Soloed as a day trip from Navajo TH. West Ridge to El Diente and then continued the Traverse to Mt. Wilson.
Stayed mostly true on the West Ridge and thought it was at least as hard and exposed as the Traverse itself (although did not stay nearly as true on the Traverse).
11.5 hrs incl. time on summits, taking pics, and talking to people (but ran part way back)
milan - Oct 21, 2012 5:47 pm Date Climbed: Aug 6, 2012
Second try
First time I wanted to hike this peak with the Wilsons but a torrential downpour washed me out. This time, after a very successful week in the Elks, I succeeded.
alpspitze - Aug 13, 2012 3:53 pm Date Climbed: Jul 24, 2012
Kilpacker
Lots of loose rock but a nice climb anyway. Went solo. 9 1/2 hours RT. Lots of animal prints on the trail, but didn't see any animals.
lower Kilpacker creek is pretty. The upper basin is a lot of scree. Route is pretty well cairned but still need to be careful as there is some exposure.
Matt Lemke - Jul 11, 2012 11:11 pm Date Climbed: Jun 21, 2012
North Slopes snow climb/Traverse
After some scrambling off route a little, we summitted then traversed to Mount Wilson. Approached via Rock of Ages
Josh Lewis - Jul 11, 2012 3:03 am Date Climbed: Jun 21, 2012
North Side
We got a bit off route near the top, after scrambling back a bit we were feeling silly for missing the obvious turn off. Another fun scramble.
Alex Wood - Jun 29, 2012 3:44 pm Date Climbed: Jun 29, 2012
Via the North Slope
Left Navajo Lake at 6am knowing that there was a 30% chance of tstorms. Got to the top of El Diente via the god-awful North Slope Route at 9:20am (I will never do that again). Part of our group was having issues with exposure so we left the summit of El Diente at 10:00am and half our group decided to go down. We continued across the ridge and got to the saddle in 40 mins. A storm rolled in and we watched and heard the lighting from the ridge over Navajo Basin. It cleared up so we kept going. Went off route in the crux section and ended up climbing some scary 5th class choss. We summited Mt. Wilson at 11:30am and then went down the regular route back to lake. All in all, it took 8 hours roundtrip. The summit ridge to Mt. Wilson is spectacular and the coolest summit ridge I have ever done
Diggler - Jun 28, 2012 5:28 pm Date Climbed: Jun 22, 2012
Glad I survived!
West ridge. Left lake at 15.46. Shortly before reaching ridge crest, Faith decided to turn back (windy, late, loose rock). I continued (17.27 @ this pt.). Initial section of ridge straightfwd (class 2ish)- even had a trail! Notches in ridge kept getting deeper & ridge more & more knife-edged. Last 1/4 mile full-value. @ one particular section, it took 4 tries/attempted routes before figuring out a way to get through the section. After that, it relented slightly, but still plenty of stomach-turning exposure, numerous class 4 sections, nightmarishly loose rock. Very relieved when summited @ 20.07 (probably a record for me on a CO 14er), but still had to get down. Had vowed last ~20 min. of climb that I would not repeat that ridge, so did variation of standard (N slopes) route- avoided snow as much as possible as did not bringe ice axe from camp (d'oh!) & didn't have gaiters. Back @ Navajo Lake camp @ 22.54. Spent ~15 min. @ summit. Could tell there was large forest fire to SE. Sad Faith couldn't be on climb, but she would have hated it. Wild climb! One of the scariest soloes I've done.
Timothy Pearl - May 21, 2012 1:16 am Date Climbed: May 19, 2012
North Slopes
With Ben and Eric. Great snow climb on N Face to the ridge from Navajo Basin. Final pushes to the summit a bit sketchy with loose rock, ice, slush, mud and exposure. Usually find this terrain fun but have been out of the game mentally for some time now. Need to heed some prudence and rebuild some comfort before doing that again.
LadyWawa - Nov 24, 2011 9:03 am Date Climbed: Aug 1, 2011
Challenging!
Went up the north route from Navajo Lake. Not enough snow for me to feel comfortable to the summit! Rematch next summer I hope!
Ken Dammen - Nov 5, 2011 7:10 pm Date Climbed: Aug 13, 2011
North Slopes from Navajo Lake
Climbed the North Slopes route with Dustin Kelley and Matt Jamison. We then did the traverse to Wilson. Tough Day. 2 nights at Navajo Lake.
xpda - Oct 29, 2011 12:51 pm Date Climbed: Aug 21, 2010
El Diente
Solo, Kilpacker trailhead.
apachedino - Oct 28, 2011 12:14 am Date Climbed: Jul 28, 2011
Traverse from Woods Lake
Long day with my brother, probably would have thrown in the other Wilson if I was solo, but it was great to show the bro some mountaineering. Great kick off to 8 14ers in 5 days.
