Route Climbed: Matterhorn Date Climbed: October 2003
I summited Wetterhorn the day before Uncompaghre.
Again, I had the entire mountain to myself. The snow was fairly minimal with some decent snowfields in the upper basin but the wind was absolutely terrible! Some of the fiercest wind I've experienced. It made the final pitch pretty sketchy.
I got down, and went & had an awesome dinner back in Lake City at this Italian restaurant then drove back up and camped for uncompaghre the following day.
Route Climbed: South East Ridge Date Climbed: July 21, 1975
A hike you don’t forget: 30+ years ago we spent a glorious morning hiking the meadows and ascending the “staircase.” The challenge was to focus on the rock while trying to ignore the breathtaking view. With friends Hank Hassell and Helen Carney one fine day!
Route Climbed: complete East Ridge from Matterhorn Date Climbed: 9/18/05
Pretty cool, I'd seen it earlier, and had to do it. About half 4th class with many low 5th sections if staying on the ridge and summitting all towers. Very loose, especially the 1/3 closest to Matterhorn. approx 5:40 car to car.
Route Climbed: standard Date Climbed: July 9, 2004
I started about an hour before dawn, and the reward was having the summit to myself until I was ready to go. It is a great spot. The summit pitch, contrary to the frightening descriptions that often accompany it, is easy. It is fun and fast, and I can't imagine why people would rope up there in dry weather.
Route Climbed: matterhorn Creek Standard Date Climbed: 27 August 2005
3:00 up. We wandered onto the east side of the ridge on the ascent which added a little extra spice to the climb as we found the east side to be much looser than the top of the ridge. My two cents of advice: once you ascend to the ridge, stay close to the ridge on the west side. The initial view of peeking through the keyhole gave me a little pause; all I could see was the ramp and distant green fields. We'd gotten almost a quarter inch of snow at the trailhead during the night, so we carried our axes. Oddly enough, there was no evidence any new snow on the peak.
Route Climbed: Southeast Ridge Date Climbed: July 8, 2005
7/8/05- nice valley hike led us to the ridge. route finding up to the summit block was fun; i kept showing my partners the correct route then went searching for some challenging ways to climb up. summit block was solid and easy. nice views up top. climb this mountain!
6/3/07- climbed the east face w/nellis while jen and scott climbed the snow covered southeast ridge. got a great glissade off the lower ridge on the descent!
5/15/10- returned to the climb the east face w/steve. snow quality was much better this time around. our beautiful, bluebird day disappeared right below the summit block leaving us in a whiteout to finish things off. always a great adventure!
Route Climbed: from Uncompahgre Date Climbed: 07/16/05
Wetterhorn is a special peak indeed. I did it after Uncompahgre as the weather held long enough to be on top at 1pm. Started at 11K below Nellie Creek 4wd trailhead and had my friend Pat pick me up below the Matterhorn 2wd trailhead. Incredible loop hike as long as the weather holds. Fun scrambling on the top and the exposure is well protected with solid holds.
Route Climbed: SE ridge Date Climbed: July 10, 2005
FUN! This mountain is great, seemed like I made it to the top in no time at all from the matterhorn TH. No problems at all, didn't even see anyone till we were coming down and heading over to uncompahgre. Beautiful weather and beautiful views. I think I would like to do wetterhorn, matterhorn and uncompahgre all in one day sometime soon!
Route Climbed: Matterhorn Creek Trail - Southeast Ridge Date Climbed: August 2004
This has been my favorite 14er yet! I left the trailhead at 4am and my headlamp spied the eyes of several animals off the trail. Freaky, but they kept my pace brisk. The hike was an awesome mix of trail, boulderhopping, ridge scrambling, and an easy climb to the summit. I enjoyed sunrise all by myself on the summit at 7:30am. After leaving the summit, I continued on and summited Uncompahgre later that day. I was spent, but the 17.5 miles in one day was well worth it.
Route Climbed: Southeast Ridge Date Climbed: August 23, 2003
After setting up camp about a mile west of the Matterhorn Creek Road and TH on Aug. 21st, I had hoped to climb this the on the 22nd. When I woke at 6:00 a.m. the monsoon clouds had me roll over in my sleeping bag and I decided to take it easy and drive over Engineer Pass into Ouray for lunch instead. I returned over Cinnamon Pass and back through Lake City during the storm. The rain and lightning finally ended and broke up before sundown.
The next morning, I woke and hit the trailhead by 7:00 a.m. and quickly proceeded up the trail. Being a Saturday, I expected more climbers, but only saw five others on Wetterhorn that day. The climber's trail that crosses the creek above timberline and heads west along the left side of the basin was marked with a cairn and the junction seemed logical to me, although I think many people stay on the main trail much higher before turning toward Wetterhorn. Although this trail does fade into a number of scree slopes and gullies below the SE ridge, it is helpful to climb on it if you can locate it.
