Huerfano Peak (13,828 feet) & Iron Nipple (13,500) by Brian Schultz Sunday June 26, 2005
Thank God for advances in medical technology. I thought my entire summer of climbing would be canceled after having surgery for a detached retina on June 3rd. I was operated on by a Minnesota retina specialist who's climbed Pikes Peak (what are the odds?) and he insisted that climbing at high altitude wouldn't affect the repaired retina. But climbing just three weeks after surgery? Nearly all my family and friends thought it was foolish, but the doctor's assurance was music to my ears.
I flew into Denver and picked up a few supplies before driving to the Lower Huerfano trailhead at 10,200 feet. For anyone wondering whether a low clearance two wheel drive car can handle the road, I drove a Dodge Neon to the trailhead and inched along slowly but otherwise had no problems. I pulled into a camping area just past the trailhead and asked the fellow tenting there if he objected to my parking out by his driveway. He appeared reluctant at first but relented after finding out we were both members of Fourteenerworld.com. Roger Burton has climbed all the fourteeners and, like me, is working on the centennial peaks.
Roger drove in from Denver and attempted a climb on California Peak but his 9:00 AM start turned out to be too late. Forced to retreat from a storm, he planned to try again in the morning but I encouraged him to consider climbing the slightly more difficult Huerfano Peak with me and that he could always come back for California Peak another time. He thought about it and agreed to join me. A thunderstorm blew through in the mid evening and again at 2:30 in the morning. I stayed awake during the long lasting second storm hoping it would pass in time for our hike. It finally did.
We drove to the Upper Huerfano trailhead, the same trailhead for fourteener Mt Lindsey, and began hiking at 6:00 AM under clear skies. It's been seven years since I was last here but the river crossing this time was much easier than straddling the log and walking the tightrope like last time. As the trail skirted the woods on talus, we missed the turnoff heading back into the woods and ended up following the talus up high. I thought we made a mistake because we could see the trail below but we agreed to continue on the higher rock and aim for the basin. As it turns out, it wasn't a mistake at all. Several Mt Lindsey climbers told us later that they also had to detour onto the talus because deep snow blocked the trail in the woods. The alternate talus route handily deposited us into the basin at 8:00 and after meeting up with the main trail we stopped for a short break.
We made good time to the Lindsey saddle, gaining 1,300 feet in 50 minutes and arriving at 9:05. A young solo climber was waiting to ask our opinion on the weather and also hoping we were climbing Lindsey. His concern about the weather was justified with nearby Blanca Peak hidden in the clouds all morning but the skies surrounding us were clear and I felt there was plenty time for all of us to summit our respective peaks. He departed for Lindsey.
Roger and I headed for the Iron Nipple but bypassed it- if the weather permitted we'd climb it on the return. The talus scrambling was miserable and slow to Huerfano's first false summit but eased up as we ascended higher. At 10:35 we stepped on top of Huerfano.
It felt good to get my first summit of the year and it was a huge relief to have reached it without any eye problems. With windy but still decent weather on top, we stayed for 40 minutes enjoying the views of the surrounding fourteeners and chatting as if old friends. The register showed only two parties having signed in for the year. One was a solo climber and the other was a group from fourteenerworld who'd climbed only a week before and whose trip report I read before leaving Minnesota. That group included Kurt Traskos, Dwight Sunwall, and Keith and Beth Berschader.
After leaving Huerfano, we headed for the Iron Nipple and reached it in just under an hour, arriving at 12:10 but leaving immediately because conditions were deteriorating rapidly. No sooner did we begin our descent than it stated snowing and hailing. We hurried down to the Lindsey saddle and upon reaching the basin, all hell broke loose, with winds gusting, lightning flashing, and hail pelting us furiously. Out of nowhere, two Lindsey climbers overtook us and one of them bolted past us to get to the trees on the other side of the basin while the other kept pace with us. The storm rumbled quickly over Huerfano, and just like that it was gone, leaving the basin coated white.
The speedy Lindsey climber waited for us to catch up and we descended together as a group. They told us about their routefinding difficulties in the morning with the large snowbanks on the trail and sure enough, we soon found the trail completely blocked. We momentarily split up, with Roger and one of the fellows staying high while the speedy climber and I bushwhacked down through the trees and snow. I knew the trail would show up eventually after seeing it from high on the talus field earlier. When we found it we called up to the other two.
The storm had also dumped hail in the woods and it was presently melting, making the trail a muddy and greasy mess and causing me to slip several times. I bent a trekking pole on one of those slips- it remained upright in the muck as I fell- and though the L-shaped pole was useless for the time being, I hoped to bend it back when I got to camp. We returned to the trailhead at 2:35 without further mishap and drove back to camp. As Roger packed up, I prepared for another night of carcamping instead of driving out to Westcliffe and then back again in the morning for California Peak. I'd made that decision much earlier and called my wife while we were still on Huerfano's summit (good cell coverage on the summit, none at camp) to let her know about the change in plans. Had I not checked in, she would've called Search and Rescue, thinking something happened to my eye.
Other than the storm, this was a great day to be in the mountains and I had a good time climbing with Roger. I fixed my trekking pole too, at least for the time being.
Trailhead to Huerfano summit- 4 hours 35 minutes
Huerfano to Iron Nipple- 55 minutes
Iron Nipple to trailhead- 2 hours 25 minutes
Total day including all breaks- 8 hours 35 minutes