My friend John (aka "Preps") from Illinois wanted to climb a 14er this year. Last year he climbed up to around 13,000' while we camped on Peru Creek and decided he needed to climb more. I had picked Handies Peak as an easy first 14er in a part of the state Preps had never visited.

When Preps arrived in Colorado, we reviewed the guidebooks and trip reports and Preps thought he wanted something more challenging than Handies, so we settled on Uncompahgre Peak. Only two miles longer than Handies, it seemed like a good choice.

We drove down to Lake City and hit the Engineer Pass Road, turning off after a few miles at the Nellie Creek Road. This is definitely a 4X4 road, but it wasn't too challenging. Two reasonably shallow stream crossings, and after 4 miles we reached the trailhead. It was raining and no other vehicles were around. We waited in the Jeep to see what the weather was going to do, and after an hour or so it stopped raining and we set up the tents.

We woke up at 06:00, packed camp except for the tents, left the Jeep where it was and started up the trail at 06:30. Preps was packing his Nikon 35 mm camera AND a video camera, so he was fairly loaded down with gear. After a short while on a good trail we emerged from the trees and continued up the trail. I thought the trail was excellent on the whole climb. Preps was huffing and puffing after a mile or so, and had to rest frequently but kept up a good pace. The weather looked sketchy, with clouds all around and some darker clouds to the west. About halfway into the climb a light snow fell and the wind picked up a little, but the dark clouds passed over and the weather seemed stable.

We reached the south ridge of Uncompahgre and the wind picked up even more. It was still snowing, and by the time we reached the more sheltered side of the peak we started to pass some climbers on their way down. The word was that the view from the summit was non-existant. We continued on the switchbacking trail and crossed below some cliffs on Uncompahgre's southeast face, then scrambled up some loose rock to gain the upper part of the peak. From there a short hike across a gentle grassy slope brought me to the summit at 10:30. Preps arrived about 4 minutes later. We signed the register, explored the summit, and took some pictures. Just north of the summit was a sheer 700' cliff. Shortly after we arrived the clouds cleared exposing excellent views of the San Juan Range.

          
Fotos ©2001 by John C. Maki

          
Fotos ©2001 by John C. Maki

After 25 minutes on the summit we headed down. The outside of my right knee began to hurt just a little on the initial climb down the talus, but once the trail smoothed out and became less steep the pain went away and we hiked quickly on the descent. Some large cumulus clouds were moving in from the west and it looked like we might be in for some more weather. At 13:05 we reached the trailhead, packed up the tents and headed back. Instead of driving back through Gunnison we took a different route through Creede and Alamosa, past the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Range. Some fresh snow dusted the Crestones; I hope it's dry in a couple weeks if/when I attempt Crestone Needle.

Foto ©2001 by John C. Maki