7/3/2021 Route: Wham and South Face Posted On: 7/5/2021, By: Stratosfearsome Info: No spikes or axe needed. Get some! |
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10/3/2020 Route: Wham! Posted On: 10/4/2020, By: Eli Watson Info: Summited Arrow Pk, Vestal Pk, "West Trinity", Trinity Pk & "East Trinity" from Molas Lake TH on 2020-10-03. Followed Roach's description of "AVWTE Combo - Trinitas (29.9)" in Thirteeners with the addition of Wham Ridge Direct start to ascend Vestal. Overall, air quality wasn't great but it wasn't awful. Definitely put a damper on my photographs. Molas Lake to Elk Park Trail to Vestal Creek Trail approach: No snow. All stream crossings are mellow. Arrow Pk NE Face: Bone dry. No snow whatsoever. Vestal Pk Wham Ridge Direct start: Mostly dry. There is some snow to contend with higher up on the face, mostly on ledges above the crux. Careful placement of feet makes it very manageable. The direct start is not 5.3, as reported by Roach. It's easy slab walking for the most part if you have good grip on your shoes. I put on my rock shoes at the Ledge at start of the standard Wham Ridge route, but I could have waited a bit longer. There are a couple places off on climbers' right of the ridge crest that you can step off and relax. Vestal Pk S Face: Bone dry. No snow whatsoever. "West Trinity" W Ridge: Bone dry. No snow whatsoever. Trinity Pk W Ridge: Bone dry. No snow whatsoever. Trinity Pk E Ridge Gully: Bone dry. No snow whatsoever. "East Trinity" W Gully: Some snow. Avoidable for the most, especially if you're like me and hate dry, loose gullies so you stick to the rocks just to the left of the gully. Crossing over the gully to the ridge, there is some snow that I had to make a very committed move to avoid. Sketchiest move of the day, Wham Ridge included. "East Trinity" E Ridge: May or may not have spent a full 2 hours trying to find the line down "East Trinity" in the dark. I don't actually know which descent line is the route. It was dark and I was figuring things out on the fly on the descent. The N Face of "East Trinity" is holding snow, and the broad gully directly below the elbow of the N Ridge to Peak 3 looked like a no-go. First I turned east towards Storm King Pk on accident, then had to navigate the steep slopes down the N Ridge of "East Trinity". None of the lines west off the "East Trinity" - Peak 3 notches looked promising. Seriously considered re-summiting, descending the S Gully between "East Trinity" and Trinity Pk and curling back around to the Arrow-Vestal saddle to avoid putting myself in a dangerous position on that loose shale. I hate shale. Finally collected myself, and butt-slid down a bunch of loose scree that I think was the line. Splits: Molas Lake TH 3:47 AM Animas River bridge 5:19 AM Vestal Creek Trail 6:30 AM Vestal Basin and turn-off for Arrow Pk 8:21 AM Stashing pack in talus below Arrow Pk 8:49 AM Arrow Pk summit 10:31 AM Retrieve pack 11:45 AM Wham Direct start 12:31 PM Vestal Pk summit 2:34 PM "West Trinity" summit 5:33 PM Trinity Pk summit 6:35 PM "East Trinity" summit: 7:55 PM (2 hours of being super sketched out figuring out how to get off "East Trinity") Re-join Vestal Creek Trail at turn-off towards Arrow Pk 2:34 AM Elk Creek Trail 3:35 AM Animas River bridge 4:19 AM Molas Lake TH 6:38 AM Roach says it's 23.4 mi, 10.4k vert Strava said 29.4 mi, 17k vert Another app says 32.9 mi, 13.1k vert Take your pick, it was a big day. |
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10/2/2020 Route: Molas Pass Posted On: 10/2/2020, By: Jon Frohlich Info: Durango Herald reports 2 of the avalanche paths have been cleared. https://durangoherald.com/articles/344840 |
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8/30/2020 Route: Standard Posted On: 8/30/2020, By: dwoodward13 Info: Generally well marked route. Lost the climbers trail a bit in the middle of the rock glacier but everything else is easy. Although listed as Class 2/2+, bring a helmet for this one. Tons of debris ready to go flying by parties ascending/descending the gully. |
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8/15/2020 Route: South Face Posted On: 8/18/2020, By: supranihilest Info: Trail from Molas Pass to the D&SNGRR tracks and then to Elk Creek Trailhead is in great shape. Once heading up Elk Creek there are three avalanche debris piles, each one getting larger as you go upstream. There are plastic flags to follow through the debris. Past that there's plenty of deadfall all the way up to Vestal Basin. To reach Vestal's south face go up the Vestal/Arrow saddle, which is steep and loose. Then contour around under Vestal until you're below a massive gully farther to the southeast side. Climb up this gully on either side, not directly in the gully itself. There's tons of loose rock on this route and it's nowhere near as nice as other routes on the Vestal Basin peaks, but it is the easiest route up Vestal. To return either go back down the Vestal/Arrow saddle or to east and down the ridge between Vestal and "West Trinity". Doing the latter allows you to tag unranked 13er "The Kurzhorn" if desired. |
