Monitor Peak (13,695)  by Brian Schultz  August 25- 27, 2008  

Participants: Jason Mayfield, Angie Jenson, Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

Monday August 25:

Having just finished the first of back-to-back backpacks, Tim and I turned our focus to the next one. We're not big fans of backpacking but when it comes to climbing the remote peaks, especially in the San Juans, we'll rally and put on the heavy packs. Jason and his friend Angie would be joining us on our scheduled climbs of Animas Mountain, Monitor Peak, and Peak 15 via the Ruby Creek trail. Jason and I haven't climbed together since our Aconcagua trip so I was looking forward to seeing him as well as meeting Angie, who'd never climbed in the San Juans prior to this trip but has climbed all over in the Sangres. She was experienced with technical climbing, which Tim and I appreciated because we expected to use ropes on Peak 15 and possibly on Animas.

The four of us met in Durango for the train ride to Needleton, my sixth time riding the train over the past ten years. Lots of backpackers disembarked when the train stopped at Needleton at 11:30, twenty minutes later we crossed the bridge over the low running Animas River and turned north while all the other backpackers headed south to Chicago Basin. We continued on the good trail past Pigeon Creek to the meadow at 8,260'. The North Pigeon Creek approach, the same one Tim and I used for Pigeon Peak in 2002, would be utilized again to meet up with the Ruby Creek trail. Even after six years, when we reached the upper meadow we easily picked up the unmarked Ruby Creek trail in the trees.

We took a breather at the North Pigeon Creek crossing before heading up the steepest part of the trail. Just like the last time, we used tree branches to hang onto while ascending the wildly steep grade, and once above it, we continued to the junction at 9,800' where a columbine carved tree marks the turn for the Ruby Creek trail. Thunder had been rumbling and I hoped we'd get lucky with the weather as we followed the Ruby Creek trail but no luck today. At 1:30 the storms began and we took cover under the trees, waiting out a twenty minute downpour before continuing on. The break from the rain was brief but we were able to downclimb a minor crux, the six foot rock ledge described in the Roaches' Ruby Creek approach, before it started raining again. We were saturated as we continued along the trail and the many overgrown areas guaranteed every inch of us remained soaked as we brushed through. The trail was better than we expected though. It faded out at times but we always managed to find it again in short order, a pleasant and welcome surprise.

Upon nearing Ruby Creek, we wondered when and where we should cross it but the trail continued along the south side (right) of the creek and we followed it nearly all the way to Ruby Lake. We finally crossed the creek before the lake and when we reached the lake at 4:25 we stopped under the trees at a nice campsite. Still a mile and a half from our goal of the 11,600' meadow but shivering terribly from being wet, we called it quits and set up camp. We peeled off our pants and jackets and hurried into our sleeping bags to warm up, knowing that we'd have to put those wet clothes on again but hoping to dry out if we could get a fire going later. After the rain stopped we gathered up all the dry wood we could find.

Tim had some dry paper in his pack but even that and some dry kindling wouldn't get the fire to take. Remembering my outing in the rain at Como Lake in 2001 I suggested Tim pour some stove gas on the wood and he quickly jumped back as the fire roared to life. The blazing fire lasted well into the night and it was wonderful to dry out our clothes, jackets, and boots and warm up before turning in.

Needleton to Ruby Lake camp- 4 hours 35 minutes

Tuesday August 26:

Our weather today would not live up to the predicted good forecast, although the morning was sunny when we started at 6:10 AM. We rounded the north side of the lake easily enough but the journey to the high meadow at 11,600' required some routefinding on an inconsistent trail- it took a full two hours to get up to the meadow from our campsite. Views of Pigeon, Turret and Peak 15 were quite nice from the basin and improved as we bushwhacked up the steep slopes below Monitor. The rugged terrain above offered several ramp choices to the Monitor/Peak 13 saddle but after one false start we pulled out Steve Knapp's trip report and followed his recommendation to use the ramp closest to Peak 13. Steep gully crossings between the saddle and the summit required class 3 and 4 scrambling and we took it slowly as Tim's knee was in a significant amount of pain. Jason and Angie scrambled ahead and arrived on the summit about 10 minutes ahead of us. Tim and I arrived at 11:25.

We enjoyed the fine summit for an hour, admiring the faces of Pigeon, Turret, and Peak 15 to our south, and checking out the couloir leading up to the small saddle east of Peak 15. Our intention was to climb Peak 15 tomorrow by way of that saddle but there was snow in it and we couldn't gauge the difficulty. Between the uncertainty of the couloir and Tim's hurting knee we decided Peak 15 might be better climbed another time and perhaps from New York Basin on the other side. With the slowly deteriorating weather, Jason and Angie had little interest in climbing Animas, and when we left at 12:25, they headed back down to the basin ahead of us while Tim and I continued at a slower pace to the Monitor/Peak 13 saddle.

Despite the late hour I was still hoping to climb Animas but once we reached the saddle it was clearly not in the cards. Skies were quickly turning dark, thunder was rumbling, and Tim's knee was getting worse. We called it a day and as we descended back into the basin, a bright flash of lightning lit up the sky above, followed immediately by a loud boom. It rained lightly on the return to Ruby Lake and we pulled in at 4:10, with me dragging a big, dry limb to burn up later. The rain quit and after eating dinner we built another fine fire that kept us warm into the night.

Ruby Lake camp to Monitor- 5 hours 15 minutes

Monitor back to Ruby Lake camp- 3 hours 45 minutes

Start to finish- 10 hours (including summit time and many breaks)

Wednesday August 27:

Tim and I departed camp at 9:30 AM while Jason and Angie, staying an additional night at Ruby Lake, headed back up the basin to climb Turret Peak. At one point we completely lost the trail on the descent. Tim searched high and I went low, fifteen minutes later I found the trail. The remaining descent went without incident but interestingly, Steve Knapp and his friend Chris reported losing it also on the descent and never found it, resorting to a bushwhack all the way down. And when Jason called me on Thursday afternoon, he said that he and Angie lost the trail for over an hour too. The routefinding crux was probably in the same area for all of us.

Tim and I arrived at Needleton at 12:50, long before the afternoon train stopped to pick us up. While waiting for the train, and later on the ride to Durango, I talked to various fourteener climbers, some who'd climbed all three and some who were stopped by the stormy weather and only made one summit. A fellow named Dave proposed to his girlfriend after they climbed Eolus this morning and she accepted. I talked to the fun couple for much of the ride back. Tim and I enjoyed a fine meal at the Ore House in Durango in the evening and afterward I prepared my pack for a solo climb of Rolling Mountain in the morning. Tim would be heading for home while I still had two days of climbing ahead of me.

Ruby Lake camp to Needleton- 3 hours 20 minutes

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