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After a good night's rest, I arose at 5:30 to begin the ascent back up to Rock of Ages saddle. I was quite familiar with the correct route by this point, and had little incident reaching the snowfields. I chose not to crampon up this time (actually I left them at camp), and started the scree battle. Once up to the higher portion of the trail, I crossed a few snowfields, which were rock-hard. My ice axe was very important this part of the day. I met Dave Alex while en route to the saddle, who was good company along the way. At 7:30, we reached the saddle (photo on right) and took a short breather while I pointed out the route up Mount Wilson to Dave, who was intending to try it after Wilson Peak.
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The next objective was the Wilson Peak/Gladstone saddle. The trail was in very good shape and ascended gently to the saddle. Upon reaching the saddle, I noticed that the lower scree route was still covered by snowfields. At this point, it didn't make a difference, as I'd rather traverse class 3 rock than deal with hiking on loose rock debris. On the left is a photo of the remaining route up Wilson Peak. After negotiating the broken cliffs to the trail again, I thought the difficulty never exceeded class 2+. The trail section didn't take long, and the false summit was quickly overcome with some 2+ scrambling. At this point, Dave and I dropped our ice axes and studied the crux.
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The 50' downclimb gave us a better view of the route ahead. After a short traverse, I arrived at the base of the route (photo on right). The climbing was fairly easy, and reminded me a lot of Wetterhorn Peak - climbing rock stairs. The climb seemed a lot shorter than 150' and went by quickly. The top of the climb led to an easy class 2 walk to the summit. It was 9:00 a.m. and it was already uncomfortably warm. For some reason, the register was empty and smashed (Mount Wilson didn't have one). I didn't spend a lot of time on the summit, as I was eager to get started on the drive home. |  |
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The downclimb was easy and stress-free. I arrived back at the Rock of Ages saddle for my fourth visit there and glissaded the first snowfield from the trail a short distance thereafter. I was correct in assuming that these snowfields are not the safest things to be glissading on, as I had to self-arrest once. Back at camp, I packed up and headed out at noon for the long drive back to Arvada.
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