UN 13540 & Wilson Peak attempt (14,017) by Brian Schultz Thursday September 21, 1995
My intention this day was to climb El Diente. I parked my '86 Crown Victoria in the one parking spot on the last turn of the road before the gated trailhead. Under clear skies and a midmorning start, I headed up the road and being very mindful of the route, nonchalantly proceeded to hike the road way past the Silver Pick Basin until it went around the woods and into another basin, which I mistook for the Silver Pick. It also had an old road that went up in it, and a mine, and seemed to follow the description in the book. I thought I was right on the money. I climbed up a snow covered, relatively steep area and proudly topped out on a ridge thinking I was close to El Diente. A hiker following my tracks soon scooted up behind me.
Alan was also going for El Diente but he realized the mistake. There was no way to get into Navajo Basin from here so he suggested we go for Wilson Peak instead because of the late hour. I agreed and we headed up the ridge to our left, Alan arriving on top before me. It felt like being on top of a summit when I got there and I honestly hoped this was Wilson Peak, even though it didn't fit the book description. When I asked if this was it, Alan looked off in the distance, pointed and said, "There it is!" My spirits sagged. Way over there? That was Wilson Peak? I was totally mixed up but I should have known something was wrong when Wilson Peak was clearly higher than where we were.
It turns out we were standing on UN 13540, which is one very long mile west of Wilson Peak, especially when you take the roundabout way we did. But the weather was perfect so we continued on and eventually reached the saddle of the Silver Pick Basin, where we would have been much sooner if we followed the route properly. Two others were resting here and Alan went on alone while I took a break and visited with them. Rob and Greg, from Telluride, were also going for Wilson Peak.
I headed off to the small saddle on the Wilson-Gladstone ridge and began the scramble on loose rocks beyond it. I stayed below the ridge and met up with Alan on his way down; he turned back because the snow on the rocks was too dangerous past the false summit. After all this time I had to see for myself so I made my way up. Just below the false summit, Rob and Greg caught up to me and we climbed up it. I looked down into the huge cut which had to be downclimbed and knew right then and there my newfound passion for the fourteeners was about to be tempered. The ridge to the summit looked horribly steep from here. I couldn't go on even if I wanted to- the exposure totally unnerved me. Even worse, a photo of someone's beloved dog was propped on a rock with a note stating that it fell to his death here.
Two other guys arrived up here with us. One of them felt exactly like me- he wasn't going any further either, but Rob, Greg, and the other fellow all wanted to go on. However, we agreed with Alan's opinion- it definitely looked too dangerous with snow on the rocks. I sat there frozen with fear in the middle of our perch, and nervous when the three guys walked around desperately looking for a possible alternative route to the summit. I couldn't shake the image of the dog falling down and really, really wished they would stop getting so close to the edge. I managed to eat a little lunch and felt much better when we headed back down. Rob, Greg and I hiked out together and enjoyed the rest of the beautiful day, glissading down the snowfields in the Silver Pick on our way to the trailhead.
I ordered some topo maps and bought a compass when I got home. I'm probably not the only one who screwed up routefinding in the Silver Pick, based on comments in the trailhead register, but I don't want to ever be as mixed up as I was on this hike or likewise have a false sense of my location.
Total hike time- about 9 hours