Wetterhorn's Summit April 1, 2007
Due to the wintertime road closure, this climb started at the Nellie Creek Trailhead (at Henson Creek) on March 30 sleeping in the car after a long day of travel. An 8 hour approach hike in cold wind-blown snow of March 31 led to where I set up base camp on a 12,900' ridge on the flanks of Mt. Uncompahgre. From there I set out before dawn of April 1, 2007 for a long trek to Wetterhorn in deep snow, frequently post-holing (even with snowshoes) at the lower elevations, ascended the glorious east face snow slope, and a few rock climbing moves to the wind-less summit. Summit day turned out to be a 19 hour affair by the time I made it all the way back to my tent, and slept hard as the wind howled through the night. Off mountain mid-day April 2, and sadly I had no time to climb Uncompahgre, even though I hiked past it twice.