American Basin 13er Ridge Run: You Win Some and You Lose Some

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American Basin 13er Ridge Run: You Win Some and You Lose Some

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American Basin 13er Ridge Run: You Win Some and You Lose Some

Page Type: Trip Report

Location: Colorado, United States, North America

Date Climbed/Hiked: Jul 12, 2009

Activities: Hiking

Season: Summer

Page By: shknbke

Created/Edited: Jul 14, 2009 / Jul 14, 2009

Object ID: 529419

Hits: 1487

Page Score: 89.56% - 26 Votes

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Table of Contents

Intro/Stats

Independence Couloir: Too Little, Too Late

Jones & Niagara Traverse

The Show Stopper

Images

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:

From Dominic & Sarah's wedding

The happy couple:

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.

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.

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.

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:

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:

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:

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.

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:

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:

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:

From Jones group

Images

Comments

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Viewing: 1-13 of 13

Nice Axe!

Congrats

Hasn't voted

to Sarah & Dominic! May you continue to know much happiness together!

Thanks for the great TR too!

Posted Jul 14, 2009 10:19 am

Bill Reed

Nice report, and photos!!

Voted 10/10

Snow looks a little on the thin side, especially compared to the northern end of the state.

Posted Jul 15, 2009 8:19 pm

MarkDidier

Nice Pics

Voted 10/10

Some beautiful shots here. A nice 13er festival!
Thanks for posting.

Mark

Posted Jul 18, 2009 10:23 am

slowbutsteady

question about image description

Voted 10/10

I really enjoyed your trip report. I have been on Handies three times, two times from the American Basin side. I have a question about one of the images in the slide show, the one in particular where the caption reads: 14ners Handies and Redcloud, with people visible on top of Handies. I believe Handies is in the back center putting Redcloud way off to the right in the image. The pointed peak in the left foreground must be one of the 13ners in your report. Handies is so far back I have trouble seeing people on the summit, not that it matters because the images are wonderful. Thanks for your report!

Posted Jul 19, 2009 7:00 pm


	shknbke	Re: question about image description
	Hasn't voted	Thanks for the comment. Handies is the peak in the left foreground as it is very close to the peaks I climbed. The photo was taken from the summit of Jones, so if you look on a map you will see that Redcloud would be to the right of Handies from that vantage point. It sure is a beautiful area!
		Posted Jul 19, 2009 11:12 pm

Aaron Johnson

Nice Report

Hasn't voted

Good route photos for those planning a similar outing. Nice map illustration too. The San Juans are loose loose loose and your pictures illustrate this condition very well. You did right by bailing when you did. The American basin area is a lightning rod. The southern mountains including the San Juan got significantly less snow than the northern mountains this year. More snow would have assisted you in your progress for sure. Ya win some, ya lose some! Thanks for the enjoyable report.

Posted Jul 19, 2009 7:05 pm

cftbq

belated congrats

Hasn't voted

You may not have gotten all you wanted, but, as always, this was a great adventure and a worthy effort. Thanks for the text and photos.

Posted Jul 19, 2009 9:42 pm

Redwic

This TR is awesome in so many ways!!!

Voted 10/10

The photos, the report, the occasion!!! Thank you for sharing this special time with everyone on SP. *THUMBS UP*

Posted Jul 20, 2009 2:59 am

slowbutsteady

question about image description

Voted 10/10

Thanks for your reply. You might want to visit Jon Bradford's mountain page for Jones Mountain and look at the image of Jones Mountain and Handies. I believe his is similiar to your image we discussed above and he describes the pointed mountain on the left as Jones and the elongated mountain in the back center as Handies. regards, Charles Baxter

Posted Jul 20, 2009 10:21 am


	shknbke	Re: question about image description
	Hasn't voted	You're right. I took that shot from Niagara. I updated the caption. Thanks.
		Posted Jul 22, 2009 11:38 pm