TRIP REPORT: Wetterhorn Peak (14,015′)

What a cool peak! Wetterhorn was a blast. This might be my #2 favorite fourteener now because it was so much fun! My favorite part was definitely the infamous final pitch and would do it again in a heartbeat.

This was an all nighter adventure for most of us and we were all feeling it by the end. That Friday evening, I drove from Salt Lake, my climbing partners drove from Denver, and we met up in Lake City and headed immediately to the trailhead aiming to summit by sunrise. We parked at the 2WD trailhead before all loading in my friend’s 4Runner to climb the super sketch 4WD road to the upper trailhead. (High clearance vehicle DEFINITELY needed) We started hiking by about 3am and while we were taking our time, we were still making great time as the first 2 miles breezed by in less than an hour. The trail was very well marked and easy to follow in the dark.

Navigating the boulder field on the way up to the saddle was a bit trickier to follow in the dark, but easy in the daylight. The trail is still fairly visible and easy to see in light as we came down, but we did get off track a tiny bit on the ascent in the dark as it was harder to see. Once on the ridge, the trail heads up a steep sandy section before entering the class 3 section. Navigating the class 3 section felt a little like a choose your own adventure. There were a small handful of cairns sparsley laid out, but getting up to the flat spot really was up to you as long as you stayed infront of the rock rib. Some of us tried to climb the rock rib thinking we were already at the notch… Not Reccomended. Ended up in some class 4 territory for a second and had to backtrack.

After navigating the ridge for some time and watching the sun begin to rise behind Uncompahgre, we made it to the flat spot just before the notch. This signifies you are like 10 minutes from the summit and you can see it right infront of you. After climbing the notch, and butt-scooting down the slab, you come to the base of the final pitch which has super solid holds and feels like your climbing a natural ladder. This was definitely the coolest part of the route. Comparitively, I would say this was steeper than the homestretch on Longs Peak, but easier and shorter as the homestretch gets SUPER slippery and feels way more exposed. As steep as this pitch on Wetterhorn is, it feels a bit enclosed as you climb and you don’t feel as exposed as it looks.

We came up on the summit at 7am, just in time to see the sun finally come up over Uncompahgre. The morning views were spectactular and we even found out later, a nearby climber on Matterhorn snapped a photo of us on the summit!

Heading down that final pitch wasn’t as nerve wracking as one would think. It is so fast and you’re done before you know it. Navigating the remainder of the class 3 section was much easier to follow on the downhill as we could see the route below us. After that, the trail was once again easy to follow back to the car.

Overall, I freaking loved this peak. It was such a fun climb! Highly reccomend for those new to class 3 peaks, I thought this was a fairly mild class 3 and would be a great first one for those working on their fourteener climbs and working into more technical climbs. 4WD and high clearance definitely needed to get to the upper trailhead (we were nearly sideways at one point). If you must start at the lower trailhead, it will add a little bit of extra mileage.

Happy Climbing!