Ted Eliason - Oct 13, 2011 7:51 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 2010
Came back for this one
Stormed off the traverse from Wilson a year before. The camping in Kilpacker below the waterfall was worth the return visit.
Jeremy Hakes - Sep 26, 2011 12:00 pm Date Climbed: Jul 3, 2005
I climbed El Diente with Facebook friend Frank. It was his final 14er. We hiked in the day before and camped below the lower falls. We started around 5:30, summited at 9, and got back to camp around 12:30. The weather was good, though the clouds began to build as we got down from the top.
blanca and bells traverses are better but this one is still good. only heinous part was the scree in the couloir up to diente. a big earlier it he season would have nice snow the whole way (climbied in aug). Tr at http://zoomloco.xanga.com/732717261/purple-mountain-majesties/
SarahThompson - Feb 16, 2011 11:44 am Date Climbed: Aug 27, 2006
Summer, winter on 2nd attempt
8/27/06 - Climbed the nasty north slopes from camp in Navajo Basin and then traversed to Mount Wilson.
2/13/11 - Attempt from camp in Kilpacker Basin. Explored an unknown line up the southwest face. Simulclimbed the entire face, placing pieces in poor rock to try to protect against possible avalanches (recent snow but no signs of instability). Quite the exhausting wallow. Reached the west ridge 0.14 miles west of the summit only to find we had not passed all of its difficulties. Due to time constraints we had to turn around at 13,900 ft.
1/15/11 - Looong winter daytrip from east end of the (closed) Dunton Road. Climbed something resembling the normal south slopes route but finished directly on the summit ridge to avoid dropping down onto the north slopes near the end. Ridge was spicy but fun in crampons.
thatnissanguy - Dec 18, 2010 8:25 pm Date Climbed: Sep 2, 2010
north slopes to traverse
North Slopes miserable in Summer! Not suggested! However, highly suggested as a snow climb. Traverse was awesome.
blueshade - Jul 2, 2013 11:36 pm Date Climbed: Jul 2, 2013
West Ridge + TraverseSoloed as a day trip from Navajo TH. West Ridge to El Diente and then continued the Traverse to Mt. Wilson.
Stayed mostly true on the West Ridge and thought it was at least as hard and exposed as the Traverse itself (although did not stay nearly as true on the Traverse).
11.5 hrs incl. time on summits, taking pics, and talking to people (but ran part way back)
milan - Oct 21, 2012 5:47 pm Date Climbed: Aug 6, 2012
Second tryFirst time I wanted to hike this peak with the Wilsons but a torrential downpour washed me out. This time, after a very successful week in the Elks, I succeeded.
alpspitze - Aug 13, 2012 3:53 pm Date Climbed: Jul 24, 2012
KilpackerLots of loose rock but a nice climb anyway. Went solo. 9 1/2 hours RT. Lots of animal prints on the trail, but didn't see any animals.
boisedoc - Jul 22, 2012 11:41 pm Date Climbed: Jul 17, 2012
from Kilpackerlower Kilpacker creek is pretty. The upper basin is a lot of scree. Route is pretty well cairned but still need to be careful as there is some exposure.
Matt Lemke - Jul 11, 2012 11:11 pm Date Climbed: Jun 21, 2012
North Slopes snow climb/TraverseAfter some scrambling off route a little, we summitted then traversed to Mount Wilson. Approached via Rock of Ages
Josh Lewis - Jul 11, 2012 3:03 am Date Climbed: Jun 21, 2012
North SideWe got a bit off route near the top, after scrambling back a bit we were feeling silly for missing the obvious turn off. Another fun scramble.