It grew chilly on the ridge, so I added a layer on top, but was still in shorts on the legs. The route climbs up a semi-loose slope of brightly colored rock and the gets into the better defined ridge above. The route was more apparent than I thought it would be and finding the small keyhole above the Shark's Fin was marked with a cairn. The steep scramble on solid ledges above to the summit is a spectacular finish on a great mountain. Just be careful of sending rock missles onto anyone below. I topped out at 10:30 and fortunately had the summit to myself for twenty minutes when another climber, from Boulder, arrived. I spent 45 minutes on top and the two of us descended together, making excellent time and back to the TH by 1:15 p.m. The storm clouds let loose a half hour later. The cold beer in the cooler was a nice finish.
Route Climbed: Matterhorn Creek Date Climbed: September 9, 2004
Double bagging of Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre. #24 and #25. Gorgeous day, no problems with the climb except there was no one else on top to take a picture of me.
Kiefer - Jan 26, 2006 12:39 pm
Route Climbed: Matterhorn Date Climbed: October 2003I summited Wetterhorn the day before Uncompaghre.
Again, I had the entire mountain to myself. The snow was fairly minimal with some decent snowfields in the upper basin but the wind was absolutely terrible! Some of the fiercest wind I've experienced. It made the final pitch pretty sketchy.
I got down, and went & had an awesome dinner back in Lake City at this Italian restaurant then drove back up and camped for uncompaghre the following day.
LS - Dec 26, 2005 5:00 pm
Route Climbed: Matterhorn Creek Trailhead Date Climbed: 11-sep-2005See the trip-report here: http://distantpeak.com/web/mountains/n-america/uncompahgre_peak
Rob Thompson - Nov 1, 2005 12:32 am
Route Climbed: South East Ridge Date Climbed: July 21, 1975A hike you don’t forget: 30+ years ago we spent a glorious morning hiking the meadows and ascending the “staircase.” The challenge was to focus on the rock while trying to ignore the breathtaking view. With friends Hank Hassell and Helen Carney one fine day!
climbhighnow - Oct 28, 2005 12:34 am
Route Climbed: normal route Date Climbed: aug. 19 2005this was my first summit of a fourteener. i loved the climb, especially the last summit push.
Hobbesgirl - Oct 21, 2005 1:42 pm
Route Climbed: Southeast Ridge Date Climbed: August 1, 2005Great climb up to the summit! The exposure isn't nearly as bad as some would lead you to believe.
brandon - Oct 1, 2005 2:18 pm
Route Climbed: complete East Ridge from Matterhorn Date Climbed: 9/18/05Pretty cool, I'd seen it earlier, and had to do it. About half 4th class with many low 5th sections if staying on the ridge and summitting all towers. Very loose, especially the 1/3 closest to Matterhorn. approx 5:40 car to car.
Bob Sihler - Sep 30, 2005 9:37 pm
Route Climbed: standard Date Climbed: July 9, 2004I started about an hour before dawn, and the reward was having the summit to myself until I was ready to go. It is a great spot. The summit pitch, contrary to the frightening descriptions that often accompany it, is easy. It is fun and fast, and I can't imagine why people would rope up there in dry weather.
Tim Jones - Sep 20, 2005 8:02 am
Route Climbed: Standard Route Date Climbed: September 12 2005With Jim Randa (from Boulder). Somewhat windy but
otherwise a beautiful day. The summit pitch was much
easier than I expected. By far the most interesting 14er I've done.
Michael Crofford - Sep 13, 2005 12:48 pm
Route Climbed: Matterhorn Creek Date Climbed: September 8, 20057th 14er. As everyone else says stay as close to the ridgeline as possible. The scattered rock cairns were not much help.
alpspitze - Aug 31, 2005 1:20 pm
Route Climbed: Standard Route from Matterhorn Creek Date Climbed: August 20, 2005When you are from New England, these mountains are a treat!
5 hrs round trip including Matterhorn Peak.
IdahoSummits - Aug 31, 2005 10:13 am
Route Climbed: Matterhorn Creek Date Climbed: August 13, 2005Wow! One of the coolest mountains I have been on. Great weather allowed us to head over and touch the top of Matterhorn Peak while in the area.
mntnplay - Aug 29, 2005 2:00 am
Route Climbed: matterhorn Creek Standard Date Climbed: 27 August 20053:00 up. We wandered onto the east side of the ridge on the ascent which added a little extra spice to the climb as we found the east side to be much looser than the top of the ridge. My two cents of advice: once you ascend to the ridge, stay close to the ridge on the west side. The initial view of peeking through the keyhole gave me a little pause; all I could see was the ramp and distant green fields. We'd gotten almost a quarter inch of snow at the trailhead during the night, so we carried our axes. Oddly enough, there was no evidence any new snow on the peak.
