the ridge and could have stayed right along it. There was one more notch that turned out to be not such a big deal, but I dropped a little lower to the left of the ridge and bypassed it before regaining the ridge (photo 49). Jerry and I summited Kit Carson Peak at 11:05.

Crestone Peak and Needle

Jerry lounging on Kit Carson’s summit

Me taking a well-deserved break

Panorama taken from the summit of Kit Carson Peak

The sun was nice and warm at the summit, but there were some clouds building to the west that would shade us for a few minutes at a time. We spent about forty-five minutes by ourselves on the summit while we recharged, rested, and rehydrated. This was Jerry’s second summit of Kit Carson this year. I’m glad he doesn’t have any objections to summiting the same peak more than once a year! I, myself, have summited all of the Sangres this year except Ellingwood Point — but I did climb Little Bear Peak twice. It’s been quite a year for me in this range.

Jerry and I spotted three people on top of Challenger Point, so we knew we were going to be crossing paths with them. I knew that one of them had to be the guy that we passed on our way up. We started down on the standard trail, but it was filled with loose dirt and scree so we abandoned it for the more-stable rock to our right and down-climbed onto Kit Carson Avenue. The Avenue is a large ledge that allows easy passage to the base of the scramble up to the summit. It’s pretty steep, though, and Jerry and I were worn out from our ascent. About half-way up the avenue, we crossed paths with three guys — and one was the guy that we passed. We gave them instructions on how to reach the summit and parted ways with them. A short while later, we reached the top of the Avenue. I had been concerned about how much snow was on the steep descent to the Kit Carson/Challenger saddle, but there were only a few medium-sized patches that were easily avoided.

Jerry reaching the top of the Avenue looking tired and haggard. I don’t think he really felt that way, though. He was just being a drama queen.

A look back down on Kit Carson Avenue

It only took us about forty-five minutes to reach the summit of Challenger Point. We encountered another group of three hikers who looked like they wanted to summit Kit Carson, but were maybe having second thoughts about it. Jerry and I rested another twenty minutes or so on Challenger’s summit before heading down it’s suck-ass standard route.

Kit Carson Peak from Challenger Point

As Jerry and I headed down the horribly loose slope of Challenger Point, I took several looks back at Kit Carson. At first, the north ridge wasn’t visible, but it started rolling into view. I saw the snow-covered ledge that I wanted to take as well as the clearly-defined ridge line. The ridge that I thought was the one we were supposed to be on was facing more to the northwest and was much more snow-covered. Had we tried to traverse over to it, we might have not summited…. We were fine, though, and besides a couple slips on the loose descent of Challenger, we were going to make it down without incident. I was pleasantly surprised that my ankle held out long enough for me to climb the north ridge. I guess the rest that I gave it during the week was enough for me to recover.

When Jerry and I reached the bottom of the slope, we stopped to rest and peel off some layers. After about ten minutes or so, we headed back down to the lake. I asked Jerry to keep an eye out for my lens cap as we descended, but neither of us found it. My UV filter, unfortunately, had received a couple of chips on it from impacting the rock on our ascent, but the filter can be replaced relatively inexpensively. We stopped at the lake for a photo or two before leaving. On our way back, I had to peel off another layer and zip-off the bottoms of my pants. It turned out to be quite a warm day for one that was forecasted to have a 30% chance of snow! There were trees still showing golden leaves, so I made sure to take a couple of photos near Willow Lake Park. We reached my truck shortly after 5:00. It wasn’t one of our typical twelve-plus-hour days, but pretty close to it.

GPS stats from our ascent of Kit Carson’s north ridge and return via Challenger Point

Google Earth .KML file of my route (right-click and “save target as” to save the file). NOTE: For some reason, if you’re using Internet Explorer, when you “save target as”, it changes the file extension to .XML. This is incorrect. To be able to view this in Google Earth, change the file extension to .KML before saving the file. It downloads correctly in Firefox.