Challenger Pt (14,081), Columbia Pt (13,980 ft), "Kitty Kat Carson" (13,970), Mt Adams (13,931 ft) by Brian Schultz July 21- 23, 2005
Jason Mayfield asked me more than once if I was sure our route for Columbia could be done from Willow Lake because he couldn't find it in the Roaches' thirteener book. I assured him it could be done because Steve Helle and I bypassed the centennial peak while climbing Kit Carson from South Colony Lakes in 1999, climbing down the steep wall of Columbia, known as Kat Carson at the time, before climbing up to Kit Carson. Our route now would start from the opposite direction by climbing Challenger Pt. first. I just hoped I could remember the route up the wall six years later.
Jason and I planned to meet at the Willow Lake trailhead on Thursday afternoon and would be spending two nights at Willow Lake to climb Columbia Point and Mt Adams. He'd be bringing his dog "Bo" with, an Appenzeller who loves the mountains. My drive in from Nebraska was running late and I called Jason from Denver- he was already in Fairplay and we agreed to just meet at Willow Lake. I began my backpack from the vehicle filled parking lot at 4:30 PM.
A thunderstorm north of the town of Crestone was still threatening when I started. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed in the near distance while I headed up the trail but only brief showers rained on me. The rain felt refreshing. Jason had set up in a nice camp area below the lake and I easily found him when I pulled in at 7:20, quickly putting up my own tent and eating before night fell. The evening turned out to be very nice but the resident mosquitoes were out in full force.
[Backpack from parking lot to Willow Lake- 2 hours 50 minutes]
Friday: Challenger Point & Columbia Point "the space shuttle peaks"
The high altitude made me sick late last night but that was to be expected going from 2,400 feet elevation to 11,500 feet the same day. Five hours of fitful tossing and turning didn't allow for much sleep, maybe an hour at most, but I recovered and was ready to climb at 6:05. The skies were clear as we headed up to the lake and bushwhacked through the willows to the waterfall. I hadn't forgotten how steep Challenger's slopes were from my 2000 trip and we kept a bearing to the right side as a solo climber ascending near the snow filled gully moved over and joined us. This fellow was from California and has climbed most of the fourteeners in that state, and would be climbing Kit Carson today. The Willow Lake route seems to be the preferred choice to climb Kit Carson based on the number of people we saw and talked to over the course of three days, and we too would climb Kit on the return if we had the energy and the weather held.
We followed the fun ridge to Challenger's summit, my first fourteener in two years, but only stayed long enough to sign in. We departed immediately for "Kit Carson Avenue", the famous ledge that winds around Kit Carson, and descended toward Columbia's steep west wall. Jason looked at me once again and questioned there being a route up the wall. As we descended further, we spotted a cairn in a place that looked familiar to me. I remembered it marking the wall exit from years ago and we started up from there. Unfortunately, that was all I remembered as we came to terrain that offered several choices to ascend. We took the first left turn and headed toward a large tower above, with difficult class 3 and several class 4 moves, and twice needed to lift the dog up the steep rock. Around the corner, we traversed across a snow field, climbed higher to easier terrain, and realized we were just under the peak. But there were two to pick from. Jason thought the one on the right was Columbia, I was positive the left one was our peak. We went to the right and ended up on "Kitty Kat Carson" but I didn't mind. It was just a short jaunt to Columbia from there and at 10:30 we finally reached the summit.
The plaque on Columbia has already been damaged in its short existence and whether it was manmade or from lightning, we couldn't tell. We sat and enjoyed the beautiful morning for a half hour, admiring the views of Kit Carson and the Crestones and watching climbers making their way up the peaks. I sure felt stupid knowing I missed this centennial peak in 1999 because I didn't want to hike up 20 extra feet to the summit at the time. A fellow coming from South Colony Lakes was approaching Columbia just before we departed and wanted to know if we were on Kit Carson. Not quite but we suggested he come up anyway and claim the peak before continuing on. He declined, just as I did years ago. He followed us on our descent when we left at 11:00. Interestingly, we found Gerry Roach's official route for Kit Carson (from South Colony Lakes) and the three of us began the downclimb together. It wasn't the route Steve and I took back in 1999- this one was horribly steep and exposed. The fellow held back and after a while disappeared from sight. We never saw him again.
Although the weather was holding great, the return to Kit Carson Avenue was grueling and we decided to bypass Kit's summit. We didn't make it any easier on ourselves by following some descending climbers on Challenger's slopes who picked a loose route near the snow gully, but it worked. From the bottom we took a leisurely stroll back to camp, arrived at 3:00, and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and watching hordes of backpackers filing in. This was a long and tiring day as it was. I'm glad we didn't try to dayhike it from the parking lot.
Willow Lake to Columbia Point- 4 hours 25 minutes
Columbia Point back to Willow Lake- 4 hours
Start to finish- 9 hours 25 minutes, including all breaks
Saturday: Mt Adams
Skies were clear when Jason and I began at 6:05 from Willow Lake. We were hiking the West Ridge Route on Mt Adams and easily located the narrow trail from Willow Lake leading to the grassy meadow above. After a steep grunt up to the meadow, we began a bushwhack ahead to the west ridge. From a distance, the gully to the ridge looked terribly steep and we contemplated ascending well to the right of it, but the angle softened as we neared it and the gully turned out to be a relatively easy ascent. We took a short break on the ridge and then followed a climber's trail, which stayed just below the ridge before disappearing about halfway to the summit. Progress was fast and the summit came just as fast. We were on top at 8:25.
The weather on the summit was picture perfect! We were taken aback by the view of the Sangre peaks all lined up so neatly- the steep slopes of Challenger looked unclimbable from this perspective- and stayed for 50 enjoyable minutes before heading down at 9:15. The descent went quickly and we were back at camp at 10:45. Jason wanted to hang around a while but I had to leave because I needed to get to Frisco to meet Minnesota friends for our Fletcher Mountain climb tomorrow. I loaded up my backpack, said goodbye to Jason, and headed down at 11:15. We'd meet again in a couple days to climb Holy Cross Ridge.
Willow Lake was a popular destination this Saturday- lots of people were heading up the trail. I overtook two groups on the descent, both who'd camped near us the past two nights, and I begged water from one of them, a family from Texas. I severely underestimated my water needs on this hot day and was glad they had extra to share. After the never ending trail finally ended, which seemed longer than the listed 3.7 miles, I reached my car at 1:35. The parking lot was jammed full of vehicles as was the road leading up to it.
I liked the efficiency of climbing both these peaks with a high camp, especially Columbia Point with its long distance and large elevation gain. Jason told me later that his dog refused to walk another step, about a quarter mile from the parking lot, and he had to hoist Bo on top of his backpack and carry him out from there. One of the Texas family's dogs also quit on the trail. Very strange.
Willow Lake to Mt Adams- 2 hours 20 minutes
Mt Adams back to Willow Lake- 1 hour 30 minutes
Backpack from Willow Lake to parking lot- 2 hours 20 minutes