"Fancy Peak" (13,192) & UN 12940 by Brian Schultz Friday August 2, 2013

Roundtrip mileage: 9.4 miles from Missouri Lakes/Fancy Creek trailhead

Elevation gain: 3,700'

Start to finish: 8 hours 30 minutes

Participants: Ryan Kowalski, Brian Schultz

It's been a long time since I've climbed with Ryan but our schedules finally aligned to do a peak. We both wanted to climb a thirteener that neither of us had climbed before and his suggestion of Fancy Peak was perfect. I was hoping he'd pick an easy one because I was getting weary after seven consecutive days of climbing, and I liked that we could also add nearby 12940 if the weather, and my energy, held out.

We arranged to meet at 6:00 AM at the Gold Park campground entrance, which is north of Leadville on US 24 and west on Homestake Road. I found the Homestake road to be in much better condition than when I drove it three years ago, and ended up camping at a large pull-out off the road just before Gold Park Campground. This is a no-fee area compared to paying $17.00 at the Gold Park campground.

Ryan drove in from Denver and amazingly, arrived at exactly 6:00 AM. We continued along on Homestake road expecting to see a separate trailhead for Fancy Lake but both the Missouri Lakes and Fancy Lake trails begin from the same spacious parking lot. There were only a couple other vehicles parked in the lot when we hit the trail at 6:25. The skies clouded up quickly, worrisome because the forecast called for storm activity, so we started at a fast pace. Unfortunately, I began dragging almost immediately and asked Ryan if he wouldn't mind slowing down a bit. He graciously consented and other than a few raindrops, the weather held as we hiked up to Fancy Lake, neither improving nor getting any worse.

Once we reached Fancy Pass (elev ~12,400'), we headed straight up the ridge and enjoyed some very fun class 2+ scrambling, with an occasional class 3 move on the lower part of the ridge. We could've traversed below the ridge on the left side for an easier ascent but we both wanted to do the scrambling. After it eased up, the ridge became a straightforward walk to the top. We arrived on the summit at 9:45 and were heartened to see the weather improving during our 50 minute stay. The views were great, especially of the peaks along the Holy Cross Ridge, and it was nice to get a preview of the 12940 ridge we'd soon be tackling. We departed at 10:35.

We took the easy way down and reached the saddle at 11:05. A fellow hiking to Missouri Lakes was at the saddle when we got there and said he wasn't sure he was on the right trail. Ryan assured him he was and after chatting for a few minutes we started up 12940's ridge. The ridge looked intimidating from below but turned out to be easy with some fun scrambling and had a great view of Savage Peak. We arrived on the summit at 12:10 and stayed for 35 minutes. The peak was lacking a register but Ryan brought a new one and entered the unnamed peak's name as "Slob Knob", in deference to its "fancy" neighbor. Whether that name will stick or not, we got a good laugh out of it.

Our descent straight down the slopes to Fancy Lake completed a handy loop of the two peaks. It was a bit steep but it was efficient and traveled well, mostly on grass. We stopped several times for photos of flowers and saw a tent by the lake and its occupants milling about but didn't approach close enough to visit.

Once back on the trail, we headed down and talked nonstop until reaching our trucks at 2:55. The parking area and road were now overflowing with vehicles and we talked a bit longer before parting company. These were fun peaks and I really enjoyed climbing with Ryan and having the weather turn out as nice as it did.