T10 (13,477) and Red Mountain No. 3 (12,890) by Brian Schultz Monday August 22, 2016

T10:

Roundtrip mileage: 4.5 miles from east side of Black Bear Pass road (FR 823)
Elevation gain: 1,700'
Start to finish: 3 hours 35 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

The weather forecast was awful with a 70% chance of showers/snow and thunder in the morning and the same again in the afternoon. We departed Ridgway with the likelihood that this might end up being just a scouting trip to see what shape the 4x4 Black Bear Pass road was in but, weather permitting, we hoped to get a shot at Trico Peak.

The Black Bear Pass road (FR 823) starts at Red Mountain Pass on Highway 550 and we drove it west about a mile to a tilted slabby rock area on the road. This short section made Tim uncomfortable to continue driving past so we parked here and began walking the road at 7:00 AM. Reports have stated the road is very rough to the pass but we found it to be excellent and could easily be driven to the pass. On our return we saw several vehicles that had done just that, including a truck with a group of sightseers.

When we reached the pass, the weather was holding nicely and we decided T10's proximity warranted a climb instead of Trico. We turned up an old road leading up to T10's ridge. When the road faded out, the lower part of the ridge traveled easily but the ridge quickly became steep and loose and remained so until reaching a flat area below the top. We summited at 8:45 and marveled at how fortunate we were to get this peak as skies were threatening in many other directions. We stayed on top (photo 1, photo 2) for 25 minutes. We noticed a fellow and his dog on T10's southern summit and wondered if he knew it was lower than ours.

We departed at 9:10 and visited with one of the drivers at the pass before continuing down the road. We reached the truck at 10:35 and with the weather still holding favorably, we drove back to Hwy 550 to check out the possibility of climbing another peak.

Red Mountain No. 3:

Roundtrip mileage: 4 miles from locked gate on CR 14
Elevation gain: 1,500'
Start to finish: 1 hour 50 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

Once we got back to Red Mountain Pass on Highway 550, we drove to the other side of the pass on CR 14 and followed it to a locked gate. The owner of the land has a sign on the gate saying hikers are welcome to continue on the road, which happens to go to the top of Red Mountain No. 3. Glad to not have trespass issues, we started up the road at 11:10 AM with the weather still holding favorably. But when we were about 400 vertical feet below the summit, Tim turned around. He didn't trust the weather, or his pace with his bad ankle, and wanted to get back before it started pouring. The weather was looking much worse as I continued up but I made the summit at 12:20. In nearly every direction around me it was raining so after three minutes and a couple pictures taken, I headed down.

A few minutes later thunder started rumbling and though it's been a long time since I've hurried down a peak, the road allowed for a pretty fast pace. Thunder rumbled a couple more times and rain was coming in my direction from across Highway 550 but somehow I managed to get back to the truck, at 1:00, one minute before it started raining. Heavy graupel soon followed and I was relieved to get back dry. It was nice to beat the weather and get these climbs in today.