UN 10685 by Brian Schultz Tuesday August 22, 2017

Roundtrip mileage: 1.7 miles from end of CR 397A
Elevation gain: 770'
Start to finish: 1 hour 15 minutes

For this peak, I followed US 24 south from Leadville and turned east on CR 396, near Granite, then took an immediate left onto CR 397 which parallels Hwy 24 as it heads back north. The road is rough in a few areas, high clearance is advised. I took a left turn onto CR 397A and followed it to the end of the road with the fenced-in towers. The driving distance is 4.6 miles one way from US 24 and there are side roads to confuse with the navigation, so a GPS is handy to stay on the correct road. I started at 2:35 PM, definitely a late start but it would be a short climb and the weather was holding.

I walked back down the road a short distance and began the steep grunt up the slopes to the ridge. There was some deadfall on the slopes but overall the ascent was very manageable and the steepness relents once on the ridge. As I neared the summit I traversed below the left side of the ridge and arrived on top at 3:15. Surprisingly, there are decent views of the Sawatch peaks. I made it back to my truck at 3:50 and headed to Lake City. This was a fun warm-up peak before taking on a big day tomorrow.