San Juan Range
Intro/Stats
"American Pk" (13806')via Independence Couloir
Jones Mtn (13860')
Niagara Pk (13807')
9.2 miles RT, 4700' gain
From American Basin 4WD TH
Slideshow
My wife and I were in the San Juans to attend Dominic and Sarah's wedding at one of my favorite places in Colorado, spectacular Yankee Boy Basin. No need for a church when you're right in the middle of God's cathedral on earth!
Teakettle and Coffepot with seats in the balcony for the wedding:
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| From Dominic & Sarah's wedding |
The happy couple:
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| From Dominic & Sarah's wedding |
I treated my wife to an authentic 4WD outing up Engineer Pass, with the west side being much rougher and dramatic. She was just a wee bit nervous! We waited at the pass to see if some dark clouds would blow over for a chance at easy 13er Engineer Pk, but it was not to be. We checked in late at the Matterhorn Hotel in Lake City and I caught a few z's before heading out at the ungodly hour of 3AM for a multi peak fest in American Basin.
Things were looking dreary as it had just stopped raining and the skies were looking uncertain. I bashed my way up to American Basin and the road was not quite as rough as I had remembered it the first time. It was spooky driving this shelf road in the dark but I thought it was less intimidating as you couldn't see the huge drops! :eek:
Independence Couloir: Too Little, Too Late
I arrived at the American Basin 4WD trailhead before all of the sleeping 14er baggers had awoke. I quietly got ready and set out at 4:30 with some decent moonlight to help guide the way. The skies were beginning to clear up a bit, so things were looking better. I followed the easy Handies trail to 12400' and left it when it starts heading east.I made my way up wet tundra slopes to a steep scree field below the apron of the Independence couloir on American's north face. The couloir held enough snow to warrant breaking out the axe and crampons, but I was disappointed there wasn't more snow.
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| From Jones group |
I made my way up the left side of the couloir, following a convenient set of old tracks. I didn't measure the slope angle, but measuring on the map it averages 36 degrees, probably a bit steeper at the top.
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| From Jones group |
I stayed on snow as long as I could and the snow ended about 20 feet from the top. This little 400 foot climb only took about 30 minutes, so I'm not sure why Roach calls this a classic. Maybe it's a lot more fun earlier in the season. The remaining climb to the summit of American is a 1/4 mile journey on a decent trail up the west ridge, which skirts a false summit and climbs steeply amidst typical San Juan scree.
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| From Jones group |
A couple of large elk beat me to the summit and they scurried out of view before I could get a pic. I topped out at 6:50, probably one of my earliest summits ever. The weather was looking good to at least make it over to Niagara.
Jones & Niagara Traverse
I was able to follow a faint trail most of the way over to Jones.A cool view down to Sloan Lake on American's west ridge:
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| From Jones group |
The descent to the saddle is easy, then you are faced with a steep, loose mess of scree to contend with on Jones n.e. ridge.
Nearing the saddle with Jones:
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| From Jones group |
I followed the faint trail on climbers left of the ridge crest, skirting some cliffs above the saddle. Once above the false summit, I stayed on the ridge crest for some minor class 2+ scrambling to the summit. The day was still young and the skies were looking good, although I still had my doubts the weather would hold long enough to make it over to 13535 and Cinnamon.
I signed the register and headed over to Niagara, which is a bit steeper than Jones. Once again, I was able to follow a decent trail, which nicely skirted below a couple bumps on the right.
Niagara's east ridge (left), which ascends nearly 600 feet in .2 mile:
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| From Jones group |
I left my pack at the saddle and slogged up the steep east slopes of Niagara, which was littered with striking sky pilots.
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| From Jones group |
Not sure how these delicate flowers survive the harsh afternoon storms up here! It was only 9:45am, but clouds were already beginning to build. I took in the views for a couple minutes and headed back down to the saddle, taking a much needed break there.
The only drawback to this route is you have to reclimb Jones, which adds another 640 feet, although the trail makes it pretty tolerable. I skirted below the top 50 feet or so on Jones, which was more effort than it was worth sidehilling nasty talus. I took it slow down the annoyingly loose n.e. ridge and was back at the saddle ready to figure out how to get over to 13535.
Loose descent of n.e. ridge:
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| From Jones group |
The Show Stopper
A long line of towers blocks easy passage to the connecting ridge to 13535, so I decided to skirt them on nasty scree to the left. I dropped down to 13040' and did an ascending sidehill across scree and a couple mellow snowfields back to the ridge crest.A little sidehilling torture:
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| From Jones group |
I committed the cardinal sin and forgot to check my map on my GPS to see where I was at. It turns out I had overshot the ridge that splits off to the north for 13535 and I was down an incorrect ridge heading west! I headed down almost 1/2 mile and dropped 300 feet before noticing that the basin below me to the right was Grouse Gulch, not American Basin! This screwup cost me a summit as a storm was approaching me due west.
I raced back up the ridge, up and over Pt 13444. I caught the Grouse Gulch trail just 1/2 mile south of 13535, but there was no way I was risking it with a nasty storm approaching.
I bombed down the trail and it started raining 20 minutes later, although not hard enough initially to break out a shell. About 5 minutes from the car, a flash/boom variance of 1 second forced me into a trot! I was glad I wasn't high on the ridges! The heavens broke loose just two minutes from the car and a barrage of hail battered me. I scrambled for the keys and hopped in the 4Runner in the nick of time, arriving back at the trailhead at 12:15. You win some and you lose some I guess!
GPS track:
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| From Jones group |
Images
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