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7/6/2020 Route: Wham Posted On: 7/7/2020, By: jahselassie Info: Summer conditions. Hiked in from Molas TH. Second photo is Arrow from Wham. |
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6/28/2020 Route: Wham! Posted On: 7/1/2020, By: letsgocu Info: Conditions from Peak Three |
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9/27/2019 Route: From Molas Posted On: 9/27/2019, By: WildWanderer Info: The avalanche area was more robust than I'd anticipated, but there is marking tape you can follow. Be careful though: the ice underneath still hasn't melted completely and it's causing hollow caverns under the debris. Light dusting of snow this morning that melted by this afternoon and was replaced later this afternoon. Snow in gully is avoidable. Bring microspikes for scree. |
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9/9/2019 Route: Center Shift Posted On: 9/10/2019, By: angry Info: Center shift on Wham; Roach rates it 5.6-5.7. Was mostly 5.5/5.6 but did find a little 5.7 on the second to last pitch, pro placement was bomber. |
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8/10/2019 Route: Standard Posted On: 8/12/2019, By: zdero1 Info: There are 4 avy paths you must traverse. They are close together, starting roughly 1mi from the Elk Park train stop. Orange flags guide the way over them. Logs are slick when wet. The choss slope from 12,300-13000 isn't too bad. Screeing involved. I'd say leave the snow gear at home. You don't have to cross any snowfields except for about 10'....and it's not steep. Make sure you bring an upper and lower shell. We were saturated by wet willows and pines. Wham Ridge is snow free. |
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9/10/2018 Route: Wham Ridge Posted On: 9/11/2018, By: thurs Info: All good. No snow or moisture on the Grenadiers. The creeks are still flowing though. Fall colors are here. |
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6/10/2018 Route: Wham ridge Posted On: 6/11/2018, By: cottonmountaineering Info: Wham ridge and the descent are snow free, make sure on your descent to keep going past the first gully to the easier class 2+ gully. There is avoidable snow from the arrow-vestal saddle as listed in the previous TR. 416 fire may cause closures/haze. |
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6/6/2018 Route: South Gully Posted On: 6/7/2018, By: brerrabbit Info: Did Vestal and Arrow from Molas Pass. A few downed trees on the route but not as bad as expected from TRs. No snow crossing is required, my partner did use her axe for a glissade down the Vestal-Arrow saddle but I took some scree and it was manageable. Ice axe and microspikes are not required as I never used mine. There is snow in both the couloirs for the upper Arrow route but the rib goes nicely. |
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9/5/2017 Route: Wham Ridge Posted On: 9/6/2017, By: tmud Info: There are 32 (+/- 2) switchbacks on the ascent of the CT between the Animas and Molas. And once you get into the lower meadow of Vestal Basin, take the talus to the left rather than following the trail, it gets really muddy. Pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/92276249@N07/albums |
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9/9/2016 Route: South Face Posted On: 9/10/2016, By: TravelingMatt Info: From the Elk Creek Trail, the Vestal Creek Trail skirts the far (east) end of the big beaver pond. If you pass a large boulder field you have gone too far up the Elk Creek Trail. Vestal Creek Trail is nasty with many blowdowns, but on the way down I never took my pack off, managing to either crawl under or go over every blowdown. The beginning (west end) of the 11,400' meadow has a very nasty marshy stretch, but I stayed dry by skirting 20-30 feet to the left (north) partly on large boulders. The climber's trail for both Arrow and Vestal starts opposite a small stand of trees towards the far (east) end of the meadow; see pic. The final ascent of the south face begins at a location where the cairned route ends near a narrow gully. The route generally follows along the climber's left (west) side of the gully. There are occasional cairns but any route up works; the object is to get to the gap in the summit's east ridge. Once on the east ridge, a few cairns mark a route but on the last ~50' you're on your own and many options are possible. If descending this gully after doing Wham, stay along the gully just to the right of it, then look for a small cairn some 3-400' below the upper ridge on the far right (west) side of the gully. From this cairn a climber's path should be visible. |
