A dog Walk to Igloo Peak

This was a fun climb on a relatively easy peak and we lucked out with perfect weather on this last summer weekend of 2023. Sonia and I had camped the night before at Twin Lakes Campground off hwy 82 near Twin Lakes Reservoir. Despite a late afternoon arrival we were still able to snag a wonderful spot with ample room, privacy and a fabulous view of Twin Peaks.

On a side note, we hit the Melanzana store while driving through Leadville looking maybe to grab a last minute appointment. We have one for the end of December but were hoping to get in sooner for a Melly. No luck though and no available appointments now until July. What a crazy successful business!

Day of Climb - Sunday September 17, 2023

Peak - "Igloo Peak"

Trailhead - Independence Pass

Mileage and Gain - Approximately 5.12 miles and 1052 feet of gain

We got a good night's sleep at the campground and packed up our stuff at a leisurely pace in the morning. We weren't concerned with an alpine start with a perfect forecast awaiting us. After a short drive to the summit of Independence Pass we parked right at the trailhead and our whole route for the climb could be seen right through the windshield. We geared up quickly and were on our way just after 9 am.

The route starts off on a tourist concrete overlook path which was very popular this morning. We quickly spotted the summit trail and veered off to the right leaving most of the busy activity behind. It was a well worn path from the start that sees plenty of climbers. Luckily, most of the tourist were continuing straight towards the overlook.

Not much to say here initially. We started out on a nice wide trail with fabulous 360 degree views and as predicted the weather was beautiful. We passed a few other groups here and there. It was not crowded by any means but definitely more popular than most 13ers I've climbed.

As we approached Point 12812 the trail starts getting steep for the first time. Nothing crazy though and we quickly reach it's cairned summit. When researching for this climb I watched a YouTube video claiming this as the Mountain Boy summit. They were way off. Numerous other videos showed Igloo Peak as the Mountain Boy summit. Apparently, YouTube is not a good resource for researching climbs. It's probably best to stick to 14ers.com.

We took a snack break and then continued towards Igloo Peak. There was a short descent off Pt. 12812 to the saddle with Igloo followed by a narrowish ridge climb. The "high" 13er Grizzly Peak A would dominate our views the rest of the way. The nice single track went on for a bit along the ridge and then abruptly ended at a nice rock formation not far from Igloos summit.

The rocky area was basically just a large pile of boulders with a quick little scramble to get through. Leo led the way and tackled the class 2 terrain with ease. A couple short talus slopes followed and then we were on the summit of Igloo Peak. The views all around were magnificent! There was only a light breeze and the weather was warm so we enjoyed the summit for quite awhile before descending.

We briefly contemplated traversing over to Mountain Boy, but decided against it and headed down. The descent went quickly retracing our steps and we were back at the car in no time. We were hungry and headed straight to High Mountain Pies in Leadville. This had been an enjoyable dog friendly climb that I would highly recommend.