Roundtrip mileage: 14.8 miles from camp area past Winfield townsite
Elevation gain: 4,110'
Start to finish: 11 hours 50 minutes
Participants: Mark Silas, Brian Schultz

Mark and I met up last night at a camp area along CR 390 just past the townsite of Winfield. Neither of us wanted to drive the road to the 4x4 trailhead, which meant we'd be adding 3.6 miles extra for the roundtrip mileage. We planned on a 4:00 AM wake up and start time of 5:00.

We were ready to go at 4:50 AM and began by headlamp. The road was easy to follow in the dark, and once at the 4x4 trailhead we went straight ahead past the information board for the trail to Lake Ann. The trail to the left is for Huron Peak, which was the destination for several others getting ready at the trailhead parking area.

We made pretty good time on the excellent trail to Lake Ann and turned left to gain the top of a grassy knoll. A friendly backpacker was camping up there at a terrific site and after visiting for a bit we continued on. We made a route-finding error when we immediately started up the grassy slopes (photo 1, photo 2) past the knoll. It was moderately steep but that wasn't the problem. Once we reached the ridge and turned left, we quickly reached a sheer wall at a notch. It couldn't be directly climbed to the other side so we dropped down a bit to investigate a narrow gully/chimney. This was class 5 and we weren't comfortable climbing it and finding out it might not go because coming back down it would be sketchy.

The decision was made to descend further and hope we could cross over and regain the ridge. We dropped down another 200' in the steep and loose gully, and with some interesting scrambling were able to cross over and regain the ridge above. We were now back on track and just a short distance away from the standard route (photo 1, photo 2). No further obstacles were in the way as we came upon the cairn marking the ridge where the standard route comes up. Life would've been much easier had we not ascended so quickly after the knoll above Lake Ann and instead continued past the knoll into the next basin and then taken the rib/gully combo to the summit ridge.

We reached the false summit and from there Mark, who's much faster than me, went ahead to the summit. I proceeded very slowly on the class 3 exposed ridge, staying on the very top of it, and arrived on the summit at 11:45. Mark had been up there for fifteen minutes patiently waiting for me. We weren't up there very long before another climber made his way up the ridge. This fellow, Aaron, was from Salida and we enjoyed conversation with him before leaving at 12:10.

Aaron wasn't far behind us and caught up at the cairn marking the ascent/descent route. The three of us descended the loose scree and rocks together before Aaron scooted ahead to a route that didn't return to Lake Ann. I'm not sure where he started from on his ascent in the morning but Mark and I continued down the rib and finally reached the rocky basin below. From there it was talus hopping to an open grassy area and then to the knoll above Lake Ann. The backpacker we talked to earlier in the morning had packed up and was gone. We were soon back at Lake Ann with great views of the Apostles behind us.

There were people at Lake Ann enjoying the beautiful afternoon as we passed by. Mark had gone ahead of me when I stopped a few times for pictures. When I caught up to him I told him to go ahead if he wanted to leave for home sooner but he was fine with hiking ahead and then waiting for me to catch up. We finally pulled in at 4:40 to our camp area. I was whipped from the long day but glad for our success. The outstanding weather sure helped.

West Apostle completes a refinish of the bicentennial peaks list, which I originally finished ten years ago. Interestingly, Mark was with me when I finished the bicentennial peaks then on North Star Mountain. I owe a debt of gratitude to Mark for joining me today and putting up with my slow pace.