Pomeroy Mountain (13,151) and UN 13070 by Brian Schultz Saturday August 16, 2014

Roundtrip mileage: 8 miles from road past Shavano townsite

Elevation gain: 2,750'

Start to finish: 6 hours 50 minutes

Participants: Colin Levey, Pete Krzanowsky, and Brian Schultz

We left Salida this morning at 6:30 AM and drove west on Highway 50 to County Road 240. County Road 240 is just past the town of Maysville and a sign on the road indicated 10 miles to a campground. The road deteriorated at 4 miles in and Pete decided to park at a pull-out, not wanting to risk damaging his vehicle. The stretch of the road between 4 and 6 miles is pretty rough, definitely 4 wheel drive or all wheel drive with high clearance, but the road after 6 miles to Billings Lake is excellent.

Pete rode with Colin in his jeep and we parked our trucks at 8.3 miles (elev ~10,900'), which was just past the Shavano townsite. We could've continued further but we planned to do a loop route of Pomeroy, UN 13070, and Calico Mountain, and the descent off Calico would bring us back to this parking spot.

The forecast called for 40% chance of storms/showers in the afternoon but skies were clear and sunny when we started hiking up the road at 7:55. The road splits at Billings Lake and we took the left road while the right road continues to a mine higher up. Our choice was a bit of a shortcut and we did see some interesting mine buildings (photo 1, photo 2) along our road as well, and when it ended, a short bushwhack put us on the other road.

We soon departed the other road and started up Pomeroy's grassy slopes. From the saddle on Pomeroy's southwest ridge, we climbed up easy grass and talus to the summit and arrived on top at 10:45. The views (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4) were quite nice from the summit.

After a twenty minute break, we started down the class 3 connecting ridge to UN 13070. The towers on the Pomeroy side of the saddle are steep and exposed. Colin was especially nervous. He hadn't experienced this kind of scrambling before and he took lots of time to make sure his holds were secure. Our route alternated between the towers' sides. The left side of the ridge has lots of loose scree/dirt and we dropped down when necessary.

Once we reached the saddle, the difficulties eased and it was an easy finish to 13070. We arrived on the summit at 12:38 and departed three minutes later because thunder started rumbling. We didn't even sign the register. It was an easy call to skip Calico as we quickly descended 13070's east ridge to get down to safer terrain. We could see the road below and it didn't take long to reach it. My knee was bothering me and I stopped for a break while Pete and Colin continued to the trucks. Pete wanted to get home to prepare for another climb in the morning so Colin drove Pete back to his car and would wait for me there.

It rained lightly on the return to my truck, which I reached at 2:45, and I met up with Colin shortly afterward. It was fun to have part of our Aconcagua team together again and even though Pete could only join for a day, it was great. Colin and I drove to Buena Vista and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon in town and a great meal at the Eddyline Brewery. Tomorrow would be our final climb together on Colorado's highest peak, Mt Elbert.

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