Mighty Paiute Peak from the Audubon-Paiute Traverse
Digital photos in this report by Aaron Johnson

For part 1 of this report, go here.

We had just climbed Mount Audubon via the spectacular Southeast Ridge route, as posted here on SP by long time member Chris Fisher. What an exciting and wonderful climb it was! Four of us, out of ten total for the day now wanted to proceed with the rest of our proposed route: A traverse of the Class 2 ridge over to Mount Paiute. The weather was holding, Denise had summit fever real bad and Jim, Ellen and I were simply having too much fun to stop. Paiute was directly west and the ridge between looked intriguing and fun.

Randy, Sharon, Ellen and I had climbed Paiute last year via Kane’s route, another wonderful SP recommendation. Our intent was to do the traverse and descend that route and make a nice loop back to the vehicles. Randy had thoroughly enjoyed Paitue and we could tell he was chomping at the bit to climb it again. From Audubon’s summit, it just looked downright like too much fun! Ever the devoted husband, he decided to pass, stick with his climbing sweetheart Sharon and descend with the group down the trail. For that I pay tribute to him, and what a classy couple!

We said our farewells to the group, reminding them that the day was originally planned to be a long one if anyone proceeded over to Mount Paiute. We estimated 90 minutes to Paiute, another 90 minutes descent and at least two hours back to the car from the base of Paiute’s southeast face. The group assured us they understood and encouraged us to have a great time. So we were off with a quick start.

We did much better than anticipated, dropping to the low point, the saddle just east of Paiute in thirty minutes. The four of us glided over the Class 2 rock efficiently. Everything was solid and a joy to scamper over. From the saddle, the northeast face of Paiute was an impressive, massive cliff face hundreds of feet high, towering over a shimmering alpine lake below. In the northwest, the only storm in the north part of the state had finally managed to develop into a gargantuan thunder grumbler over Middle Park. It was clearly moving northeast, away from us and toward Rocky Mountain National Park. This storm made an impressive backdrop for a number of photos I shot on this climb. I was mildly concerned about a spate of clouds hanging over the entire state, but the high pressure rotation that had protected us all day was still in place and no other storms were managing to develop.

We swiftly ascended Paiute’s east ridge. What a joy of a climb! Super solid and lots of route possibilities, the mountain was indeed too much fun and immediately became a favorite, as well as a preferred mountain I would recommend for new climbers expanding their skills. We summited in 30 minutes from the saddle, so we were 30 minutes ahead of our schedule. We took a quick obligatory summit shot and decided to descend Kane’s route as quick and efficiently as possible, just in case the weather decided to change its mood. The sky had grown darker, but no development was yet observed. To the north, the big thunderstorm grumbled as it came to rest above the Estes Park area.

We immediately dropped down from Paiute’s summit for a short distance along the west ridge. We then made a direct descent down a fun rib of rock that runs up the center of Paiute’s southeast face. Many climbing problems presented themselves, which makes this a favorite climbing route for me. Within 40 minutes we were off the Class 3 terrain and took a long, well deserved break. During this time, the gentle winds aloft had blown the clouds out east, where they were dissipated. The sun came out and we found ourselves basking in a brilliant Rocky Mountain afternoon beneath that trademark Colorado blue sky! What a magical day!

We descended further south to round a snow bank, blazed east across the tundra south of Upper Blue Lake and pretty much followed our descent route from last year. Ellen found a wonderful new route down along a cascading stream that was just too beautiful to believe, and the scrambling was equally fun as the rest of the day’s climbing had been. We intercepted the Blue Lake trail, skirted the lake and started encountering day hikers along its shores.

The march was on and we began our steady pace down the trail. Along the way I shot some pictures of the phenomenal Southeast Ridge route on Mount Audubon that we had climbed that morning. The ridge profile from below was just stunning, and upon their first viewing the pictures would no doubt surprise the group. And their first viewing of these shots will probably be here at SP!

For the record, attending this outstanding climb were: Jim Lierman (IU Trekkers President and a climbing machine), Ellen Ritt (my sweetheart and a wonderful, skilled mountain climber), Aaron Johnson, Shanna Johnson (my daughter, who displays a natural skill for rock climbing-hmm, I wonder where she got that from…), Roberta Laraway (a brave new explorer of Colorado who is seeing Colorado as it should be seen-and you love it, don’t you, Roberta!), Randy & Sharon Breunlin (climbing machines, very knowledgeable and they now smile a lot when presented with a challenge), Barbara Bailey (last year she could hardly step on a flat rock, and now she climbs vertical stuff with no problem), Dennis Heckman (a climbing animal that loves Class 5 and makes Barb wince) and Denise Yourick (a climbing machine, this was her first trip with the group this year-she climbed both mountains in effortless, graceful style).

Ten hours later we marched out into the parking lot, greeted by muted applause and cheers from those that chose to wait for us. Following congratulations, a change of clothes and some stretching, we dropped into Nederland for some yummy, recharging Italian food before heading for home. For Ellen and me, our day began at 4:20AM, and much earlier for folks like Denise and Shanna, who had to drive across town to meet us at 5:00AM. We walked into the house at 8:00PM, not really that tired and feeling great. We had just climbed two awesome mountains on three awesome routes, two of which were supplied by my friends here at Summit Post! What a fantastic day! Not bad for a bunch of “middle aged” folks!

Other than making new friends that love to climb the mountains, THIS is what makes Summit Post the best mountaineering site on the net! For the I.U. Trekkers, Summit Post is THE site to rely on for dependable route beta on obscure routes, and it is the ONLY site the group recommends for obscure route beta on the internet. My thanks to Chris and Kane for their excellent route descriptions and advice. Their efforts made this one of our best climbs ever, and judging by the group’s comments, one of the best routes we’ve ever done!

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