Location: N40.28856, W105.51749 (GPS at the summit)
Difficulty: (YDS) class 1
Climbed August 15, 2012.
Information:
How to get there:
This mountain is located right across (to the east of) from the better known
Longs Peak. Thus, this is a very good location for viewing Longs Peak.
Here is a quick reference and summary of all
peaks visited on my 2012 summertrip to the USA.
Route description:
From the trailhead, just follow the very well used trail uphill. The trail
will curve right near the top and take you to the lowest of the twin peaks.
In order to climb the highest point, descend back to the saddle, then scramble
(easy) among some bigger boulders to attain the summit. There is a vague path
marked by a few cairns. This summit
holds a survey marker as well as a summit register.
Comments:
We left Lakewood in the morning and first drove to the Longs Peak trailhead where we dropped
Rob at 0800. The plan was that he should climb Longs (which we had climbed) while Sverre and I would
pay a visit to the Twin Sisters Peaks located directly across from Longs.
We started hiking at 0830. I carried the pack that we shared between us. This would be Sverre's last
workout before running Pikes marathon. Obviously, he was in pretty good shape and set a pace up the
trail, just fast enough to make it a bit hard to carry on a conversation. I knew this would take a bit
more than one hour and pondered if my legs would be able to stay at this speed for such a period.
I decided that the answer most likely was yes and continued the fast walk following behind Sverre.
About half way up, I suggested that he should take the pack which he did. Something quite interesting
happened. He continued with the same effort (according to his own estimate), while I could now follow
rather easily. Just cruising up the trail at a very comfortable pace. The pack was not very heavy, but it
obviously made a significant difference who carried it.
We were at the lower summit which is served by the trail, at 0945.
The view across to Longs Peak is indeed very good.
You see directly at the Diamond Face, a very
famous rock wall with many climbing routes.
After a short break, we headed
across to the other sister, which is slightly higher.
It was a bit windy and we did not stay very long before descending back down to the car in about
one hour. After lunch in Estes, we picked up Rob. He had a very nice climb of Longs (below 6 hours
round trip), rating it a clear 10 on Peakbagger.
