Boreas Mountain (13,082), UN 12700, Volz Benchmark (12,589), Madonna Dome (12,331) by Brian Schultz Saturday September 17, 2011
Roundtrip mileage: 11 miles from Boreas Pass
Elevation gain: 3,500'
Skies were heavily overcast and it was snowing when I started at 8:00 AM from Boreas Pass. I bushwhacked up the slopes of Boreas Mountain and gained the ridge 150' above the Bald/Boreas saddle, all the while keeping an eye on the dark clouds racing overhead. I continued along the ridge with my head turned to the side, wishing I'd packed a balaclava as gusting winds peppered my face with snow. Yet despite foggy conditions obscuring much of the route ahead, the ridge was easy to follow and I stepped on top at 9:40. I noticed lots of familiar names in the register.
The clouds opened up suddenly and gave a nice look over to UN 12700. That helped immensely because I had no idea what the terrain was like between the two peaks and it looked quite manageable now that I could see it. The descent from Boreas to the 10,400' saddle was straightforward but slow on the snow covered talus. The talus gave way to grass and after reaching the saddle at 10:10, I followed the easy slopes to UN 12700 and arrived on top at 10:30. Briefly clearing skies showcased fourteener Quandary Peak but the skies above me remained gray. It quit snowing but a short while later light rain showers began. Volz Benchmark was 1.7 miles away and I headed over there after a fifteen minute break.
It seemed like the route lost lots of elevation on the way over to Volz but the regain was only around 500'. The western summit of Volz is the higher one and I arrived at 11:55, taking another fifteen minute break and enjoying the views, especially of Quandary Peak again. I departed at 12:10, taking a straight line down Volz's west slopes on talus, grass, and finally through willows to the woods below. It was an easy bushwhack through the trees to the road and I walked 2.3 miles up the road to my car, a slightly longer return than retracing my ascent route but definitely easier.
I arrived at the pass at 1:40 and took a break in my car from the rain. It was still early enough to get another peak in and Madonna Dome is just over a mile to the west from the pass with a good trail to the top. I started at 2:00 from behind the railroad car, rain finally easing, and chatted with a couple taking pictures along the trail. The trail tops out and then drops down past a mine before continuing up to the summit. I arrived on top at 2:45, finally got a view of Boreas Mtn, to the east, and on the descent could hardly believe it when I saw nine hikers coming up the trail. Even though it was a weekend, I didn't expect to see anyone starting so late- all were hospital workers out for a day hike. I arrived back at my car at 3:25.
Boreas Pass to Boreas Mountain- 1 hour 40 minutes
Boreas Mtn to UN 12700- 45 minutes
UN 12700 to Volz Benchmark- 1 hour 10 minutes
Volz Benchmark to Boreas Pass- 1 hour 30 minutes
Boreas Pass to Madonna Dome- 45 minutes
Madonna Dome to Boreas Pass- 40 minutes
Start to finish- 7 hours 25 minutes