On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Wag
In the last post I gave an introduction to the Chicago Basin, as well as the challenges in accessing the high mountains. Today I will introduce the high peaks that drew us to the Basin.
The Chicago Basin is home to four peaks over 14,000 feet in elevation, Sunlight, Windom, Eolus, and North Eolus. The four peaks are amongst the more challenging 14ers in Colorado, After visiting, I believe they are amongst the most beautiful. All four peaks have significant route finding challenges, and three of the four require Class 3 or Class 4 climbing.
In the US climbs are rated using a difficulty system developed in Yosemite National Park. The Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) begins with Class 1 hikes, which are easy trails that have minimal obstacles. They may have significant elevation gain, but here is no danger. Class 2 hikes are more rugged, and may occasionally require the use of your hands to stabilize yourself as you scramble over boulders, but there is little risk beyond the risk of a twisted ankle. Class 3 climbs begin to have significant risk. Terrain is steep and you must use hands to pull yourself up significant barriers. A fall risks serious injury, but the risk is manageable. Class 4 climbs are similar to Class 4, but involve significantly more exposure , and a fall would be fatal. Some parties might consider use of a rope. My last post detailing our climb of Capital Peak was a Class 4 climb. Finally, Class 5 climbs are serious climbs where most parties use a rope and place protection in the rock to catch a fall.
Our climbs the next morning included a Class 4 climb, Sunlight, and a difficult Class 2 climb of Windom. The forecast indicated a significant risk of thunderstorms after noon, so we decided to leave camp by 4:00 AM, with a goal to be back to timberline at 11,500 feet, by noon.
We left our camp at 4:00 AM and hiked in the dark for an hour an a half, climbing from 10,600 feet to a pair of small mountain lakes at 12, 500 feet, arriving just in time for the sunrise.
As the sun rose, we caught our first views of Eolus and North Eolus, the peaks we would climb the next day
We also got good views of our objectives for the day, Sunlight on the left, and Windom on the right.
We climbed up a long, steep, loose gully on the west face to Sunlight. After climbing to a notch at 13,850 feet, we were greeted with this view. The climbing from this point on was difficult Class 3-4.
The author, climbing through a rock window 50 feet below the summit block
After a long descent off Sunlight, we climbed the comparatively easier Windom Peak. The climb up Windom was loose, and involved a lot of balancing on loose talus (rocks that are 1-4 feet across). Windom was supposed to be difficult Class 2, but we managed to get off route, and found a Class 3-4 variation to the summit.
Back to Twin Lakes
As we hiked up in the dark, we heard multiple cascades as we climbed towards Twin Lakes. It was a revelation to see them in the daylight.
We got back to timberline on exactly on schedule, and the skies opened with a tremendous storm at 1 PM.
JPL
Amazing photos!
Wvng
Outstanding!
JanieM
Amazing adventures and beautiful pictures. I suspect I won’t be alone in tagging the reflection shots as faves.
I never did any technical climbing, but my very first hike out west, after a drive more or less straight through from Boston in June of 1972, was in Rocky Mountain National Park. We took time to acclimate to the altitude, then camped for a couple of days in a meadow below the Diamond. I remember trying to time a side hike to the Keyhole so we didn’t get caught when the sky did its daily “opening up” routine. On the last morning we woke up to several inches of snow covering our tents — luckily, we had good equipment and stayed toasty and dry; not everyone did, and the shelter in that meadow was crowded before that night was over.
Thanks for the pictures and the memories they trigger.
eclare
What amazing photos!
Mary G
What a wonderful experience to have vicariously, thank you Wag. The description of loose rocks and having to balance on bigger ones is daunting, but the views you earned were worth it.
KSinMA
Beautiful!
eclare
@Mary G: Vicariously is it, I get woozy starting at 8,000 feet!
MazeDancer
Wonderful photos!
Wag
@JanieM: Sounds like an amazing trip!
Jerry
Incredible photos! Thanks for sharing. Please, sir, more of these!
If folks really enjoy this kind of thing, check out Foresty Forest’s channel on Youtube. He’s a nice Canadian lad that lives in a van full time and climbs mountains. There’s usually plenty of beautiful scenery while he’s hiking/climbing and then awesome drone footage when he gets to the peak. He’s mostly in British Columbia, but I think he wanders into Alberta from to time.
Betty
The first sunrise picture is wondrous. All the scenery is stunning. As you continue these class 3 and 4 hikes, please stay safe. Not for the faint of heart!
cope
What wonderful pictures and a great story. I’m looking forward to the rest of you travelogue.
That first shot is stunning. Thank you for letting us tag along on your adventures.
Dan B
I echo cope. The first photo is among the most beautiful and striking photos I’ve ever seen.
SkyBluePink
The first photo is breathtaking!
All photos are wonderful!
Victor Matheson
If I remember correctly, Sunlight has great moments of being “airy and thrilling”. I remember it as being pretty flat along the summit ridge but with terrifying drop-offs on either side. I mean, if you were walking on sidewalk in your neighborhood, you would never accidentally fall off into someone’s lawn. But if that lawn is now a thousand feet below, all of a sudden that sidewalk doesn’t seem as secure as before.
Wag
@Victor Matheson:
you’re thinking of the Catwalk going Eolus. Tune in tomorrow!
DanielsBob
Fantastic photos. I miss Colorado so much.
J R in WV
The first photo will always be the B-J best sunrise photo of all time.
The rest are no slouch either.
I was once up to around 13,000 feet, and didn’t realize how mentally slow and stupid I was (we were) until we got back down past 10K feet. Now way too old to attempt climbing anything worse than our basement steps!
Thanks for these photos, be so, so careful out there doing this death defying hobby!!
MissWimsey
These photos are amazing! I like hiking but I’m a flat-out dilettante hiking the forest preserves in the Chicago area (flat flat flat flat). I’m hoping to get out to Denver the first week of May. The itinerary includes one day at Rocky Mountain National Park. So if anyone has any recommendations for any hikes for individuals in reasonable shape, please let me know!
StringOnAStick
Absolutely gorgeous! I wish I could capture the first photo for a painting project!
For the rock and ice interested, we saw the movie The Alpinist yesterday, about Canadian Marc-Andre LeClerc, a mixed rock/ice climber who did some amazing routes unroped and unaccompanied, and pretty much stayed under the media radar as much as he could because he just wasn’t into the fame aspect at all. Unfortunately he and a climber partner died in an avalanche in AK in 2018 while descending. The last part of the movie is about that event and the impact on his loved ones, and was not the usual rah-rah studly stuff at all; in many ways it was a spiritual exploration about Marc-Andre and by the film makers. Gorgeous film, worth every minute.
Wag
thanks all for the nice compliments. I really appreciate the supportive BJ community!
@MissWimsey: That’ll be a great trip. Early May might be too early to go deeply into the high mountains of the Park. A lot depends on how much snow we get this winter. Hopefully you’ll be ahead of the crowds. If there are a lot of people you should look into the Wild Basin section of RMNP, a much more isolated area 15 miles south of Estes Park. Quiet and beautiful. also lower altitude, so it should be melted out when you’re there
@StringOnAStick: Give it a go, then share it with all of us!
cope
@MissWimsey: Here’s a link to a list of lake hikes around Estes Park. I don’t know if any or all of them are technically in the national park but they’re certainly in the area.
visitestespark.com/blog/post/best-lake-hikes-around-estes-park/
MissWimsey
@cope: thanks!