Wetterhorn Peak! Colorado - 14,015'
Southeast Ridge Route
8.5 Miles Round Trip
3325 feet of elevation gain
Wetterhorn Peak! Read some of the blogs on 14ers.com and you'll see that Wetterhorn Peak is clearly one
of the member's favorite climbs. It's easy to see why... it's spectacular!! Just getting to the mountain
is an awesome adventure. But once you get there!! oh boy!! The mountain itself has such steep interesting
features and the views in the surrounding San Juan range are incredible. To do this hike with my lifelong
friend Tommy Neville made it even sweeter. He's a great, supportive partner and we make a great team!
There are actually several ways to get to Wetterhorn, but the standard approach is through Lake City, CO. Lake
City is one of the most remote towns in the lower 48 States and it is a good hour from any main town or road... yes,
it's literally in the middle of nowhere. Then, from there you travel 9 miles on the Henson Creek Road. Then, if
you have a decent clearance vehicle, it is 2 more miles up North Henson Road. There is a final 0.7 mile stretch
to the trailhead off of North Henson Road, but this is definitely ONLY for 4WD drive vehicles and is a short
walk. I was able to get to the this intersection (before the last 0.7) in a Toyota Solara!! Granted, this
Solara does seem to have super-human powers, but it's just a plain-old 2 wheel drive car. Now, we did have
to go REAL slow up North Henson Road, but we made it!!
As with most of these hikes in Colorado, not only because it is so far to get to the trailhead, but also
because of potential afternoon thunderstorms, you always need to start WAY early!! We left Lake City about
5:30AM and arrived at the lower trailhead at about 6:30AM. The weather forecast called for a good day.
Once you arrive in the basin below Wetterhorn it is mind-blowing. The basin seems to have these layers
or decks. And you're treated to views of Wetterhorn as well as 13er Matterhorn and the ridge between them... awesome!!
As you get closer to the peak itself, you travel through a gorgeous boulder field. The trail is super
established and there's no real boulder hopping involved. Just a nice little maze to go through.
After the boulder field, there is a small uphill to the saddle where the real climb comes into view. You
see that first you travel across the yellow dirt section then it is on to the wonderful face of Wetterhorn Peak!!
Once you cross the yellow dirt section you begin the rock scrambling up the face. I think it's helpful
to think of the remaining hike as 3 scrambling sections divided by 2 notches. Each successive of the 3
sections get a little steeper! (and arguably more fun!).
The first section has several different ways up and there are cairns but it's really very easy for
anyone with rock scrambling experience.
Through the first notch, the rock scrambling gets steeper, but the rock is totally solid and it is
still just plain fun.
Once you hit the second notch, things get a little more interesting. To start with, once you are
just over the notch, there is a 15 foot downsloping slab, which, in pictures, had given me pause. It
is exposed on the left side of the slab, but navigating this was MUCH easier than I thought. Now,
this assumes that the rock is dry!! But you just stick to the wall on the right side and you are way
away from any exposure.
However, at the end of the slab, just as you are about to begin the final headwall / pitch, the
spot you arrive at at the bottom of the slab and the beginning of the pitch, is a little exposed. I
have a video showing what it's like below. It's not really dangerous but it gets your heart pumping
a little bit.
So, the final headwall!! Reading report after report trying to determine 'can I make this pitch?' is
really what probably all mid-level mountain hikers consider when contemplating attempting Wetterhorn. Here's
my take but there are many others out there. It IS steep, BUT, it's short. It's definitely class 3 but
there are totally solid steps and holds. If you have rock scrambling experience, you will totally make
it!! For us, Tommy just went on up. And to stand in the spot at the bottom of the headwall (where I shot
the video from) is so counter-productive... you will only freak yourself out!! My advice is to take a
good look at it, but then slowly go ahead and start heading up!! You'll find that once you're on the wall, that
it's really not that bad!!
About 2/3 of the way up the headwall you will run into a very nice ledge where you can stop and take
a break. Also, if you'd like a slightly easier path for the remaining portion of the headwall, then
traverse to the left across this ledge and around a corner. Then the final push to the top is a few moves away.
A video showing the final headwall on Wetterhorn from the beginning of the pitch
The summit!! WOW!! The view across Matterhorn over to the mighty 14er Uncompahgre is unreal!! And
you can look to the West for beautiful views of Coxcomb and Precipice. This has got to be one of the
prettiest places on earth. Views to the South include RedCloud, Sunshine and Handies. The picture from
Engineers Pass is from the south (taken the next day) and the picture taken from 14ers.com is from the West
towards the basin with Coxcomb and Precipice.
But WAIT!! You forgot to look down when you came up the headwall did you? (Don't do this!!... be sure to
look down so you know what it's like because.... YES!!! You have to get down!! LOL!!!)... Ok, so again, just
my opinion from our experience (which, again, was totally on a dry day) is that the headwall is not bad
descending. Both Tommy and I descended 100% in the crab walk position (hey, we're from Maryland, so you might
call it an out-facing 5 points of contact thing, but we call it a crab walk!!).. we did NOT feel the need
to turn and downclimb facing in at any point. See pics below of the descent.
A video of the summit of Wetterhorn Peak:
The way back through the notches and back to the trailhead is easy going. If you're looking for fun peaks
and to move into some class 3 stuff, this peak is GREAT! Yes, it's a challenge to get there, but trust
that the journey is much more than the destination.
If you're staying in Lake City, the cabins are prevalent,
really affordable, and nice!! And the restaurants and bars are really fun. And you can (as we did) rent a
jeep and do the Scenic Alpine Loop. And you can visit Creede, Lake Sandoval, and of course there are 4 other
14ers in the area, all of which have an easier ratings than Wetterhorn. In a nutshell, a trip to Lake City is
great fun and BEAUTIFUL!!!
For all the animal lovers out there, here's a fun video of Mr. Marmot:
Hope this has been enjoyable and / or helpful to anyone reading it!!
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