After completing my climb of Mount of the Holy Cross last fall, I noted that I’d climbed all 15 of the Sawatch 14ers, putting my total number of 14ers climbed at 26. A milestone, of sorts.
The thing about milestones though, is once you reach one you start looking for another. In terms of my 14er climbing what that means is I’d knocked out all the nearby and/or relatively easy ones and all the remaining ones are going to be more involved because they are either…
- far away, involving an overnight stay in a hotel or a tent, or
- more physically or technically demanding, requiring some actual climbing skills.
It had been a while since I climbed over 14,000 feet and was looking to get back out there so as my next objective I chose a mountain – actually a pair of mountains – in the second category, Kit Carson Peak and Challenger Point. Both these mountains reside in the Sangre de Cristo range, an easy hour drive south of Salida.
The reason for two mountains instead of just one is that on this climb Kit Carson is really the objective, but the easiest route to climb Kit Carson is up and over Challenger. Challenger is over 14,000 feet high but due to the rules that make a 14er a 14er, Challenger is only considered a sub-peak of Kit Carson. A named but unranked 14er.
There are two things that make this hike difficult. It’s physically demanding due to a long approach that makes the total round trip 15 miles with 6,250 feet of vertical. It’s a climb that many people chose to tackle by hiking in on day one, camping overnight near Willow Lake, and saving the actual climb for the second day. But that distance and vertical is within the range of other hikes I’ve done, so in keeping with my aversion to camping, I planned for an early start to knock it out in one day.
Technically, it’s not the most difficult climb, but these mountains are definitely not class 1 walk ups. Challenger is rated “difficult class 2”, well within my skill level. Kit Carson goes to “easy class 3”, more of a stretch for me but also something that I’ve done before.
What I didn’t account for though, is that there are other factors besides the difficulty to consider. Things that hadn’t come into play on previous climbs. There are long stretches of off-trail scrambling, there is some exposure and most relevant, the rockfall potential on these mountains is classified as “considerable”. And there’s the rub.
I saw “considerable” and thought, oh ok, someone might knock rocks down on me, better wear a climbing helmet. What didn’t register in my admittedly broken-down brain was, there are a bunch of loose rocks that are going to make hand and footholds problematic, climbing slow and tedious and solo downclimbing borderline dangerous. Duh.
Starting off early on a Monday morning, there were only three cars and one group camping at the Willow Lake trailhead.
Over the creek and into the woods.
Challenger Point in the pre-dawn light.
Breaking into the morning sun.
I met a local out for a breakfast run/hop.
There were multiple creek crossings and waterfalls of all sizes along the trail.
The dramatic Challenger headwall towers over the upper part of the trail.
Last obstacle before Willow Lake.
The beautiful Willow Lake with its hundred-foot cliff and waterfall on the east end.
Kit Carson (left) and Challenger (right) towering over Willow Lake.
View of Willow Lake from above the waterfall with the San Luis valley in the distance.
Crossing the creek above the falls.
A closer look at the oddly-shaped Kit Carson summit block.
Heading up the rocky north face of Challenger.
Looking back on the last segment of defined trail before things started getting steeper and rockier.
Upper Willow Lake from Challenger’s north face.
Heading onto more serious terrain. Challenger’s summit ridge is accessed via the notch to the right of the snow-filled crevasse in the center.
Facing this section at 13,800 feet, I pulled the plug. At this point I had been climbing hand-over-foot for close to a quarter mile. I was over five hours into the hike and at the speed I was moving I would be looking at a minimum 12-hour day to summit both peaks. Standing on an unstable 35-40 degree slope, rocks shifting under my feet, I realized I just wasn’t having fun anymore. Efforts thwarted, I turned around and headed back down.
Back down at the lake I stopped for lunch to commiserate with this guy. He was a quiet but not terribly attentive listener.
And dared to hold my phone out over the cliff edge to get this shot of the falls.
I just couldn’t get enough of the tranquil beauty of Willow Lake.
Free geology mini-lesson! A photo of the unusual Sangre de Cristo conglomerate rock that is prevalent in the area. Rocks stuck in rock.
Back down at the campground I interrupted this bunch of locals having their lunch. Something told me they could sense my failure on Challenger. Difficult class 2? My one-year-old lamb climbs that every day. Loser!
Judgmental beasts, all of them.
One last look at the San Luis valley on my way back down.
While it’s hard to admit defeat on this here public forum, I still wanted to share in case anyone else is thinking of climbing these mountains. And because honestly, any day spent in the mountains is a good one, especially when you spend it in a place as dramatically beautiful as Willow Lake Basin.