Deer Mtn (13,761), UN 13736, & Mt Champion (13,646) by Brian Schultz Friday August 29, 2008
Distance: 9 miles
Elevation gain: 4,100 feet
Skies were clear as I drove from Poncha Springs to the North Fork Lake Creek trailhead with the forecast calling for the same all day- ideal weather for climbing three peaks without having to hurry or worry. I parked at the trailhead, at the lowest switchback below Independence Pass, and after filling out the self-issue wilderness use permit, I started up the old road into the Mount Massive Wilderness. The time was 7:25 AM.
As the tracks of the road faded, an excellent trail continued on but I left it when I saw a cairn marking a cross-over at the creek. If I'd been paying closer attention I would've known this was wrong because the route doesn't cross the creek, it continues up to where the drainage divides at 11,500 feet. But it worked out fine as I headed toward Deer Mountain, I was only slightly lower in the meadow and traveling nearer to the creek that drains the small lake at 12,378'. After a short grunt up to the lake I was back on route.
I rounded the lake and started up Deer Mountain's easy but long ridge. I reached the summit at 10:40 and stayed twenty minutes, enjoying the beautiful weather and mulling the difficult looking route ahead to UN 13736. As I scrambled down the ridge, I stayed mostly on the west side (right) except for one short stretch on the east. Once back on the west side, I descended a steep scree gully for 100 feet, found a handy route through the cliffs, and then followed the top of the ridge as it dropped down to the saddle below UN 13736. The rough but fun scrambling reminded me of the climbing Tim and I'd done in the San Juans over the past week, especially on the Trinities. I took a short break at the saddle before continuing up to UN 13736 and topping out on its summit at 1:00.
The weather was holding wonderfully and I spent 25 minutes relaxing on the unnamed summit. I saw a climber on Mt Champion but he was long gone before I got there. The hike to Mt Champion only took 30 minutes and though late at 1:55, it was one of those perfect weather days where arriving late didn't matter. I stayed on Champion's summit until 2:30.
The descent back to the saddle between Champion and UN 13736 went quickly but the route down the scree slopes was slow and steep and there were several cliff bands to weave around. And of course lots of willows to bash through near the bottom but I managed to find convenient alleys through them when needed. The descent from the summit to the creek took an hour and I arrived back at the parking lot at 4:00. This was a fun trio of peaks and concluded not only my summer climbing but my climbing for the year as well.
Trailhead to Deer Mtn- 3 hours 15 minutes
Deer Mtn to UN 13736- 2 hours
UN 13736 to Mt Champion- 30 minutes
Mt Champion to trailhead- 1 hour 30 minutes
Start to finish- 8 hours 35 minutes