"Hassell Peak" (13,215) & Pettingell Peak (13,553) by Brian Schultz Saturday August 25, 2012
Roundtrip mileage: ~11.5 miles from Herman Gulch
Elevation gain: ~3900'
Start to finish: 7 hours 50 minutes
Participants: Jason Mayfield & Brian Schultz
Jason and I met at the Herman Gulch trailhead and started up the trail at 6:55 AM. The weather forecast called for sunny skies all day, a welcome change from the past few days. We arrived at the Watrous trail junction shortly, turned left, and continued on the excellent trail to the Jones trail junction. We reached that junction at 8:35 and stopped for a few photos before leaving the trail and heading up grassy slopes (photo 1, photo 2) to the Hassell/Pettingell connecting ridge. This was easy terrain and we caught up to two guys who'd passed us earlier, Paul & Barry, who were also climbing the same peaks. They pushed ahead while Jason and I stopped again for more photos.
There is a good trail on the ridgeline and we followed it to Hassell, arriving on its summit at 9:50. Paul and Barry had dropped their packs and continued to another high point, which we did as well. It only took about three minutes and we all met back on the main summit. Paul and Barry took off for Pettingell while Jason and I stayed for a break until 10:20. We caught up to them on the lower part of Pettingell's ridge where they'd taken a class 4 route on the ridge while we dropped below it on the left. The ridge leveled out briefly after that and the four of us enjoyed some very fun class 3 scrambling along the ridge. The ridge's difficulty eased below the summit and we soon came across 3 climbers descending in our direction.
We arrived on Pettingell at 11:50 to an unusual sight. Eleven people were already up there- a CMC group of nine and two tag-alongs. With fifteen of us on the summit and the three fellows we'd just passed moments earlier, there were eighteen people on this peak! I believe that's a first for me on a thirteener.
The other climbers soon left and we enjoyed the summit to ourselves before departing at 12:20. We took the normal route down and paired up on the slopes below the ridge. Barry and I went ahead while Jason stayed slightly back with Paul. We passed several climbers from the CMC group before reaching a very crowded Herman Lake at 1:10. This was a Saturday after all, and Herman Lake is a popular destination.
We parted company with Barry and Paul at the lake. Jason and I took an extended break but once we hit the trail, we hiked out mostly nonstop. We passed by lots of tourists going in both directions and made it back to the trailhead at 2:45.
This was a fun climb and we had a great time with Paul and Barry. It was good to meet these guys, members of 14ers.com, and talk about our climbing interests and goals. Jason and I said goodbye at the parking lot but we'd be meeting up again later in the evening for a celebration of our friend Tim Briese's bicentennial finish.