"Obstruction Peak" (13,799) & Kit Carson Peak (14,165) by  Brian Schultz  Sunday  August 29, 1999

Steve and I spent the afternoon yesterday chatting with other climbers and sharing fourteener stories. We walked to the other parking area where a fellow who was a member of the Highpointers tried selling a book to us. Neither of us obliged. His goal of climbing the high point in all Colorado counties brought him up here for an attempt on Crestone Peak in the morning. He knew Dennis Stuart, the guy I met on Quandary in 1995 who set a highpoint record and is listed in the Guiness Book of Records for doing so.

We agreed to get up early in order to get a good jump on what we knew would be a long day. Our route would take us to Upper South Colony Lake and the scree gullies beyond it.

Once again, it rained much of the night. At 4:55 we set off in the dark by flashlight under a heavily overcast sky. A brisk pace brought us around Lower South Colony Lake to the turnoff for Humboldt and ahead of us the cloud ceiling was so low we couldn't even see the ridgeline. Past the upper lake we entered the base of the gullies and Steve chose a gully to the left of the one I went up. The scree was loose and the climbing steep and when we pulled up to the top at 7:35 we wondered where the heck the Bears Playground was. What an unsettling feeling- we couldn't see more than 30 feet in any direction.

Our first inclination was to go left but we started ascending too quickly and realized we were heading up towards Crestone Peak. Back to where we began and numerous false starts later, a brief clearing revealed the Playground. We set out again and this time found ourselves descending so we turned around once more. Stymied, we waited a bit and finally got another brief clearing that showed Obstruction Peak. Having spent half an hour wandering around aimlessly, now we had a bearing and despite the return of thick clouds we headed in that direction.

Totally fogged in, we climbed up and topped out on the summit of Obstruction Peak. From there we spotted cairns marking the route to the first subpeak of Kit Carson and followed them up and around the back side, encountering some very steep sections but not that hard to maneuver. The well marked route continued to the second subpeak where for the first time we could see below the cloud ceiling in the distance towards Alamosa.

We were reluctant to proceed if any stormclouds were moving in our direction but after getting this far I sure didn't want to turn back. It was odd being able to see below the clouds but not see Kit Carson at all and a creeping fear in me suggested we missed it somehow. Steve wasn't worried though. Assured of stable weather we contoured below the second subpeak and neatly threaded its ridge to the so called blocks, which resembled more of a steep gully to me.

As we carefully downclimbed, the cloud cover parted somewhat, giving us some glimpses of what I hoped was Kit Carson. We made a difficult move to exit the gully (marked by a cairn) and dropped down below it into another gully, giving us a choice to climb ahead or to the right. Since there was a saddle to the right we climbed up the scree towards it and then crossed what appeared to be the face of Kit Carson, making our way up to the top that we still couldn't see. Huffing and puffing, we climbed until there was nowhere else to go and at 11:45 we declared ourselves to be on the summit. Or were we? I walked around looking for a register or a US Geological marker and found nothing. I told Steve maybe we ended up on Challenger and he said no way.

All of a sudden the clouds broke and it was obvious we were on Kit Carson! Ours was the highest point and Challenger was clearly to the west. What a day- 6 hours and 50 minutes to reach this summit! And just as suddenly we were back in the clouds again.

After a short break of 20 minutes we left. Climbing back to the ridge of the subpeak gave us a few brief but better looks at Kit Carson and the Challenger route as the clouds cleared somewhat. As we climbed up the blocks (gully?) to the ridge we crossed paths with the first people we'd seen the whole day. We spotted them earlier trying to descend to the saddle from the subpeak- a highly dangerous maneuver that looked technical from below. They wisely dropped down the ridge to the blocks for a safer descent and we waited on the side as they passed us by.

We followed the route back to the first subpeak and now had a clear view of  the Bears Playground. This time we avoided the return to Obstrucion Peak and easily found the route we spent so much time trying to locate in the morning. A very leisurely pace with lots of breaks brought us back to our trucks at 5:35.

The route was long and tiring. With so much up and down travel and poor visibility, it would have been easy to turn back. Our neighbors attempting Crestone Peak from the Cottonwood side gave up- they couldn't find the right couloir in the heavy cloud cover so we felt pretty good about making our summit.

Success on both the Needle and Kit Carson means I won't have to drive up the crummy road again. Hooray! If anybody wants my company in the Crestones- they'll have to drive or else we go from the other side.  The three hard peaks on this short trip completed my Sangre de Cristo fourteeners.

Total hike and climb time- 12 hours 40 minutes

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