Pilot Knob (13,738) & US Grant Peak (13,767) by Brian Schultz Thursday August 23, 2007
After canceling a backpacking trip in the San Juans, our rematch with Pilot Knob moved to the front burner. Unlike last year, when we turned around just a stone's throw from the summit, this year we were better prepared. I mentioned in last year's trip report that I was going to buy some rock climbing shoes and I did. They were packed along with necessary climbing gear.
We drove from Ridgway to the South Mineral Creek trailhead and up the Clear Lake 4x4 road to the small pull-out. A truck from Texas was already parked there and not knowing if anyone was inside sleeping, we stayed quiet while securing our packs. We began at 5:15 AM with headlamps beaming, passed the waterfall in short order and maintained a good pace on the excellent trail to Ice Lake. The sun rose just as we reached the lake at 6:45 and we took a brief break at the exceptionally scenic area to eat breakfast and take a few photos.
Continuing past the lake we followed the climber's trail until it disappeared. We weren't very far from the slopes below Pilot Knob's saddle and upon reaching them, we began the arduous ascent up the steep and slippery scree. I forgot how difficult this was from last year as we hugged the right side, finally gained the saddle at 8:15, and stopped to put on our harnesses.
We traversed past the towering summit to the 4th class gully and about half way up the gully we stopped at an area with enough room to change into our climbing shoes. Tim decided he wasn't comfortable with his and changed back into his boots. Mine though, were not only comfortable, they gave me a feeling of great confidence. Tim called my shoes "spiderman shoes" and to be honest, I felt like a mountain goat after we started back up. They grabbed the rock in a remarkable manner and made a difference when we began at the same spot that we stopped at last year.
My assessment last year about the lack of handholds was wrong as we hopped over the large boulders on the ridge top. The left side of the ridge had fine holds all the way up to the next tower and it went quickly. I waited below while Tim scrambled up and over the 4th class tower. He said the route ahead didn't look very good, which was disturbing because from my position the right side was impassible and the left side was ridiculously exposed. Tim had to be in the right place. After climbing up I looked ahead at the crux and, interestingly, was not deterred by what I saw. Credit the spiderman shoes as I inched down facing out, stretched my foot across a short but exposed gap, then easily stepped down and over to solid rock.
Tim followed with no problem and we arrived at the final tower in moments, where prudence dictated we rope up because of the severe exposure. Tim set up a sling and belayed me first. I scrambled down and around the left side and probably could've done it without the rope, but the security of the rope was reassuring. After belaying Tim, all that remained was a short walk to the summit and we arrived on top at 9:50. It was especially gratifying after giving up last year and I proclaimed it to be one of the most fun summit ridges I've ever done.
We had beautiful weather on the summit and as grand as it was to look at peaks we'd already climbed in the area, we only stayed ten minutes. Part of it was the nervousness about the descent but we'd also discussed the possibility of continuing on to US Grant if we had success on Pilot Knob and the weather was still good. An ambitious plan but we wanted to give it a shot.
Our descent included roping in again at the same tower (photo 1, photo 2), careful climbing over the crux, and cautious scrambling along the ridge back to the gully. We breathed a sigh of relief at the bottom of the gully and took a break at 10:35 before traversing back to the saddle. The descent of the scree slopes went quickly by staying in the middle and boot-skiing most of it. At the bottom we headed over to Ice Lake and arrived at 11:55 with weather clouding up but holding. We spent the next 20 minutes eating and considering whether to attempt US Grant.
US Grant was originally on our schedule to climb tomorrow. When our backpacking trip fell through we'd talked about the possibility of combining these peaks together in a day only because they're not separated by much distance and the additional elevation gain from one to the other isn't excessive. The hour was late but the trail to Island Lake beckoned and we figured if weather or circumstances turned us around, we'd at least end up with a nice loop route back to the main trail.
The trail leading from Ice Lake is very good and contours above Island Lake to the slopes below the 13,220 foot saddle separating V4 and US Grant. Our weather was deteriorating as we grunted up to the saddle and upon arriving at 1:17 PM, we stopped to assess the skies as well as our stamina. But the dark clouds that were threatening were now breaking up and we agreed after coming this far and with only 600 vertical feet remaining to the summit, we should continue. We went up the loose rock ridge (easy class 2) to a steep dirt chute, turned left up a steeper class 4 couloir, then turned right and arrived at a high narrow point where the view ahead stopped us in our tracks. The vertical wall looked impossible to climb and I thought for sure our day was done.
We knew this was the route though because Garratt & Martin describe two cracks in the wall and we could see them. After calming our nerves, we put on our harnesses, I changed into my climbing shoes, and we ventured down and over to the left crack. After studying it a while and determining it just might go, Tim went up the 14 foot crack first and said that the initial class 5 moves turned to easy class 4. It was just a matter of getting feet placed properly to make the first step up, then a long reach to get up to the class 4 part, where the angle eased and just a few grabs were needed to get to the ledge above.
Matters quickly got interesting on the ledge. The wide ledge curved to the left and narrowed to a step-around point with incredible exposure. After getting sufficiently spooked from looking down, Tim spent a few extra moments making sure of his holds before continuing. Fortunately, the rock is quite solid here and after Tim stepped around, I followed, keeping a keen focus on the holds without looking down. Ahead was a climb up steep chip rock and then a final walk to the summit. It was exciting when we reached the top at 2:24 but also very late in the day.
We stayed just long enough to take a few pictures. Even though the weather was holding nicely, we weren't comfortable lounging around with the difficult descent ahead and left at 2:32. Our return down the chip-rock section and around the ledge went well and when we reached the intimidating wall, Tim wanted to use the rope. I belayed him and then free-climbed down, aided by Tim guiding my feet in the lower part of the class 5 crack because I couldn't see where to step. At 3:00, we climbed up to where we dropped our packs and changed out of our harnesses, past most of the difficulties but still not clear of the dangers.
I was especially concerned about the steep 4th class gully with its loose rock, having made a mental note on the ascent to be extra cautious on the return. Tim went down first and stood out of the way while I went down. I sent lots of rocks flying but the descent did go better than I expected. The steep dirt chute followed immediately, which Tim handled easily, but I took it slowly because I didn't want to slip. A flight into oblivion over the left side of the chute was not on my agenda.
We breathed a huge sigh of relief upon reaching the V4 saddle, continued down to Island Lake, and took our most deserved break of the day on the grassy slopes. After resting, we hiked around the left side of the lake and eventually found the trail leading down to the main trail. We reached the truck at 5:45, tired from the long day but thrilled with getting both these hard peaks.
Trailhead to Pilot Knob- 4 hours 35 minutes
Pilot Knob to Ice Lake- 1 hour 55 minutes
Ice Lake to US Grant- 2 hours 9 minutes
US Grant to trailhead- 3 hours 12 minutes
Start to finish- 12 hours 31 minutes