| Being so satisfied with my climb of Mt. Democrat on the 30th of April, I thought
the Mosquito Range would be a good place to start on the high thirteeners of Colorado. In addition, Leah
wanted to start off her climbing season with an easier one. The weather forecast looked immaculate,
so we set out early Sunday morning for a leisurely Cinco de Mayo climb. Arriving
at the Beaver Creek Trailhead around 8:30 a.m., we were set to bag this peak in a flash. I had
developed some pretty good blisters on Democrat and Leah had been nursing a cold during the last week, so
this seemed like a more reasonable endeavor. The trail slowly winded through the trees
and we reached the first left hand turn in a series to navigate the old road system leading
up the basin. The "crux" of the hike is actually within the first mile- a dirt
section of trail at about 20 degrees incline. (On the right is a photo of
Silverheels peeking out just near treeline. |  |
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This hike really reminded me of a trip we made up Mt. Taylor (11,303') in May 2000
when we lived in New Mexico (believe it or not, Taylor has a large portion above treeline). The look of the road was very familiar, the valley views
towards Fairplay, the remoteness, and the level of wind. In any event, from reading the description
of the route, the direction to take is over point 12,282 and then to descend and follow
up to a ridge. We summited point 12,282 and found a nice wind shelter built there. A
good view of Silverheels is available from here (photo on left), but it doesn't look
like it is the correct place to be to hike this mountain (no trails are visible going to the north)
. So we descended down off to the east and followed the road again. It didn't seem too
unreasonable in comparison, and we stolled along past a small saddle that turns north
behind the ridge. The road was flat for a good 1 mile stretch before we turned and
just climbed up the grass slopes. |
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The pitch of the slopes up to 13,200' was no more than 10 degrees the entire
way up. It became evident that we had gone off-route a little earlier, but it
was a pleasant day, and we were up for exploring a bit. Up to this point we had not
encountered snow to speak of, and it was clear that we wouldn't be. Upon reaching
a small saddle at 13,200' we stopped for a break and Leah wasn't feeling too well. I decided
to leave my pack and trudge up to the summit. I was able to run a good part of the
remaining route without the weight of my pack and it felt really good to ascend the
final 600' in 15 minutes. There was a faint trail near the top of the summit, but it didn't
really matter. There were a few talus areas that were easy to negotiate.
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Upon reaching the summit, the whole Mosquito range came into view.
It was quite a panorama. The summit wind-cairn was full of snow, just like
Mt. Bross was some weeks earlier. While Silverheels is likely one of the more
popular 13ers,
the experience was refreshing in that it really
felt remote in comparison to other Colorado hikes I have been on. With no one else
around all day and very little foot travel in the area over the years, it felt like
rediscovering the enjoyment of hiking (and a start on a new list of peaks to bag).
While Leah wasn't feeling too good, it was an enjoyable hike for us both.
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