Windom Peak (14,087), Sunlight Peak (14,059) and Eolus Peak (14,083) by Brian Schultz Saturday July 31, 1999
When I rolled into Durango on Thursday afternoon it was still pouring rain. I was loading up the backpack in the motel room when Tim knocked on the door. Boy was I glad to see him. I had my train ticket and would have gone alone but I really wanted company on this outing. He wasn't feeling well but didn't want to pass up this opportunity. We went out for dinner and I called home later to check in, not expecting to phone again until possibly Monday night.
Friday morning we boarded the train at 7:00 after eating breakfast at McDonalds. Our seat assignments didn't allow us to sit together- I bought my ticket long ago and Tim just recently got his. The morning was sunny and the ride was pleasant and very scenic, but my mind was on backpacking in and hoping for good weather. When we reached Needleton at 10:00 many people got off while others were waiting to catch the train to Silverton.
By 10:15 we were on our way, crossing the creek on a fine bridge. The sky was clear and still sunny and the excellent trail soon led us into the woods. Tim let me set the pace, slow but steady, and we took many breaks for rest and water. I knew he could have reached the camping areas much faster but he was a good sport to not push me. Tim wanted to camp high, at Twin Lakes, but no camping is allowed up there anymore. No complaints from me- I didn't want to lug the backpack up that high and the way the weather's been in the past week, a storm wasn't out of the question. I didn't want to be even more vulnerable at 12,500 feet.
The trail stays in the woods for a long time and eventually opens into the Chicago Basin, one of the prettiest areas I've ever seen in the backcountry. High up are numerous waterfalls, spectacular mountain ridges, and a great view of Windom peak. We aimed for a high camp above the valley. Getting there meant hiking through the trees and above a waterfall, bringing us to around 11,500 feet elevation. I was tired but not exhausted and for once my head was not spinning after backpacking. Better acclimatization no doubt. Two guys had claimed the best campsite there but directed us to another good one not far away. The time was 3:25, a 5 hour 10 minute hike from the train.
We set up our tents and five minutes later it started raining. At least it was just a light drizzle. We chatted with the neighbors (at the nice tent site), Richard and Dick, who had been up here before. After completing these three they would have only Antero left. We went back to make dinner and rope up the backpacks in the tree, being warned to hang them because of the goats. Tim was still a little sick but said he'd be ok for the morning.
I didn't sleep too well and at 4:45 got up and made breakfast. Tim and I were determined to leave early because of the ongoing stretch of rainy days and at 5:25 we started out by flashlight. We were only moments from camp to the sign that said- "No camping above this point." The trail is very steep up to Twin Lakes and I was immediately thankful to not have the heavy backpack on. It took 45 minutes to reach the lakes and first light showed clear skies. Our objective was to climb Sunlight first, figuring if threatening weather came in we would still have a chance to get Windom. After two goats scampered past us, we hiked up the basin on a good path and kept to the right.
We expected to easily cross the basin but our progress brought us so close to Windom that we changed plans and headed up to the saddle on Windom's west ridge instead. Tim went on ahead and cut to the right at a notch while I stayed on the ridge; he found himself in a deadend and had to backtrack as I continued up. Hiking was not hard but it was steep, especially near the top. He caught up, took the lead, and at 7:55 we pulled ourselves onto the summit blocks, 1 hour and 45 minutes from Twin Lakes. The highest point was a single block, definitely one of the most unusual and neatest fourteener summits. The views of Chicago Basin, Eolus and Sunlight were stunning and though the weather was sunny, clouds were moving in. Tim pulled out his cell phone to call home and amazingly got through. From way out here in the boonies! We studied the red couloir of Sunlight as wisps of clouds began shrouding its summit. Staying only 20 minutes, we left at 8:15.
At the notch we debated glissading down the snow but without our ice axes we were reluctant to try- it looked fairly steep. So at the saddle we used my trekking poles to glissade, then contoured to the right, crossed a snowfield, and entered the red couloir. We followed it up to the saddle where cairns marked a route to the left. The real climbing began here and we had to do some routefinding, encountering a few difficult areas before coming to a rock window which at first we thought we should go through but didn't. Climbing left and up brought us to another window. We ducked through this one and soon found ourselves at the register. The time was 9:50 (1 hour and 35 minutes from Windom). The true summit was in front of us- tall, angled blocks requiring a class 4 friction move.
The clouds swirled about us but no storms were threatening. Tim went to the blocks first and was up and down in no time, making it look easy both ways. When my turn came I found it necessary to lean across the gap and step over. It wasn't hard but the bouldering move was a bit tricky, easier to do than describe. The last block move was an easy reach and I pulled up and straddled the top, my right leg dangling on a tremendous sheer drop off. The bottom was so far down I could only look once. Wow- what a summit!
