Twining Peak (13,711) & UN 13500 by Brian Schultz Thursday July 23, 2009
Roundtrip mileage: ~ 4.5 miles from Independence Pass
Elevation gain: 1,950'
Skies were clear and sunny when I arrived at Independence Pass. I'd driven straight in from Nebraska, knowing an excellent weather forecast would allow for a late start, and quickly changed into my hiking clothes. At 1:20 PM I began hiking north around the left side of the lake, where grassy slopes went fast and the elevation gain came quickly.
I headed to UN 13500 first, hoping to acclimatize a bit more than what the 1700' gain of Twining offered, and found the going to be easy with a bit of scrambling to reach the top. I stepped on that summit at 2:25, continued down to the Twining saddle on easy terrain, and encountered more minor scrambling on the ridge up to Twining's summit. This was very straightforward with no routefinding issues and I reached Twining's summit at 3:05, taking advantage of the perfect weather for twenty minutes to enjoy the views and have a bite to eat.
On the descent, contouring the grassy slopes below UN 13500 led to faint trails in the lower areas and after popping over the last ridge line and coming into view of Independence Pass below, I saw a white truck parked behind my car. I suspected it was Tim Briese's truck. He knew I was planning to climb Twining and I knew he was driving over the Pass to meet later in Snowmass Village, and as I got closer I saw that it was indeed Tim and hurried my pace. I reached the vehicles and greeted Tim at 4:45.
This was an easy and efficient way to grab two ranked peaks and begin my Colorado climbing trip on a good note. Tim and I drove to Snowmass Village to meet up with our climbing buddy Jason for a revisit to the Elk range after a four year absence.
Trailhead to UN 13500- 1 hour 5 minutes
UN 13500 to Twining- 40 minutes
Twining to trailhead- 1 hour 25 minutes
Start to finish- 3 hours 25 minutes