Tom Grundy's Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre Mountains Page

Sam and Raquel were to join Nalumon and me at the 2wd trailhead to the Wetterhorn (the sign heading up the road we took said 4wd only - but it was passable even by the PLC). We got there around midnight in the rain and promptly went to bed. Every time a vehicle came up the road I would lift my head up to see if it was them. Sadly they still hadn't shown up at 6 am when I wanted to start up the trail so I hiked up to the upper trailhead in case they had rallied there... Nope. At 8 I decided I needed to head up at least one peak so I went up towards Wetterhorn traveling light (I didn't even take my Pentax dslr - and the picture quality shows it).

The upper part of the Wetterhorn - the blue skies were a pleasant anomaly this day

This is the first peak I felt reasonably strong on. I powered up past the 4wd trailhead and to the turnoff to Wetterhorn and continued on across the tundra and up slope again. There were a lot of nice wildflowers. With the relatively late start and hiking fast I passed a lot of people. This was especially true near the top where things got steep - like a cross between a ladder and a staircase - the scrambling was easy, but quite steep with a lot of exposure. The top had a little flat meadow. Then I headed back down right before the crowds made it.

flowers in the meadow and Uncompahgre Peak on the descent

Just before I got back to the vehicles I met Sam and Raquel heading up. We went back so I could eat a bit and repack my gear. It turns out they had gotten to the start of the worse road late the previous night in the rain and decided to stop there and head up in the morning - well after I had headed up Wetterhorn. Then it was back up the trail again to head to Uncompahgre. This was too late to start, but we headed up anyway. Raquel set a mean pace and I was no longer fresh. I managed to keep up past the turnoff to the Wetterhorn but was definitely flagging and when we were heading up the steep slopes on Uncompahgre I was moving slowly. This was sad as the weather was also moving in. Sam and Raquel waited for me at a saddle and there we put on raingear as it was starting to drizzle.

I couldn't keep up with Sam and Raquel

The upper part of the mountain is a bit like a tilted layer cake. We had just climbed up onto the tier below the top when the weather got decidedly worse. We sought shelter under a slight overhang along the cliff to the upper tier (not the best place as far as lightning goes, but the best for avoiding the sleety hail and wind) and lightning struck about 150 feet away and below us. YIKES. Fortunately that was the closest strike and the worst of the storm continued on to the east. We left our packs there and made a "run" for the summit - as best as tired people can run at 14,000 ft. We got to the top, took a few pics, and then skedaddled. We dropped off down a steep slope to avoid coming down on the wrong side of the peak and then hiking around. I was regaining a tiny bit of energy but Sam was really hurting from the altitude - or lack of salty greasy potatoes or something.

taking shelter from the storm

Raquel glad to be on the summit and not hit by lightning

Sam and Raquel hiking back with Uncompahgre behind them

a rather tired and altitudinally challenged Sam on the descent

The view west from the summit of the Wetterhorn

Summary of July 20th, two 14ers, about 21 miles, 8,700 + feet of elevation gain, one near lightning strike, rain and hail, altitude headaches, and exhaustion - It was Raquels favorite 14er.

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