Climbing Uncompahgre Peak
Colorado's 6th highest peak at 14,309 feet. Located in the San Juan range in SW Colorado. 7/20/2020
This was an interesting and nervous climb for me in many ways. I've always been intrigued by Uncompahgre because of it's unique look. On this my 1st attempt I had some butterflies in my gut because... 1) Friends of mine have climbed it before, and all of them told me that they summited it only on their 2nd attempt due to various reasons. 2) It takes six hours to drive to the trailhead, and I would hate to have to redo that. 3) I went with a group of 18 other people, none of whom I had ever met. This last reason was the most important reason I went on this trip. Every year, a group of guys from Our Lady of Mt. Carmel parish in Littleton climbs a 14er with Father Jackson, who then celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass on the summit. I was privileged that they let me tag along. Here's us before we set out from the trailhead.
Since the trailhead was so far away, and there were delays getting out of town, we arrived here at around 7:00 - 7:30. We had to hike into the Uncompahgre Wilderness for almost a mile before we reached our camping area at about 11,600 feet. I of course set up my tent and immediately went to bed since we had to be up, fed, and ready to start hiking at 6:00 am. I heard others talking about getting a fire started, so I smiled at the memory of being able to climb Colorado's highest peaks with less that 6-7 hours of sleep. The purple one on the left is mine. Most of the others were in the woods off camera to the left.
Louis, the coordinator of our trip woke us all up at 5:00 so we could eat, dress, and be ready to hit the trail at 6:00. It turns out that I was ready to start hiking at 5:30. Experience told me that I am a slower than average hiker, so in order to not lag too far behind, I took off early.
It wasn't long before the first direct sunlight hit the mountain, then flooded the entire area.
After about an hour, no one had caught up to me yet. I was getting close to the south ridge where I would turn right for the final push to the summit. It was on that ridge when the first small group of new friends caught up with me.
After turning right onto the south ridge, and a bit more hiking, the climbing portion of the route began as we approached the pitch to the summit. With about 500 vertical feet to go, we encountered the rock tower.
The summit is not too far beyond the tower, but you must go up and around it. You can either go...
To the right, where the rock is steep, but stable; or to the left where it's less steep, but loose.
I went to the right, where the climbing was steep, but a real pleasure. On the way down I decided to go on the other side of the tower, just because, where it turned out to be loose and unpleasant. So wherever I placed my foot on the way down, the rock I stepped on would slide downward among all the other rocks creating instability. This just made me feel insecure about every step, of which there were a few hundred. But anyway, now that we are on the summit...
It was time to build Father Jackson an altar, so he can prepare for mass.
In case you're wondering, the American flag was used during mass as a wind break since it was a bit breezy. That's also why some of us are standing to the side of the altar instead of kneeling behind Father.
This next photo was taken after Mass, but it is so cool I had to put it up here.
Of course, on every climb, although no one likes to talk about it, is the descent. It's that sad time when you leave the summit and it just seems like trudgery, if I can invent a word, to slowly and carefully make your way down. But once down on this trip, it's back to camp where we say a rosary, build a fire, have a whiskey or two, and a cigar, and talk about the day.
After a great night's sleep, it's time to get up, have breakfast, and break camp. It was then that Father Jackson told us he found a really nice fallen tree not far away that would make a great altar for Mass that morning.
After Mass that morning, it was time to head back. It was about a 20 minute hike out, then an hour on the 4 mile long 4 wheel drive road.
After lunch in Lake City, it was a long drive home.