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| Weston and Ptarmigan peaks from Weston Pass |
Start Time: 10:30 am
End Time: 1:50pm
Mileage: 5-6 miles
Total Elevation Gain: ~2000 ft
It is good to be back in Colorado and to be climbing some high peaks again! Myself, Kendal, and Jeremy decided to climb two relatively easy 13ers because we would have to start late (10:30am) and be back at Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp where we work by 5pm. The road up to Weston Pass, CR 22, is an excellent dirt road for about 8 miles, then it gets much rougher. We made it up to the pass in a Jetta, but we had to crawl at times.
Once at the pass, we climbed up a steep ridge to the connecting saddle between Weston and Ptarmigan. The views going up this ridge of the Sawatch and Buffalo Peaks are incredible. On this particular day, minor snow showers and hail storms were all around us, which made for some pretty spectacular views. We made it up to the saddle (13,300') and then proceeded to walk the ridge over to Weston. There is still some snow on the ridge, but it is pretty solid and can easily be walked on top off. We made it to the top of Weston and back to the saddle in about ~50 minutes, then it was on to Ptarmigan.
Ptarmigan is a much more distinctive peak and rises higher than Weston. Near the top, we encountered a fair amount of snow and the top was completely covered in snow. Despite the wind picking up, this was our favorite peak since it afforded fantastic views of Mount Massive, the Twin Lakes, and Leadville. We quickly took some photos then headed down. On the way down we decided to try glissading to speed up our descent, and boy was this a fantastic decision! We estimated that we were able to glissade about 1000 ft, and only had to get up twice in order to avoid rocks. We arrived back at the car at 1:50pm.
A side note...check out the extensive beaver dams on the creek beside the road on the way up, they are very impressive.
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