Ruby Peak (12,631) & Mt Owen (13,064) by Brian Schultz Sunday August 27, 2023
Roundtrip mileage: 7.0 miles
Elevation gain: 3,000'
Start to finish: 6 hours 50 minutes

After yesterday's climbs and seeing the improved forecast, I drove to Crested Butte. It was early enough and I was hoping to find a dispersed campsite near Lake Irwin but being a Saturday I had doubts. Sure enough, all the sites were taken but I noticed one that had just a vehicle parked and thought I'd check with the fellow sitting in a chair to see if I could park there. He agreed as long as I didn't block his vehicle.

Introductions were made and when I asked if Nathan was climbing in the morning, he said he was climbing Ruby Peak and possibly Mt Owen. I asked if he wanted company and when he said yes, suddenly I had a partner for the climbs! Nathan was especially grateful that I had maps that showed how to avoid the private property plots between the road and Ruby Peak. We discussed two options to get up Ruby- either the east ridge direct to the summit or the grassy gully south of the summit. We chose the grassy gully.

Meanwhile, I talked to returning climbers who'd only climbed Ruby and walked the road through private property. They were from Ohio and were stopped by the owner, and chastised for being on his property. They weren't cited though. As it rained throughout the night, I hoped the good forecast would stay as predicted for the morning.

We began this morning at 6:30 AM under sunny skies by hiking the road a short distance and then cutting up the grassy fields between the private properties. The gully looked easy from afar but as we approached it we saw how crazy steep it was. It was helpful to have trekking poles and when we reached the saddle above we took a short energy break. The ridge is slightly rough to just below the summit, then it was an easy walk to the top. We arrived at 8:50.

Nathan declined to continue on to Mt Owen because he wanted to conserve energy for his day hike tomorrow of the Four Pass Loop. He headed down Ruby's east ridge while I headed down to the Ruby/Owen saddle. The trail is fine the entire way to Mt Owen although steep in a few areas. I arrived on the summit (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4) at 10:15.

I was on top for less than 10 minutes when I saw three more climbers approaching. Two brothers and one of the brother's girlfriend soon joined me on the summit. The trio from Milwaukee, Wisconsin avoided the private property by looping around from Scarp Ridge. We all departed at 11:00. The brothers wanted to continue on to Ruby Peak but the girlfriend wasn't interested. They asked if I wanted to join them but I made up my mind to take the old road down from the Owen/Ruby saddle to Green Lake and take my chances from there on the road. The girlfriend decided to join me.

The road down the slope from the saddle made for an easy descent to Green Lake and we continued along the road. It's too bad the owner doesn't want hikers on the road because it's such an easy way to access both Ruby and Owen. We had a pleasant time talking but when we approached the private property we didn't say a word and held our poles up so as to not make any noise, hoping the owner was either eating lunch, napping, or simply not home. We breathed a sigh of relief when we got back to the public road without an encounter.

Would I encourage others to take a chance with the owner? No, but dark clouds were taking over the sky and I would've used the weather as an excuse to get down faster and safely. It probably wouldn't have worked but who knows. I think it also helped to have a young lady with, perhaps the owner would've shown some sympathy. And being from out of state may have also been in our favor. I'm just glad it didn't come down to answering to him. For what it's worth, it did begin raining moments after I reached my vehicle at 1:20.