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| Southwest Chimney   | 
| Page Type: Route Location: Colorado, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 38.08000°N / 107.53°W Route Type: Alipine Rock Climb Time Required: Most of a day Difficulty: 5.5-5.6 range
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| Page By: peakwolf Created/Edited: Sep 7, 2003 / Sep 11, 2003 Object ID: 158764 Hits: 1075 Loading... Page Score: 0% - 0 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Approach
See the Getting There section of Coxcomb Peak for driving directions to the Wetterhorn Basin Trailhead.
Route Description
From the parking lot, take the trail towards the 12,500 foot pass west of Coxcomb. The trail climbs steeply through volumes of flowers. You will pass a place where a huge landslide has strewn SUV-sized boulders across the trail. Many parties camp on the north side of the pass and then climb over the next day on the way to Coxcomb. There are some good flat, campsites on this side of the pass. The advantage is that you don’t have to lug your gear over the pass, the disadvantage is that it makes the next day’s climb quite a bit longer. I would recommend going over the pass and then dropping down along the trail into a huge wide meadow that sits along the southern base of Coxcomb. There is a small knoll at the 12,000 foot closed contour on the map that makes an excellent camping space. It is flat and has a line of stunted trees that offer a little protection from the wind. Water from a small stream is a few minutes walk. Some people have tried to avoid the drop in the elevation from the pass by contouring along the base of the scree that surrounds Coxcomb. No one I ever heard of would choose this route a second time. Although it saves a few hundred feet of elevation loss, it probably doubles the time it would take to descend via the trail, because you have to pick your way across heinous steep and loose rocks.
To start the climb, hike north along the meadow toward the base of Coxcomb and you will arrive at the scree section in a very short time. There is really only one good possibility for ascending to the base of the Coxcomb cliffs, even though a lot of routes look promising. There is a huge prominent gully that heads right up to the base of the cliffs. Is it very wide at the bottom, as if a giant finger had drawn a line down the talus, but veers to the right as it goes up and becomes steeper and more narrow. The best thing to do is get on the grassy area to the right of the gully (as you are ascending) as soon as you can. We found we had to ascend pretty high into the gully before we found a feasible exit point, since the sides of the gully are very steep and a mixture of slippery, loose scree and dirt. In fact, the inside of the gully is a mixture of crumbly rocks and dirt. The going is difficult and it is hard not to knock rocks down on the people below. Stay bunched up to avoid being hit by rocks with any velocity.
Once you find an exit onto the grassy slopes to your right, the going is much easier. There is an obvious ramp composed of easy rock mixed with grassy areas. Above this are various vague climber trails through the scree. You will probably come in slightly to the right of the chimney system (as you face the summit block). Hop over large talus to arrive at the base of a steep, short gully section. This has to be climbed before you see the base of the chimneys that are inset into a large rock vestibule. There are two chimneys, one on the left and one on the right. The left-hand chimney is better for climbing up. There is a safe place around the corner for people to wait, if you have a large group.
There is a small section of exposed climbing below the chimneys that has to be negotiated. It involves a short scramble up a 7 foot tall boulder
onto a shelf into the bottom of the thirty foot wide vestibule. Some people might want a belay here, as it is quite exposed below the boulder. Once over the boulder climb up third and fourth class scrambling terrain that leads about 50 ft up and 50 feet forward to a huge vertical slab that forms the innermost wall of the vestibule. A narrow chimney (about three feet wide) begins at the climber’s left of the slab. A wider, more difficult-to-climb chimney is in the corner to the right of the slab. The left chimney rises up about ten feet and then takes a sharp turn to the right and where it climbs steeply to the exit point above the vestibule.
The left chimney protected well with #.4 to #1 Camalots, a few mid-sized nuts, and several small sized Aliens. On the flatter terrain above the chimney, our group built a belay anchor with a couple of Aliens and a red Tricam. A blue Tricam would have been nice to have.
Once out of the chimneys, it is an easy walk/scramble along the sometimes narrow ridge to the famous notch/gap. A rappel anchor can be set up at the top of the notch with a couple of 25 ft slings around a large boulder. It is an easy rappel down to the narrow platform at the bottom of the notch. Some groups also set up a fixed line for climbing up the summit side of the notch. The climbing is probably 3rd class but very exposed. Our group used two opposing nuts to set an anchor for the end of a fixed line that ran up and around an exposed ledge to the narrow walkway on the top of the final summit ridge. The line was fixed with an Alien and a 10 ft sling girth-hitched around a chockstone up and around the corner on the ridge.
Once past the notch the summit is close, yet you still have to cross a very exposed ridge. The ridgetop is fairly wide in some spots, but the rocks are loose and you have to step carefully with thousands of feet of exposure on either side. In some places the ridge narrows to a nubbin, and some people might want to get on their butts to cross these sections. Not many people are signed into the summit register!
To head back, reverse your route back down the summit-side of the notch to the notch nadir. One of the guide books suggested leaving y our rappel rope hooked up so that you can either self belay up the short vertical section, or possibly even prussik up. I don’t know if people lead climb up this and then set up a belay, so I don’t know what kind of protection it would require. It’s probably best just to leave your rappel rope set up for the ascent back up.
Although some people downclimb the chimney, it is easier to set up a rappel down the middle of the vertical rock slab. There are slings from people rappelling down one of the chimneys as well, if you chose that. The middle slab route seemed to be the easiest rappel to set up and accomplish. Our group set up a two-rope rappel at the top of the vertical slab between the two chimneys. There is a bomber rock for the anchor that takes a 25 foot sling. Loose rock is common at all stages of the Coxcomb climb and it is best that no one is in the fall line below the rappellers. Although you could downclimb the final section of the gully below the chimneys, our group set up a second rappel at the base of the chimneys which went down the little 4th class ramp to below the initial 7 ft. high boulder we climbed to get to the base of the chimneys. Be careful to walk around the corner, out of the fall line for loose rock, before yelling “off rappel”. In our group pretty much everyone kicked one or two rocks down during that section of rappel.
On the descent towards the gully it is easier to stay on the grass for as long as possible, then slip-slide down a steep wall back into the gully. On the way down the grassy slope looks like it just melds into another grassy slope below, but don’t be fooled. In between is a nasty steep scree slope and the only feasible descent is really in and near the gully. One final note, this can be a long day for about 1600 feet of elevation gain. If you have more than two climbers the time multiplies. Be on the lookout for thunderheads. Be ready to bail from the climb earlier than you would a walk-up peak. Some friends of mine got caught in the chimney while lightening was striking the Coxcomb ridge and they were lucky to make it out alive!
Thanks to Dan Blake and David Lazaroff for help with technical details!
Essential Gear
See the route description for examples of the kinds of protection you will probably need. The final rappel down the vestibule, if you choose to rappel rather than downclimb, will require two ropes. Rock shoes are not necessary as the climbing is pretty easy. The hardest climbing is ascending back up the notch on the way back from the summit (I don't think there is anything above 5.6). Good mountaineering boots will be handy. This climb is best down as a backpack, so bring standard mountaineering and overnight gear.
Miscellaneous Info
If you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.
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San Juan Range
