Comanche Peak (13,277), Spring Mountain (13,244), Venable Peak (13,334) & UN 12873  by Brian Schultz  Monday June 11, 2012

Roundtrip mileage: ~14 miles from the Comanche/Venable trailhead

Elevation gain: 5,800'

Start to finish: 10 hours 35 minutes

Participants: Mark Silas & Brian Schultz

Mark and I had never climbed together before but we knew each other from the former fourteenerworld climbing site. Four of us from the fourteenerworld community, Mark Silas, Terri Horvath, Tim Briese, and I, have been in contact over the past year because we're all close to finishing the bicentennial peaks. Mark would be joining Tim and me on a backpacking adventure next month in the San Juans to climb five of those bicentennial peaks but Mark also wanted to get together when I told him which peaks I was climbing on this trip. Mark is always up for a new peak, and even more so for multiple peaks, and we arranged to meet at the Comanche trailhead. I drove up to Westcliffe from Walsenburg and followed the Rosita road (3.5 miles south of Westcliffe) west to the Comanche/Venable trailhead. The trailhead is well marked and easy to reach by two wheel vehicle and I arrived at 5:35 AM.

We began at 5:50 and I really appreciated Mark's offer to slow the pace as he's a strong climber as well as a marathoner. We'd be doing a loop route today covering lots of mileage and elevation gain and I simply couldn't keep up if he insisted on flying up these peaks. The excellent trail was easy to keep a steady pace on and we arrived at Comanche Lake at 7:50, stopping briefly for a water break before heading up to Comanche Pass. From the pass, the ridge to Comanche's summit traveled well and we arrived on top at 9:20 under clear sunny skies. After an extended break until 9:45, we headed back down to Comanche Pass and up to Spring Mountain.

The ridge to Spring was also easy and we made the summit at 10:30. Mark doesn't like to spend much time on summits, especially multiple summits, but the weather was so beautiful today that he didn't mind hanging around longer. We stayed 20 minutes before departing for Venable Peak. We topped out on Venable's summit at 11:50 and stayed twenty five minutes before departing for the unnamed twelver next up on the list. We'd been contemplating the steep connecting ridge, thinking we might have to drop way down to avoid the difficulties, but Mark found a handy route that stayed high.

Nevertheless, the ridge was time consuming and we didn't arrive on UN 12873 until 1:35. We stayed twenty five minutes enjoying the views, the fine weather, and great conversation before descending to the Venable trail. We could see the trail but the uncertainty of the terrain directly below us prompted us to backtrack and angle down to it. Lower cliff bands were easy to weave through.

I didn't remember the Comanche trail being as rocky as the Venable trail and my feet were aching in short order. It was a long haul out and as we got closer to the trailhead, Mark pushed ahead. I reached the parking lot at 4:25, arriving several minutes behind Mark, and found instant relief after getting my boots off.

These four peaks were fun. Mark's company and the outstanding weather made for a great day.

-Back-