The friction move on the way down was a lot harder because the foothold is so far down and you can't see it. Tim came over to grab my foot and guided a bit before I told him to let go. I slid back down, stepped across the gap and returned to the register. We had lunch and watched the clouds drift in and out, revealing glimpses of Windom and Eolus. Then I noticed the exposure control on the camera was set wrong. Great. I couldn't not have a summit picture so back up I went so Tim could take another. After the second time on the summit boulder I made it down with no help.
With no threatening weather we stayed up there for 1 hour and 15 minutes savoring the views and our success. At 11:05 we left, carefully descending the ridge to the red couloir and down it, eventually regaining the trail to Twin Lakes. At the lake we spotted our neighbors, Dick and Richard, who were resting after climbing Eolus. We filtered water and chatted with them for a while as we looked over toward Eolus. Tim and I were thinking the same thing- could we possibly do it too? The clouds were getting dark in every direction except Eolus and Tim suggested we head over that way, to at least check out the trail for the morning. Dick and Richard were napping as we took off around 12:40, quite late for a summit try.
We found the trail easy enough and as we entered the basin, a group of climbers on their way down told us how scary the ledges were and how difficult the routefinding was to the summit. We looked up at the sky- still clear above Eolus- and started up the basin. I was pretty beat but once we made 13,000 ft. I was determined to go for it if the weather held. The trail in the basin was very well marked and it brought us towards the Eolus-North Eolus saddle. It's a fairly steep scramble to reach the saddle and from there we paused to look ahead at the "Catwalk", exposed as described but not scary to me as we crossed its mostly flat top.
Beyond the catwalk is the wicked face of Eolus. Advised long ago by friend Steve Helle to climb between the ridge on the right and the snowfilled gash to the left, we followed a hit-and-miss trail of cairns and zigzagged up the middle of the face on exposed ledges. The climbing was steep but the exposure didn't bother either of us. Along the top of the ridge were several rocky points but which one was the summit? With Tim leading, our first pick turned out to be the right one and at 2:55 we were on our third summit of the day! (2 hours and 15 minutes from Twin Lakes). We marveled at our good fortune, not expecting or planning to do Eolus today and now we had them all! And the weather was holding, although threatening.
Both Windom and Sunlight looked far away from this summit- hard to believe we were there earlier. We stayed 20 minutes and at 3:15 started down. Our descent was more difficult due to tough routefinding. We backtracked several times on the ledges but eventually found the way down and crossed the Catwalk to the saddle, getting there in 40 minutes from the summit. Tim eyed North Eolus and suggested we grab it too. Not me. Off came my pack and I rested while he scampered up. It only took him 7 minutes to reach the summit.
When he came down he was excited, saying how fun the scramble was on good solid rock. That did it. I mustered up my energy and climbed North Eolus too, getting to the top in only 5 minutes. It really was pretty neat and now we had all four summits! What a day!
At 4:40 we left the saddle and made our way down to Twin Lakes where we took another rest break. We finally dragged into camp at 6:45, for a 13 hour, 20 minute day. Twelve of those hours were spent above 12,500 feet and I could feel it. Five minutes later, to nobody's surprise, it started raining. That made every day so far. Richard came over wondering if we really did do Eolus since the last he saw of us was at the lake. He said one minute he was talking to us and the next we disappeared. He seemed genuinely impressed at our feat and congratulated us.
Hail pummeled the tents as we made dinner under the trees and at 8:00 we were so tired we crashed. Two hours later a bright flash awakened me from a dead sleep and seconds later a mighty crack of thunder ripped across the basin. Oh boy- here we go again. Just like Snowmass. Another horrible thunderstorm began and I found no comfort being in the tent other than not getting wet. It was scary being this high up in elevation and worrying about lightning strikes, and it made for a fitful night of sleep.
The morning was beautiful and we would have had fine weather for climbing if we hadn't done them all yesterday. The sun dried off the tents and we ate breakfast completely surrounded by two dozen very tame mountain goats. Most of them followed me to the stream when I went to filter water. Hiking past our camp site later was a large group of backpackers, topo maps in hand, heading up to the Twin Lakes area. They said they were going over a pass up there but all I remember seeing was steep jagged ridges. Some in the group already looked beat, the steep trail yet to be negotiated with their heavy loads.
We packed up and left at 10:50, encountering lots of others on the trail, and at 2:30 reached the tracks only to see an earlier train leaving. But 45 minutes later the next train stopped for our now large group and let everybody on. We saved an hour's wait and eagerly looked forward to a shower and dinner in Durango. And yes it rained again.
Hike time in- 5 hours 10 minutes Total climb time- 13 hours 20 minutes
Hike time out- 3 hours 40 minutes