Hermit Peak (13,350), Eureka Mtn (13,507), & Rito Alto (13,794) by Brian Schultz Saturday July 17, 2010
Roundtrip mileage: 4.5 miles from Hermit Pass
Elevation gain: 2,600'
Participants: Pete Krzanowsky & Brian Schultz
It was good to meet up with Pete again after climbing with him two years ago on Purgatoire, Alamosito, & Vermejo. After an enjoyable dinner last night with Adam McFarren, his friend Helen, and Kevin Baker, Pete and I headed up the Hermit Pass road and set up camp at 10,000' elevation.
After a short night of sleep, for me anyway, we drove the road to Hermit Pass, stopping briefly to take a picture of Eureka Mtn in the early light. We began at 7:00 AM. Pete remarked it felt like cheating to start the climbs at 13,000' but I didn't mind, especially after my long day on Colony Baldy yesterday. We headed over to Hermit Peak for our first peak, harboring hopes of ticking off five peaks today, but Pete was still nursing a semi-healed broken toe and didn't want to push too hard unless the toe was feeling right. I'd go as far as my unaclimatized body could handle and it was to my total advantage to have Pete at less than 100% because he's a fast climber and I would never be able to keep up with him otherwise.
Hermit Peak was a short, easy climb and only took twenty minutes to reach the summit. We stayed a couple minutes before heading down Hermit's southeast ridge, where rough talus on the ridge slowed us down a bit until reaching the Hermit/Eureka saddle. Easy grassy slopes led up most of the way to Eureka with some fun slab climbing below the summit. We arrived at 8:40 under sunny, clear skies and took a relaxing break.
We departed at 9:05 with Pete feeling energized and both of us ready for Rito Alto. His toe was pain-free as we headed down to the saddle and once there, we split up on the return to Hermit. Pete side-hilled Hermit while I ascended the ridge back to the summit. He saved a couple hundred feet of elevation regain, enjoyed some challenging scrambling on his shortcut, and when we reunited at the pass at 10:25 we headed straight up Rito Alto's south ridge. I encouraged him to push ahead as he really wanted to climb "Peak of the Clouds" and Spread Eagle Peak before any weather came in.
As it turned out, I was only two minutes behind him when I reached Rito Alto's summit at 11:25. Pete took off down the rough north ridge while I took a break. I started down the ridge but after two hundred feet of elevation descent, I turned around. The ridge drops off steeply, which didn't bother me, but I just didn't feel like reclimbing all of it on the return. Both "Peak of the Clouds" and Spread Eagle Peak can be accessed by a different and easier route if I really want them badly enough to come back.
I returned to Rito Alto and descended without incident to Hermit Pass at 1:00. Pete successfully climbed "Peak of the Clouds" but skipped Spread Eagle Peak, pushing his healing toe as much as he dared. He found a way through Rito's cliff bands without having to reclimb Rito but couldn't avoid the elevation regain back to the truck. Too bad I didn't have the truck keys, I could've driven down the road and picked him up. This was a fun day of climbing with Pete and I looked forward to meeting up again in a week to climb Castleabra.
Hermit Pass to Hermit Peak- 20 minutes
Hermit Peak to Eureka Mtn- 1 hour 20 minutes
Eureka Mtn to Hermit Pass- 1 hour 20 minutes
Hermit Pass to Rito Alto- 1 hour
Rito Alto to Hermit Pass- 1 hour
Start to finish- 6 hours