Gareth - Aug 9, 2005 11:03 pm
Route Climbed: Southeast Ridge Date Climbed: August 1, 2005My second time on Wetterhorn. Followed the new CFI approach trail and was disappointed to find that it isn’t nearly as direct as the old one.
shanahan96 - Aug 4, 2005 5:56 pm
Route Climbed: Southeast Ridge Date Climbed: July 8, 20057/8/05- nice valley hike led us to the ridge. route finding up to the summit block was fun; i kept showing my partners the correct route then went searching for some challenging ways to climb up. summit block was solid and easy. nice views up top. climb this mountain!
6/3/07- climbed the east face w/nellis while jen and scott climbed the snow covered southeast ridge. got a great glissade off the lower ridge on the descent!
5/15/10- returned to the climb the east face w/steve. snow quality was much better this time around. our beautiful, bluebird day disappeared right below the summit block leaving us in a whiteout to finish things off. always a great adventure!
jamie
shknbke - Jul 19, 2005 1:30 am
Route Climbed: from Uncompahgre Date Climbed: 07/16/05Wetterhorn is a special peak indeed. I did it after Uncompahgre as the weather held long enough to be on top at 1pm. Started at 11K below Nellie Creek 4wd trailhead and had my friend Pat pick me up below the Matterhorn 2wd trailhead. Incredible loop hike as long as the weather holds. Fun scrambling on the top and the exposure is well protected with solid holds.
doumall - Jul 13, 2005 3:20 pm
Route Climbed: Southeast Ridge Date Climbed: August 21, 200435th 14er!
illegal_smile - Jul 11, 2005 12:37 pm
Route Climbed: SE ridge Date Climbed: July 10, 2005FUN! This mountain is great, seemed like I made it to the top in no time at all from the matterhorn TH. No problems at all, didn't even see anyone till we were coming down and heading over to uncompahgre. Beautiful weather and beautiful views. I think I would like to do wetterhorn, matterhorn and uncompahgre all in one day sometime soon!
Old Ickabod - Mar 28, 2005 9:11 pm
Route Climbed: Matterhorn Creek Trail - Southeast Ridge Date Climbed: August 2004This has been my favorite 14er yet! I left the trailhead at 4am and my headlamp spied the eyes of several animals off the trail. Freaky, but they kept my pace brisk. The hike was an awesome mix of trail, boulderhopping, ridge scrambling, and an easy climb to the summit. I enjoyed sunrise all by myself on the summit at 7:30am. After leaving the summit, I continued on and summited Uncompahgre later that day. I was spent, but the 17.5 miles in one day was well worth it.
ColoradoScott - Feb 7, 2005 12:49 pm
Route Climbed: Southeast Ridge Date Climbed: August 23, 2003After setting up camp about a mile west of the Matterhorn Creek Road and TH on Aug. 21st, I had hoped to climb this the on the 22nd. When I woke at 6:00 a.m. the monsoon clouds had me roll over in my sleeping bag and I decided to take it easy and drive over Engineer Pass into Ouray for lunch instead. I returned over Cinnamon Pass and back through Lake City during the storm. The rain and lightning finally ended and broke up before sundown.
The next morning, I woke and hit the trailhead by 7:00 a.m. and quickly proceeded up the trail. Being a Saturday, I expected more climbers, but only saw five others on Wetterhorn that day. The climber's trail that crosses the creek above timberline and heads west along the left side of the basin was marked with a cairn and the junction seemed logical to me, although I think many people stay on the main trail much higher before turning toward Wetterhorn. Although this trail does fade into a number of scree slopes and gullies below the SE ridge, it is helpful to climb on it if you can locate it.
It grew chilly on the ridge, so I added a layer on top, but was still in shorts on the legs. The route climbs up a semi-loose slope of brightly colored rock and the gets into the better defined ridge above. The route was more apparent than I thought it would be and finding the small keyhole above the Shark's Fin was marked with a cairn. The steep scramble on solid ledges above to the summit is a spectacular finish on a great mountain. Just be careful of sending rock missles onto anyone below. I topped out at 10:30 and fortunately had the summit to myself for twenty minutes when another climber, from Boulder, arrived. I spent 45 minutes on top and the two of us descended together, making excellent time and back to the TH by 1:15 p.m. The storm clouds let loose a half hour later. The cold beer in the cooler was a nice finish.
charles97 - Jan 28, 2005 2:07 pm
Route Climbed: Matterhorn Creek Date Climbed: September 9, 2004Double bagging of Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre. #24 and #25. Gorgeous day, no problems with the climb except there was no one else on top to take a picture of me.