West Spanish Peak from the north

[Tejonmax]

Has anyone climbed the West Spanish Peak from the Wahatoya Trailhead used to climb the East Peak? Interested in the route you took.

[Tornadoman]

I just happened to be researching West Spanish for a possible attempt tomorrow... Looks like the below tr might be what you are looking for. Good luck!

https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/triprepo ... trip=17068

[Tejonmax]

I was up there last Sunday. I live real close and study the peak from my patio on a daily basis. When you get to the trail head at 9900ft the Wahatoya trail goes off to the left. The jeep trail you have been on up until that point continues up to the right. It has a gate across it so you can't drive any further. About a 1.3 miles up the jeep trail you get out of the trees. There was some snow at that point but it was solid enough to walk on. A lot of snow has melted up there this week. The jeep trail continues another half mile or so. I didn't make it to the end because I helped a kid with his ATV that had a dead battery. But once you leave the trees there is a ridge up on the right that looks like you could go up that with no problem. That would put you on the top ridge to the east of the West Peak. That jeep trail shows up on my 100K topo map with Base Camp. This would have to be shorter than going to the saddle via the main trail and then heading up the long ridge to the West Peak. Either way it is a lot of elevation gain. We bought our house last fall from an old guy (well older than me) that said he had climbed the west and east peaks many times from that trail head but he did not elaborate as to the route he took up to the West Peak. I am including a pic of the peak I took on Sunday with the possible route marked in red. The line starts just after you leave the treeline on the jeep trail. I just have no idea what the ridge is like. If you have never been up to that trailhead, the jeep trail isn't bad except the first 100 ft or so. Some very deep ruts. There was a guy up there on Sunday with a Jeep Rubicon. The first pic shows the ridge that you can (maybe) go up once you are out of the trees you will see it. If you go up, please let me know how it goes. I am going to try to do Trinchera Peak on Sunday.

[Tornadoman]

We ended up doing the peak as a day trip from Denver Metro and went up the more standard route from Cordova Pass as we wanted to keep the day shortish after the long drive. Plus (as you note) info is somewhat lacking from the north side and I only have a passenger car. There was still some snow on the ridge at the top and just a hint a few places in the trees. I think the route you showed looks good though and probably isn't as steep as the scree on the route from Cordova Pass. Hope Trinchera goes well for you, that whole area looks beautiful and that will be my aim the next time I am down there.

[painless4u2]

While this TR route starts at the saddle between East and West Peak, it describes much of the area you may encounter: https://www.14ers.com/13ers/peak.php?peakkey=1690

We hiked up to the Bulls Eye Gold mine above treeline and could see the ridge up toward the summit, which looked very doable, but LOTS of talus. We are in Cuchara now!

[Tejonmax]

Glad to hear the snow has melted on the standard route up the West Peak. We were up to Cordova Pass 2 weeks ago and there was still a lot of snow right at the trailhead. Hiked up towards Trinchera Peak today. The jeep trail was probably 80% snow covered almost right from the trail head. You could walk on it without much problem. It was softer coming down. We hiked up to 12k ft. There was a large snow field just above treeline and more further up. We hiked across the large snow field going up the Northeast slope. the snow was getting soft so decided to turnaround before we started post holing. Once above treeline the jeep trail disappeared in the snow. There are lots of trees down across the jeep trail pretty much blocking it for motor vehicle travel. Going to wait a couple of weeks and try it again. It was a beautiful day above the clouds.

[Tornadoman]

Tejon,

I spent a lot of time looking over at the peaks in that area, but I am not particularly familiar with them. Is the high peak to the left of the fence post Trinchera? Thanks!

Trinchera.jpg

[Tejonmax]

Yes the one on the left is Trinchera. I thought I could see it from my house but drove up Codova Pass a couple of weeks ago and realized what I was seeing wasn't Trinchera. My view of it from my house is blocked by the long west ridge of the East Spanish Peak. Once you are on Trinchera there are several 13ers to the south that are a pretty easy ridge hike from what I have read.