Ball Mountain (12,300) by Brian Schultz Sunday July 12, 2015

Roundtrip mileage: 2.0 miles from CR 1A/ 1B junction east of Leadville

Elevation gain: 600'

Start to finish: 50 minutes

This is an easy peak to approach and unlike last month when the snow-filled roads turned me around, today they were clear and dry. I turned east on E 5th street (CR 1) in Leadville and continued on CR 1A. The roads are well marked (easy for passenger cars) and they wind around several mines before intersecting the CR 1B junction to Ball Mountain.

Today happened to be a scheduled Leadville race and I had to stop at CR 1B because the runners were coming down that road. The sheriff was parked next to it keeping an eye on anybody trying to drive it, and spectators were cheering on the runners as they neared the road junction. I parked next to the sheriff, put on my pack, and started hiking up the road at 1:20 PM. Many runners passed by me.

Despite having to begin further away, it was only a mile to the summit. I followed the road to another junction and turned left, and soon departed that road up easy slopes to the top. I reached it at 1:40. There are several high point areas on the expansive summit and I covered them all before departing eight minutes later. On the way down, a support staff member offered me encouragement, thinking I was a runner, and I laughed when he said there was water ahead. I reached my truck at 2:10 and drove on to Ridgway.

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