Route Climbed: Traverse from Mt. Wilson Date Climbed: 7-10-05
Summited with ColoradoScott. Traverse was solid and fun, took 3 hours. The descent off El Diente into Navajo Basin is loose and steep. Take this mountain seriously!
Route Climbed: East Ridge traverse from Mt. Wilson Date Climbed: July 10, 2005
The ridge traverse IS a classic, but not as difficult as I imagined. The downclimbs and scrambles are exiting and the exposure along parts of the ridge are exhilarating (or terrifying to some, probably)!!! The traverse took three hours. On the descent, We scrambled down rocks to reach the main snow couloir and found the top of the snow to be thin (18" over rock) and I took a nasty fall, despite my crampons and axe. After immediately attemping self-arrest, which only slowed my progress on the 55 degree slope, due to the rotten snow conditions, I flipped onto my back when my crampons caught a rock hidding under the shallow snow. Immediately I returned into the arrest positon, finally coming to a stop after a 100 foot slide (and only ten feet above a ten foot drop onto rocks. Fortunately, my quick reactions and equipment prevented any injuries other than scraped knuckles and some soreness.
My partner carefully downclimbed this section w/o incident, although he was shaken to watch my accident. Because of the steepness and soft snow, we downclimbed rock ribs until the slope angle eased back to about 35-40 degrees, where we tested the snow, and began glissading to the bottom, carefully avoiding and rock outcrops below. I finally hobbled into camp 13 hours after our day began.
The moral of the story is: 1)wear a helmet (like I did), 2) have an axe and crampons and know how to used them (it could save your life), 3) climb these with partners, and 4) do not take them lightly...they are difficult climbs with dangerous potential, even if the weather is perfect.
Route Climbed: north slopes, return to Silver Pick Date Climbed: August 1995
Climbed the steep, snow-filled gullies and ribs up and down the north slope, following a partial descent from Mount Wilson to about 13,000'. This was a miserable route, and my most difficult climb in the Colorado Rockies to date. Made for an extremely long day, with the latter part being done in a cold rain.
Route Climbed: North Slopes Date Climbed: 15 Aug 2004
Camped below the route on Sat...started up at 5:00a.m. and caught a beautiful sunrise half way up. We followed the couloir most of the way by climbing the rock on either side and then took a direct path up to the summit. Continued on the ridge traverse to Wilson after that.
Route Climbed: Kilpacker Basin Date Climbed: June 20, 2004
Wow...what a beautiful campsite at Kilpacker. The end of the climb can be difficult as the route can disappear on you when there is snow coverage...pretty awesome though!
Route Climbed: North Face Date Climbed: August 2003
A late summer freeze cemented the scree on the north face solid, so we had no problems with the infamous rockfall. Still, wear a helmet. Traversed to Mount Wilson. Another group on the mountain had a miserable + dangerous descent of this route - be careful.
Route Climbed: Kilpacker Basin Trailhead Date Climbed: July 5, 2003
Kilpacker Basin was wonderful but my favorite part of this hike was the last mile. The rock scrambling and class 3 stuff were great although quite loose. This was by far the toughest mountain I have climbed (not that I have climbed that many). It is a mountain that demands all of your attention. I had the priviledge of climbing this mountain with Aaron Johnson, my sweetheart and favorite climbing partner. We had a great day weather wise which assisted our efforts.
skideep1 - Jul 22, 2005 4:36 am
Route Climbed: Kilpacker Creek South Slopes Date Climbed: July 3, 2005Started early. Solo ascent. Off Mtn by 9:30am
doumall - Jul 13, 2005 1:55 pm
Route Climbed: Traverse from Mt. Wilson Date Climbed: 7-10-05Summited with ColoradoScott. Traverse was solid and fun, took 3 hours. The descent off El Diente into Navajo Basin is loose and steep. Take this mountain seriously!