Alex Wood - Jun 29, 2012 3:44 pm Date Climbed: Jun 29, 2012
Via the North SlopeLeft Navajo Lake at 6am knowing that there was a 30% chance of tstorms. Got to the top of El Diente via the god-awful North Slope Route at 9:20am (I will never do that again). Part of our group was having issues with exposure so we left the summit of El Diente at 10:00am and half our group decided to go down. We continued across the ridge and got to the saddle in 40 mins. A storm rolled in and we watched and heard the lighting from the ridge over Navajo Basin. It cleared up so we kept going. Went off route in the crux section and ended up climbing some scary 5th class choss. We summited Mt. Wilson at 11:30am and then went down the regular route back to lake. All in all, it took 8 hours roundtrip. The summit ridge to Mt. Wilson is spectacular and the coolest summit ridge I have ever done
Diggler - Jun 28, 2012 5:28 pm Date Climbed: Jun 22, 2012
Glad I survived!West ridge. Left lake at 15.46. Shortly before reaching ridge crest, Faith decided to turn back (windy, late, loose rock). I continued (17.27 @ this pt.). Initial section of ridge straightfwd (class 2ish)- even had a trail! Notches in ridge kept getting deeper & ridge more & more knife-edged. Last 1/4 mile full-value. @ one particular section, it took 4 tries/attempted routes before figuring out a way to get through the section. After that, it relented slightly, but still plenty of stomach-turning exposure, numerous class 4 sections, nightmarishly loose rock. Very relieved when summited @ 20.07 (probably a record for me on a CO 14er), but still had to get down. Had vowed last ~20 min. of climb that I would not repeat that ridge, so did variation of standard (N slopes) route- avoided snow as much as possible as did not bringe ice axe from camp (d'oh!) & didn't have gaiters. Back @ Navajo Lake camp @ 22.54. Spent ~15 min. @ summit. Could tell there was large forest fire to SE. Sad Faith couldn't be on climb, but she would have hated it. Wild climb! One of the scariest soloes I've done.
Timothy Pearl - May 21, 2012 1:16 am Date Climbed: May 19, 2012
North SlopesWith Ben and Eric. Great snow climb on N Face to the ridge from Navajo Basin. Final pushes to the summit a bit sketchy with loose rock, ice, slush, mud and exposure. Usually find this terrain fun but have been out of the game mentally for some time now. Need to heed some prudence and rebuild some comfort before doing that again.
LadyWawa - Nov 24, 2011 9:03 am Date Climbed: Aug 1, 2011
Challenging!Went up the north route from Navajo Lake. Not enough snow for me to feel comfortable to the summit! Rematch next summer I hope!
Ken Dammen - Nov 5, 2011 7:10 pm Date Climbed: Aug 13, 2011
North Slopes from Navajo LakeClimbed the North Slopes route with Dustin Kelley and Matt Jamison. We then did the traverse to Wilson. Tough Day. 2 nights at Navajo Lake.
xpda - Oct 29, 2011 12:51 pm Date Climbed: Aug 21, 2010
El DienteSolo, Kilpacker trailhead.
apachedino - Oct 28, 2011 12:14 am Date Climbed: Jul 28, 2011
Traverse from Woods LakeLong day with my brother, probably would have thrown in the other Wilson if I was solo, but it was great to show the bro some mountaineering. Great kick off to 8 14ers in 5 days.
Ted Eliason - Oct 13, 2011 7:51 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 2010
Came back for this oneStormed off the traverse from Wilson a year before. The camping in Kilpacker below the waterfall was worth the return visit.
Jeremy Hakes - Sep 26, 2011 12:00 pm Date Climbed: Jul 3, 2005
Rough!Good snow climb!
belexes - Sep 6, 2011 1:42 pm Date Climbed: Sep 4, 2011
Kilpacker BasinI climbed El Diente with Facebook friend Frank. It was his final 14er. We hiked in the day before and camped below the lower falls. We started around 5:30, summited at 9, and got back to camp around 12:30. The weather was good, though the clouds began to build as we got down from the top.
zoomloco - Jul 16, 2011 4:52 pm
traverseblanca and bells traverses are better but this one is still good. only heinous part was the scree in the couloir up to diente. a big earlier it he season would have nice snow the whole way (climbied in aug). Tr at http://zoomloco.xanga.com/732717261/purple-mountain-majesties/
SarahThompson - Feb 16, 2011 11:44 am Date Climbed: Aug 27, 2006
Summer, winter on 2nd attempt8/27/06 - Climbed the nasty north slopes from camp in Navajo Basin and then traversed to Mount Wilson.
2/13/11 - Attempt from camp in Kilpacker Basin. Explored an unknown line up the southwest face. Simulclimbed the entire face, placing pieces in poor rock to try to protect against possible avalanches (recent snow but no signs of instability). Quite the exhausting wallow. Reached the west ridge 0.14 miles west of the summit only to find we had not passed all of its difficulties. Due to time constraints we had to turn around at 13,900 ft.
1/15/11 - Looong winter daytrip from east end of the (closed) Dunton Road. Climbed something resembling the normal south slopes route but finished directly on the summit ridge to avoid dropping down onto the north slopes near the end. Ridge was spicy but fun in crampons.
thatnissanguy - Dec 18, 2010 8:25 pm Date Climbed: Sep 2, 2010
north slopes to traverseNorth Slopes miserable in Summer! Not suggested! However, highly suggested as a snow climb. Traverse was awesome.
Scott - Oct 24, 2010 7:10 pm
El DienteJuly 2001 as part of Wilson-El Diente Ridge.