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With a three-day weekend, it seemed like a good idea to head out to the Wilson group. As an experiment, I thought I'd try what a lot of people have recommended - the drive to Grand Junction and then South on 550. This took 7.5 hours to the Silver Pick Trailhead, which I arrived at around 1:00 a.m. Thursday night. As an aside, taking Highway 285 on the way back instead took 6.25 hours. The mosquitoes were not active while I set up camp, but were quite ferocious the next morning when I woke up at 6:30. The hike up the road went by quickly, and soon the switchbacking began. It is a mistake to take the righthand branch of the road, as I soon found out. There is a cairned route that ascends a moraine to the road heading Southeast that I found on my return. After crossing the talus field haeding East, I got back on the road and stopped for a short break before the snowfields below Rock of Ages Saddle (photo on right).
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I crossed the easy snowfields up to the base of the ascent to the saddle. Rather than pick my way up the loose scree, I put the crampons on and ascended a snowfield below the saddle. I picked up the trail about 100' West of the saddle. The views of Mount Wilson and El Diente were incredible. On the left is a picture of the route to Mount Wilson's Northeast ridge. The slope to the right of Navajo Glacier (on the left) is the 2+ route to the ridge. I took a moment to study the route and descended 700' down to Navajo Basin. The route up the slope was easier than I expected, and ascended grassy terrain until about halfway up, when the talus hopping began. Slowy, the ridge was appearing within my grasp. At 11:00 a.m., I finally crested the ridge.
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The remainder of the route was short, but would no doubt be time-consuming. The ridge began easily, and soon became more difficult. A few sections crossed the top of small couloirs, which had hard snow. I had left my crampons and ice axe at the base of the slope, so using handholds at the top of the couloirs was my only reasonable choice. I could have had an easier time traversing below the ridge crest, but followed the top for most of the route. After ascending the second large bump in the ridge, the true summit came into view (photo on right). There were a few other climbers on the summit at this point. A careful descent to a notch below the final 50', and I was ready to begin the final push.
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The group ahead of me was descending the 4th class rock Southeast of the summit. I paused and looked at the crux (photo on right) and thought I'd try to ascend the other route. This involved a 30' descending traverse and climbing similar to 4th class pitches in the Elk Range. The exact point to acquire the summit ridge wasn't very clear at first, but there were only two options. I chose to ascend the left chimney-like option, which was 10' South of the easier gully-like option. The summit was quite warm at noon, and this was the perfect weather day for those opting to traverse El Diente. I saw Doug Hamilton on the crux shortly thereafter (whom I had met previously on Crestone Peak two weeks earlier with Dwight Sunwall). He went on to El Diente as I descended.
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The descent was long and hot. I had just about run out of water by the time I reached the low point in Navajo Basin. The Rock of Ages saddle was not a pleasure to obtain again, and I was looking forward to relaxing at the Silver Pick campsite. The red rock of Wilson Peak's West Slopes was sizzling, and I have not been this hot climbing above 11,000' before. Arriving at camp, I made quick moves to avoid mosquitoes and headed into Telluride for some Mexican food and beer to put in my ice chest.
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