Redcliff (13,642') by Brian Schultz Wednesday August 26, 2009
Roundtrip mileage: 6.25 miles from trailhead (West Fork Cimarron River approach)
Elevation gain: 3,000'
Participants: Jim Patrick, Brian Schultz
After crossing paths in the mountains with Jim Patrick twice over the last two years, we decided to meet up and climb a few peaks this year. Tim Briese and I first met Jim on Baldy Alto in 2007, and again last year at the Cielo Vista ranch, where he'd registered separately to climb Purgatoire & Vermejo on the same day that Tim and I organized our own climb of those peaks with fellow Fourteenerworld members.
I met Jim last night on the West Fork Cimarron River road south of Owl Creek Pass. We drove to the parking area across from the Courthouse Mountain trail and set up for the night in our respective vehicles. Jim regaled me with stories of his Ruby Basin backpack in June with Mike Bromberg, in particular their mishap while descending Peak 15. Tim and I'd been invited to join them on Peak 15 but declined, having already set our itinerary to climb it in August and which we successfully did this past Friday.
The trailhead for Redcliff is the same as for Coxcomb Peak. We had no problem four-wheeling across the low running creek and began at 6:25 AM from the trailhead register under clear skies. We followed the excellent trail to the flat valley floor just above timberline, departed the trail, and headed up the grassy slopes toward the Redcliff/Coxcomb saddle.
As we approached the cliff bands below the saddle, the obvious route was to bear toward the Coxcomb side but we took a chance and headed straight up the scree and slightly left of the cliffs ahead. It was loose but doable and when we reached the Redcliff side of the cliffs, we scrambled up steep rocky terrain to the saddle, a handy shortcut even if it wasn't a big mileage saver. We arrived at 8:50 and took a 20 minute breakfast break, marveling at the impressive sight of Coxcomb Peak.
From the saddle it was an easy short jaunt to Redcliff's summit. We arrived on top at 9:30 under sunny skies and stayed for an hour. Views of Porphyry Basin, Uncompahgre, Matterhorn, Wetterhorn, Coxcomb, & Courthouse Mtn were all spectacular from the summit and it was wonderful to just sit back and enjoy the morning with no bad weather to worry about.
We departed at 10:30 and followed our ascent route. On the slopes below, we crossed paths with a young guy hiking up to the Redcliff/Coxcomb saddle to meet his buddies after they finished their climb. He didn't say what his friends were climbing but it was likely Coxcomb. When we reached the trail again, we talked briefly with a couple out for a dayhike and hiked nonstop from there to the trailhead, arriving at the register at 12:20. Jim dropped me off at my car and we split up for the afternoon but would meet again on the Little Cimarron Road in the evening. Next up on the itinerary was Silver Mountain and UN 13681.
Trailhead to summit- 3 hours 5 minutes
Summit to trailhead- 1 hour 50 minutes
Start to finish- 5 hour 55 minutes