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Base Camp
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- Statistics:
- Date Hiked: August 13, 2005
- Miles Hiked: 7.8
- Elevation Gain: 4,220'
- Hiking Partner(s): Dan Robbins
- Description:
- After setting up our final camp and eating more mashed potatoes, we
visited for a while before going to bed. The skies were clear all
night and we woke promptly at 5:15 am. The drive to the upper
trailhead went quickly and we were surprised to see 2WD cars within 0.6
miles of the 4WD parking lot. After almost ending up on the
Matterhorn Creek trail, we traversed up the slopes to the correct route
and took a break in the basin below Matterhorn and Wetterhorn. As
the
sun was rising on the peaks, we noticed a large party of hikers
crossing the saddle en route to Uncompaghre.
- As we crossed the basin, we noticed the bazillion sheep grazing on the
slopes of Matterhorn. I had never seen anything like it
before. We worked our way through the boulders below Wetterhorn
and gained the saddle around 13,100' for our second break of the
day. We cached some water and our trekking poles before starting
the final ascent.
- From the saddle to the summit was very fun climbing. We stayed
on the climbers trail until it started to traverse too far to the west of
the ridge crest. At this point, we went up a moderately steep
gully to gain the ridge with a couple of interesting class 3+ moves near
the top. We stayed on the ridge all the way to the ships
prow. The climbing might have been a bit more difficult, but it
was a lot of fun and we never felt like we were off route. Below
the ships prow, we crossed over through the notch to the
"stairway" to the summit. Although some exposure was
present, the rock was solid and we had no problems with the route's
crux. I failed to see that the route circled to the climber's left
about 20' below the summit and simply took the direct route. I was
slightly steeper than the rest of the final pitch, but not
significantly.
- We stayed long enough for summit photos before dropping back down to
the ramp at the base of the climb. I quickly scampered up the
ships prow to get a photo of others descending the steeper section of
the route. We quickly returned to our cache and started down the
trail to the boulder field. When the cairned trail turns south, we
began to traverse northwest towards Matterhorn. Our lowest point
was 12,650' near the base of a grassy finger on Matterhorn's southwest
slopes. We hiked up the grass, traversed across more boulders, and
finally made it to the standard south slopes route. The final
scramble to the summit was short but fun.
- After 20 minutes on top, we dropped back down to Matterhorn Creek and
the trailhead. We packed up camp and bid farewell. I was
going home, and Dan was going to hike Mount Nebo in Utah on his way back
to Boise. Although we had some uncooperative weather, the week was
definitely a success and we finished on a couple of great peaks. Our bodies held up and many summits were
attained. The main thing that surprised me was the lack leisure
time we had. For some reason, I was expecting long hours in the
afternoon and evening of boredom and restlessness. In all reality,
by the time we ate, did camp chores, and prepared for the next
morning, there was little time for socializing or simply hanging
out. We always seemed busy.
- Maps:
- Click
here to view a 2D
map of the area where this hike is located.
- Photographs:
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