How to get there:
A natural starting point is Lake City. Go to
the end of Second street and turn left on
Henson Creek Road, there is a sign there for
Engineer Pass. Follow this road for about 15 km
as measured from the intersection of Main and
Second Street in Lake City. There are some old
buildings in this area called Capitol City, more
importantly, there is a road going right (north-west)
along North Henson Creek. (There may be a sign saying
Forest Service Road 870). Take this road, it quickly
becomes rough, a 4WD can follow the road to a parking
area with a gate, after about 4 km. We pitched our tent
in a nice spot just below the end of the road. Route description:
The route first follows the old road, then forks left
and gains some elevation via a couple of large switchbacks.
As the trail comes out above treeline, one should pay
close attention, the route to Wetterhorn heads into the basin
towards Matterhorn, then turns left along a small creek and climbs the
south-east ridge. If one follows the trail too long (as we did), then a couple
of very distinct creeks with fairly deep, V-shaped gullies must
be crossed. The best route is likely to leave the trail immediately
after crossing the second creek after treeline. (These creeks are
close together, the second one being the bigger of the two.) Head into
the basin on a very nice open meadow, then turn left before a more
rocky hill formation. We climbed steeply on grass a small ridge that points
east from the main ridge, thus avoiding a large bank of snow. As the main
ridge is reached, just follow it until it becomes rocky. From this point, the
route stays to the left of the main ridge crest and partially climbs some
gullies heading upwards. Higher up, there is easy scrambling passing some
larger rock formations and then finding a very distinct, narrow crack in the
rock that one should pass through. On the other side of this crack on easily
climbs up and regains the main ridge crest. The next section is a fairly long,
horizontal traverse on the right side of the ridge. This is, I think, the
most unpleasant part of the climb, lots of loose rock and scree, above cliffs
that provide some exposure. One should be extra careful on this section, there
are no technical difficulties, but the terrain is steep enough to carry
potential for an accident. Finally, after ascending towards the end of the
traverse one climbs into a level area just before the main summit, having passed
the rock formation called the Ship's Prow. There are two notches straight ahead
between the Ship's Prow and the main summit. Take the smaller notch which is to
the right and closest to the main summit. Behind this notch is an elegant slab
of rock that leads into the final section of the route. The final section is
a good climb on solid rock up a nice gully. The climbing here is fun and the
rock consists of "stairs", small horizontal shelves all the way. At the very end
one can traverse a bit left on a ledge and then gain the summit, however, it is
more fun and not hard to continue the climb straight up until you get your
head above the flat summit plateau. The feeling of sudden arrival is then prominent.
The summit is flat and with ample space, it can be highly recommended to spend
time at this place, just sit
there and enjoy the peaks around. Comments:
This mountain is named after the more famous Swiss
mountain Wetterhorn (elevation 3701 m). The Swiss Alps
have had significant influence in this area since the even
smaller peak between Wetterhorn and Uncompaghre has been named
Matterhorn.
I did this climb with Pål Jørgen, age 12. We left
the 4WD trailhead in Matterhorn Creek at 0715 (we had stayed there
in our tent), on the summit after 3 hours at 1015, spent a full 45
minutes all by ourselves on this spectacular summit. The descent
down the ridge took about one hour and we were back at the tent
at 1315, a very memorable 6 hour climb.
Resources:
Images
Wetterhorn Peak,
the entire south-east ridge with the Ship's Prow is
visible from the basin below.
The notch,
between the Ship's Prow and Wetterhorn that
leads to the slab connecting the final part
of the route.