Grand Turk (13,180), Sultan Mountain (13,368), Spencer Mountain (13,087), & "West Turkshead Peak" (12,849) by Brian Schultz Wednesday July 15, 2015

Roundtrip mileage: 8.3 miles from Little Molas Lake (Colorado Trail trailhead parking lot, elevation 10,940')

Elevation gain: 3,800'

Start to finish: 7 hours 10 minutes

Participants: Tim Briese and Brian Schultz

From Silverton we drove toward Molas Pass and turned on a good road to Little Molas Lake. We parked in the large parking lot near the Colorado Trail trailhead and started at 6:00 AM. We had a gorgeous sunrise as we walked back on the road to a trail we noticed on the way in. This trail had a sign saying it was closed but, right or wrong, we took this trail since it was heading in the direction we needed to go. We soon noticed someone coming up behind us and it was Ken Kunkle again, who we ran into two days ago on Wasatch Mountain. He was in a hurry and suggested we talk while hiking together but we knew we'd slow him down and sent him on his way.

The trail disappeared while heading into the basin above but we found another one higher up. We could see Ken bearing left in the basin while we stayed right and watched him as he neared the saddle between "West Turkshead Peak" and Pt 12899. We could see lots of snow below the saddle and it looked like the approach to the saddle was quite steep. We were worried about snow blocking access to the saddle and watched as Ken turned right and ascended a gully to a notch east (right) of the saddle. We decided to head for the saddle and if the snow was an issue, we'd traverse over to the gully Ken took and ascend it as well. As we got higher though, we were quite happy to see that a trail handily skirted the snow and led to the saddle without issue.

Once above the saddle we turned to the right. Even though "West Turkshead" was a short jaunt to the left, our priority was the thirteeners and if the weather held, we'd climb West Turkshead on the return. The route was easy to follow on good trails and nice views opened up as we neared unranked Spencer Mountain, which we would also bypass and save for the return. The trail drops down to the Spencer/Grand Turk saddle and continues to Sultan Mountain but we departed the defined trail and headed up on easy terrain to Grand Turk. We arrived at 8:45 and stayed for fifteen minutes on the summit (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4). Our descent of the northwest ridge from Grand Turk to the Grand Turk/Sultan saddle was straightforward and the trail up to Sultan was also easy. We reached Sultan's summit at 9:45, with the weather holding nicely, and enjoyed outstanding views of Silverton and the Grenadiers from the top.

I departed Sultan at 10:00, ahead of Tim, because he had already decided to forego West Turkshead. It would give me extra time to climb Spencer and West Turkshead and meet up with him later. Spencer was a short fun climb from the southwest side and I summited at 10:50. Tim took the north ridge and said it was great fun too. I could see the weather deteriorating behind West Turkshead so I hurried over to it and up its grassy slopes as fast as I could go. I reached the summit at 11:40, signed the register, and took a quick photo before departing. I met up with Tim again near the saddle and we descended back into the basin. We took a short break for water but dark clouds were moving in quickly and we hurried down to the trees. It started hailing at 12:30 and we ducked under the trees to put on rain jackets and pack covers. We waited out the storm a short while and got back to the parking lot at 1:10.

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