UN 13656 by Brian Schultz Saturday August 27, 2022

Roundtrip mileage: ~9.5 miles from Lily Lake trailhead (Upper Huerfano trailhead)
Elevation gain: 3,400'
Start to finish: 11 hours 5 minutes

With fourteener Mt Lindsey currently closed to climbers, I hoped parking at the trailhead would be light on this Friday night. When I reached the trailhead just before dark, there were only two other trucks parked. One occupant was hiking up to Lily Lake in the morning to go fishing, the other vehicle was unoccupied. Another soon arrived and that person would be climbing California Peak and neighboring thirteeners but not 13656. One more vehicle arrived and turned around, presumably to find a flatter spot down the road for the overnight. I set up for the night and planned to start at first light.

I had mixed feelings about climbing UN 13656 because I'd already completed climbing all the highest 200 peaks in Colorado ten years ago. But that list was based on map readings and now a new measuring system, LiDAR, (Light Detection and Ranging) has accurately re-measured many peak elevations. The system has promoted peaks and demoted peaks and in my case added two new peaks to the bicentennial list. UN 13656 has supplanted former bicentennial UN 13660, which now is measured at 13,654', by two feet.

I decided I'd climb the two additional peaks this time, UN 13656 and West Apostle, but if the list changes again in the future, I'm not sure what I'll do. Peak elevations will be ever-changing because of shifting tectonic plates, and getting older with aging issues will likely be a stopper for many, including me, to re-finish already completed lists. Even young climbers could see changes to the peaks they've climbed over their lifetimes and may reach an age where they won't be able to re-finish lists either.

I was on the trail at 6:00 AM. The route I'd be taking would follow Laura Clark's track (Wild Wanderer from fourteeners.com), beginning on the excellent trail from the trailhead to Lily Lake. There is a trail junction to be mindful of, where the trail on the right is the correct one to take. This could be missed if starting in the dark, but it's signed and the trail is otherwise easy to follow. I was on the trail to Lily Lake years ago to climb UN 13577 and former UN 13660, but today's route would diverge after Lily Lake (photo 1, photo 2) where the trail ends.

Upon reaching Lily Lake, I hiked over the undulating talus fields above it to a smaller lake, keeping to its left, until arriving at an obvious wide scree gully. The scree gully handily goes to the saddle above on the ridge and it's steep. Very steep. I used micro spikes to go up this gully, which helped, but keeping traction on the shifting scree was grueling. Trekking poles helped but I was whipped when I arrived at the saddle.

I sat down for a break to take off the micro spikes, catch my breath, and fuel up. As I sat, I noticed a climber coming down the ridge from former UN 13660 and waited for him. I figured chances were good he'd be someone who's also on Lists of John and/or fourteeners.com, and would be continuing on to 13656.

Sure enough he was a member of both sites and after introductions, I realized I'd met him before in the mountains. It was David Mattingly and we met nine years ago on Geneva Peak. He was also the driver of the vehicle who turned around last night to find a flatter overnight spot.

It was great fun to climb up the ridge (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3) to UN 13656's summit together. The first third of the ridge goes at class 3 but the difficulty eases after that and we summited around 12:15. We spent a long time on top enjoying views of the surrounding peaks (photo 1, photo 2).

As we gazed over to demoted UN 13660, we both commented on how much higher it looked than the peak we were on. David said maybe we wasted our time climbing this new thirteener but elevations can be deceiving. When I asked Teresa Gergen later if it's possible LiDAR could be wrong, she analyzed the LiDAR readings again and confirmed UN 13656 was the higher peak. Good to know we didn't waste the day!

Our descent was uneventful. David joined me on the descent of the scree gully, which was much easier than ascending it, and once we reached the smaller lake we parted company. He needed to drive to Vail to meet friends, and I'm way too slow to keep up with younger climbers anyway.

Lots of people were on the trail going up to Lily Lake to go fishing. After a quick break for a final parting shot Blanca Peak, I arrived back at the trailhead at 5:05 PM. The weather was outstanding today. Apparently the summer monsoon season is beginning to wind down, which I sure appreciated while doing this peak.