Windom Peak Climber's Log : Climbing, Hiking & Mountaineering : SummitPost

Windom Peak Climber's Log

jeffrawn - Sep 6, 2024 11:39 am Date Climbed: Aug 7, 2024

Monsoons Halted the Trifecta attempt

Fun climb. But continuous rains knocked us out out of trying Sunlight and Eolus. Another time...?

Dow Williams - Aug 17, 2024 12:08 pm Date Climbed: Aug 16, 2024

San Juans

I hiked these four peaks from camp faster than the round trip train ride to the trailhead. I planned on two nights originally, but once back there could tell these would all go fast. I left camp at 6AM, was at the summit of Windom Peak before 8AM. Atop Sunlight Peak by 9am and Mount Eolus (and North) just after 11:AM. Had to descend faster than normal, break camp descend the 6.5 mile trail at a steady pace to make the 3PM train. Reading comments on various sites, as always, some folks make these peaks to be bigger ordeals than reality. These 14ers are much easier than most Canadian Rockies scrambles below 11K. Tons of goats, marmots, grouse, pikas and people. Camping wise I found a gem on the south side of the creek void of folks, but full of wildlife.

ericd - Aug 7, 2024 9:15 pm Date Climbed: Aug 6, 2024

its peak season in Durango!

Windom/Sunlight are my last 14'ers (#56,57) because of remote location. Hiked 7hrs into basin after Uber drop off at the Purgatory Flats TH. Overhead high pressure weather system started weakening with soaking drizzle but certainly refreshing in forest, nonetheless a damp cold night in the hammock. Twin Lakes is without snow, lots of streams, and again refreshingly damp rock scramble at the top.

birdhead - Feb 24, 2023 1:27 pm Date Climbed: Aug 29, 2022

Four in a Day from Camp

Climbed Sunlight, Windom, Eolus, and North Eolus on the same day from our camp high in Chicago Basin. Ended up being around an 11 hour outing with an hour or so chilling on Windom and another hour at the lake before hitting Eolus. Sunlight summit block is not bad on the ascent, but a little tricky on the descent, and I'm 6'2". Windom had an awesome view. The end of Eolus surprised me with its difficulty but we were probably off route a bit. Super fun day!

Matt McCullough - Sep 17, 2022 7:58 am Date Climbed: Sep 11, 2022

Peak #4 of my Chicago Basin odyssey

After climbing Sunlight, I made a more direct descent than the normal route and headed relatively straight toward the saddle of Windom. As a result, I was able to climb Windom pretty quickly (for me, ~45 minutes from the previous summit to reach its top).

BKiser90 - Aug 29, 2022 1:27 pm Date Climbed: Aug 27, 2022

Chicago Basin #2

Summited after Sunlight Peak. Descended the gully from Sunlight and contoured across the top shelf of the basin and met with the Windom trail and followed it to the summit. The route is difficult class 2 and can easily become class 3 if you get off route. We did one class 3 maneuver on the way up. The views from Windom are EXPANSIVE. Beautiful lakes, basins, and mountains all around. It is also a beautiful peak as it rises prominently above Chicago Basin. Descended back to camp to end our third day in Chicago Basin

JesseSumrak - Aug 29, 2022 10:15 am Date Climbed: Aug 27, 2022

Sunlight + Windom

Today promised to have better weather, so we started early to get the 2 14'ers on the other side. Started up Sunlight and the Class 3 was a blast on super grippy rock. Made it to the top in quick time and I opted not to do the Leap of Faith (didn't feel right), but enjoyed the amazing hike and peak. Traversed over to Windom for a quick and easy bag before the long hike back to camp. Clear skies all day.

JRaphaelson - Aug 15, 2022 4:48 pm Date Climbed: Aug 13, 2022

Sunlight, Windom, Eolus, and North Eolus

A tough but rewarding four peak challenge! In your face exposure for most of the day!

Woodie Hopper - Sep 8, 2021 8:41 pm Date Climbed: Sep 7, 2021

Chicago Basin 4 pack (4th of 4 14ers)

Final peak done in a single day push from the Purgatory TH. Gorgeous day with wind, but too warm for me. Dehydration was an issue. Came from Sunlight. I was really glad to finally have an opportunity to get these done!

yadahzoemtn - Mar 15, 2020 10:04 am Date Climbed: Aug 26, 2019

Along with Sunlight

My climbing partner had a bout with kidney stones on the descent.

Moogie737 - Aug 30, 2019 10:05 am Date Climbed: Aug 26, 2019

Combination route with Sunlight 1st, then Windom west ridge

#1 08-26-19 W/ Yadazoemtn. Beautiful weather: warm and a cloudless sky. Had to cross several snowfields in the upper basin to come from Sunlight to the saddle between Windom and Peak 18. Fun scrambling with a well-cairned trail to the unusual summit blocks.

eli.boardman - Dec 27, 2018 11:53 am Date Climbed: Aug 6, 2018

Standard route from Purgatory Flats

Enjoyed views over Chicago Basin; approached without train (from Purgatory Flats trailhead)

Wheelbarrow - Feb 5, 2018 11:31 pm Date Climbed: Jun 17, 2017

#18

It was like a puzzle to connect the parts of snow that were good enough to get traction with running shoes to achieve the ridge. Nice climber's trail through the boulder pile to the top.

utclimber - Oct 16, 2016 5:15 pm

Windom Peak

In the early 2000s.

RMdaytripsgrl - Jul 21, 2016 6:35 pm Date Climbed: Jul 7, 2016

Stay on Route!

Did this as a double after Sunlight because we thought "class 2" = "easy". I would not call this class 2 once on the ridge, Class 3 in my book - but we got off route on the ascent-there are cairns EVERYWHERE on this mtn and we were fooled. What we ended up on was some very sketchy very class 3/4 loose gullies and boulders on the N face below the ridge. On the way down (and after a mini-meltdown) the route was much easier to follow and just easier in general. Whatever you do, stay near the ridge crest!