Music Mountain (13,380)  by Brian Schultz    Sunday  August 19, 2012

Roundtrip mileage: 10 miles from Music Pass trailhead

Elevation gain: ~3800'

Start to finish: 9 hours 25 minutes

Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

Tim and I met in Westcliffe and drove to the Music Pass trailhead in Tim's truck. It was a pleasant surprise to find the 4x4 road to the trailhead wider and less rocky than when we drove it six years ago for Tijeras Peak.

We began from the parking area at 7:10 AM under clear skies. We reached Music Pass in thirty five minutes and stopped briefly to take a few photos before descending to Lower Sand Creek Lake. We reached the lake at 8:55 and Tim picked up a trail in the woods that we followed to a steep grassy hill on the north side of the lake.

After topping out on the grassy hill we continued to Music's steep east ridge. At first glance it looked intimidating but as we got closer... not so bad. We climbed on the crest of the class 3 ridge although one can stay below the ridge on the south side if desired. Staying lower leads to a grassy ramp to regain the ridge (we used the ramp on the descent) but however the ridge is gained, it's a fun scramble up to Music's south ridge.

We turned north on the summit ridge. When the ridgetop's difficulty increased, we dropped off to the left side and crossed below some of the ridge's notches, staying on grassy ledges where possible and eventually making a class 4 move up and over slabs. The climbing was steep and slow but got easier just below the summit. We topped out at 11:55.

We headed over to the other summit point and just as we sat down for a bite to eat, another climber approached from the north. The fellow, Chip, had already climbed Pico Aislado and Milwaukee Peak and was hoping to continue on to Tijeras. His concern with Tijeras was finding the proper gully through the cliffs on the descent from the summit and he asked if we could identify it for him. We pointed it out but told him that gully would be hard to locate from above if it hadn't been climbed beforehand. He seemed to be in a hurry and took off, contouring below Music's summit instead of taking the few steps to claim it, and was out of sight in moments.

We stayed until 12:20. On the return we tried to run the top of the ridge as far as we could. We got to one tricky downclimb with significant exposure but didn't trust the precariously perched rocks ahead of us and backtracked a short distance. Once again, we traversed below the ridge on grassy ledges and slabs to the east ridge. We stopped for a long break upon reaching the grassy hill at the base to kick back and enjoy the scenery.

When we reached Lower Sand Creek Lake, we saw the first of many others on the trail. We trudged up to Music Pass, continued nonstop to the trailhead parking area, and arrived at 4:35. This was a fun peak, and all the more enjoyable with the beautiful weather.

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