ColoradoScott - Jul 12, 2005 1:03 pm
Route Climbed: East Ridge traverse from Mt. Wilson Date Climbed: July 10, 2005The ridge traverse IS a classic, but not as difficult as I imagined. The downclimbs and scrambles are exiting and the exposure along parts of the ridge are exhilarating (or terrifying to some, probably)!!! The traverse took three hours. On the descent, We scrambled down rocks to reach the main snow couloir and found the top of the snow to be thin (18" over rock) and I took a nasty fall, despite my crampons and axe. After immediately attemping self-arrest, which only slowed my progress on the 55 degree slope, due to the rotten snow conditions, I flipped onto my back when my crampons caught a rock hidding under the shallow snow. Immediately I returned into the arrest positon, finally coming to a stop after a 100 foot slide (and only ten feet above a ten foot drop onto rocks. Fortunately, my quick reactions and equipment prevented any injuries other than scraped knuckles and some soreness.
My partner carefully downclimbed this section w/o incident, although he was shaken to watch my accident. Because of the steepness and soft snow, we downclimbed rock ribs until the slope angle eased back to about 35-40 degrees, where we tested the snow, and began glissading to the bottom, carefully avoiding and rock outcrops below. I finally hobbled into camp 13 hours after our day began.
The moral of the story is: 1)wear a helmet (like I did), 2) have an axe and crampons and know how to used them (it could save your life), 3) climb these with partners, and 4) do not take them lightly...they are difficult climbs with dangerous potential, even if the weather is perfect.
Larry V - Feb 20, 2005 6:17 pm
Route Climbed: north slopes, return to Silver Pick Date Climbed: August 1995Climbed the steep, snow-filled gullies and ribs up and down the north slope, following a partial descent from Mount Wilson to about 13,000'. This was a miserable route, and my most difficult climb in the Colorado Rockies to date. Made for an extremely long day, with the latter part being done in a cold rain.
bc44caesar - Aug 16, 2004 12:20 am
Route Climbed: North Slopes Date Climbed: 15 Aug 2004Camped below the route on Sat...started up at 5:00a.m. and caught a beautiful sunrise half way up. We followed the couloir most of the way by climbing the rock on either side and then took a direct path up to the summit. Continued on the ridge traverse to Wilson after that.
Peter Eliassen - Jul 22, 2004 3:50 pm
Route Climbed: Kilpacker Basin Date Climbed: June 20, 2004Wow...what a beautiful campsite at Kilpacker. The end of the climb can be difficult as the route can disappear on you when there is snow coverage...pretty awesome though!
ctruscot - Jul 11, 2004 8:21 pm
Route Climbed: El Diente and ridge over to Wilson from Silver Pick trailhead Date Climbed: Jyly 9, 2004Thursday and Friday joined a guide and three others on this
climb of El-Diente and Wilson via the ridge. See trip report.
DaveC - May 20, 2004 9:33 pm
Route Climbed: north chutes Date Climbed: june 02miserable route. awesome campsite in Navajo basin, but without snow, avoid the north side and do kilpacker.
hhsilleck - Jan 10, 2004 7:09 pm
Route Climbed: North Face Date Climbed: August 2003A late summer freeze cemented the scree on the north face solid, so we had no problems with the infamous rockfall. Still, wear a helmet. Traversed to Mount Wilson. Another group on the mountain had a miserable + dangerous descent of this route - be careful.
RyanS - Oct 24, 2003 2:19 pm
Route Climbed: South Slopes via Kilpacker Basin Date Climbed: June 14, 2003We spent a delightful day in the Lizard Head Wilderness, and even bumped into fellow SPer NickD while we were out there. Here's my TR.
Matt Mahoney - Jul 27, 2003 10:48 pm
Route Climbed: Silver Pick Date Climbed: July 20, 2003Traversed from Mt. Wilson, then climbed Wilson Pk. The climb down was slow on rotton loose rock when I wasn't glissading.
mtnhiker13 - Jul 9, 2003 11:33 am
Route Climbed: Kilpacker Basin Trailhead Date Climbed: July 5, 2003Kilpacker Basin was wonderful but my favorite part of this hike was the last mile. The rock scrambling and class 3 stuff were great although quite loose. This was by far the toughest mountain I have climbed (not that I have climbed that many). It is a mountain that demands all of your attention. I had the priviledge of climbing this mountain with Aaron Johnson, my sweetheart and favorite climbing partner. We had a great day weather wise which assisted our efforts.
rmjwinters - Jun 24, 2003 2:40 pm
Route Climbed: Kilpacker Basin-South Slopes Date Climbed: June 22, 2003Beautiful hike through Kilpacker Basin. I did this as a day hike in about 8 hours. See trip report for more details.