San Juan Range
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Distance: 8 miles
Elevation Gain: 4100'
"V 4"
Ryan Wilson and I camped at 10,360' on the 4WD road to Clear Lake Friday night. We began hiking at 7:25 am Saturday morning. There was light rain during most of the approach. We took the well-cairned, faint trail that leads to Island Lake. We got to Island Lake at 8:33 am. We gained V 4's southeast ridge and followed it to the summit. The wind was very intense and had to put on my gloves for the first time since skiing in June. The ridge is quite loose in many places and does not exceed 3rd class. We reached the summit at 9:17 am. There was a summit register on top.
"V 4" from Island Lake
Ulysses S. Grant Peak
We descended the east side of V 4's northeast ridge to a saddle, then continued descending on the west side over very loose rock to the Ulysses S. Grant-"V 4" saddle. The sky looked like we were about to experience some bad weather soon. We continued up Ulysses S. Grant Peak's southwest ridge to the base of the crux. It was easier than I expected and would call it easy fourth class. We continued along the exposed ledge, up the rocky couloir then along the easy ridge to the summit. We reached the top at 10:08 am with snow blowing in our faces.
Fuller Peak, Vermilion Peak, Golden Horn & Pilot Knob from "V 4"
"V 2"
We descended our ascent route to the Ulysses S. Grant-"V 4" saddle. We descended towards Island Lake, then climbed to the Ulysses S. Grant-"V 2" saddle, intersecting the Hardrock 100 Trail on the way. We continued along V 2's easy west ridge and reached the summit at 11:35 am. "V 2" provides great views of the Ice Lakes and Island Lake Basins. We descended our ascent route to the Ulysses S. Grant-"V 2" saddle, then followed the Hardrock 100 Trail to the Ice Lakes Trail. We passed many people on the Ice Lakes Trail. We got back to the Jeep at 12:41 pm.
Ulysses S. Grant Peak from "V 2"
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