Wetterhorn Peak (14,015) by Brian Schultz Monday July 7, 1997
After success on Blanca and Ellingwood yesterday, next up was my big test dealing with exposure. The exposure on the final summit push and the thought of slipping and falling 600 feet made me question my sanity in doing this peak but Paul, a hiker I met on Blanca and Ellingwood, told me I could handle the exposure with no problem. I had my doubts but was willing to give it a go.
Leaving Monte Vista in the morning to get to the Matterhorn Creek trailhead ensured a late start. I drove to Lake City and up the good Henson Creek road, parking before the 4x4 turnoff to the trailhead- the road was too rough for a car and it was only about a half mile to walk anyway. At 9:15 I started up the road and followed the excellent trail until it came into an open area just before the basin. The trail turned to the right and away from Wetterhorn so I cut off the trail and made a line for the basin. This worked out fine. I'd heard of others getting mixed up in the basin so I paid close attention. There really was no marked route here and I stayed on the left side of the basin and to the right of Point 13117. After I hiked past this peak I started up the snowfilled basin to the southeast ridge.
A couple and their dog were descending the snowy slope but well away from me. I don't know if they made it to the top but once I made the ridge, two young women and a guy on their way down from the summit stopped briefly to chat. I asked how difficult the ledges in the gully were and of course they said "not bad." Off they went and now I had Wetterhorn to myself. And the once clear skies were now filling with dark clouds.
Up the ridge I went with thunder rumbling and lightning flashing behind me. It was only 11:00 and I didn't feel safe turning back to the open basin, so I ducked out under an overhang hoping to wait it out. I began shivering. It turned cold fast! I pulled out every piece of clothing from the pack to put on before the rains hit, even wrapping myself in my space blanket. The winds whipped up and I sat there freezing for an hour until it passed. But rain never came so I left the pack and started back up the ridge. Then it hailed briefly and started snowing lightly but since the rock was dry I decided to go on.
I passed the towers and the shark fin easy enough, climbed through the notch and found myself on a slab looking at the ledges to the right and the 600 foot sheer dropoff everywhere else! It's still snowing, the wind is blowing, and I'm thinking I must be crazy. This is what I have to do for class 3 and exposure?
I sat there for a while contemplating. Then I thought I would just slowly work my way over to the first ledge and see how I felt. So far, so good. Maybe I'll just go up one and see how that goes. Not bad! Next thing I know I'm going up and these ledges aren't that bad after all- very solid- just had to be mindful of the loose sand and small rocks. I worked my way up until they seemed harder, cut to the left, kept on and suddenly I'm on the summit! Wow- I felt like I was on top of the world! I whooped like a madman and signed the register. It was 1:00 and still snowing. I stayed all of three minutes and started back down, trying my best not to look down. The dropoff was long and scary. Very carefully I made my way to the slab and notch. From there I took my time descending the upper ridge and once back on the ridge, I retrieved my pack and when I reached the basin I was the happiest person in the world. I did it!
I walked out of the basin with a huge grin on my face until I reached the woods. Then I had the worst feeling. Flashbacks of falling off the ledges unnerved me most of the way back to the car. I got there at 4:15 and it took well into the evening before I got the good feeling back.
I handled the class 3, the exposure, and unfavorable weather. I received a huge confidence booster with success on Wetterhorn, my hardest fourteener to date and number 20 on my list.
Total hike time- 7 hours (including 1 hour wait on ridge)