Sunlight Peak & Windom Peak

I didn't take another rest day as several of the groups I talked with were all going to attempt Sunlight and Windom the next day, and I wanted to take advantage of their route finding. I was a bit slower getting up, but was on the trail by 3:45 a.m. Holding true to form, I reached Twin Lakes after two hours and started my way east toward Sunlight Peak. Unlike Eolus, the trail immediately starts climbing from the lakes to ascend the headwall and reach the upper basin.

Reaching the upper basin I crossed a small snowfield then started working my way up to the saddle between Sunlight Peak and "Sunlight Spire."* Unlike Mt. Eolus where the route is solid rock and stable talus, the gully up to the saddle on Sunlight Peak is loose dirt and scree, with the occasional suitcase sized rock that decides it's bored where it is and wants to go find a new home somewhere lower. All three groups and I reached the saddle and zig-zagged around the summit area, finally reaching the summit blocks. The USGS marker is at this point, as the last few blocks are exposed and overhanging, with no handholds or protection, just gravity and friction. Most climbers accept the USGS marker as the summit, but I went up to the final block.

* The Spire is just four feet short of 14,000', but it is officially an unnamed point, lacking enough prominence to be ranked. If it was ranked, far fewer climbers would be able to claim being a 14er finisher. The summit tower is a single block of stone, with a single crack that angles up for about forty or fifty feet to the summit. Summiting requires technical climbing rated at 5.10. There are less than a hundred recorded summits.

As I expected, I was the last to reach the summit. I didn't get much of a chance to rest as everyone was in a rush to traverse over to Windom Peak before the afternoon storms. As soon as a few pictures were taken everyone started descending. I quickly followed behind as I wasn't sure I took the correct route up and wanted to make sure I went down the right way.

Descending the gully was an exercise in balance. Try not to follow directly behind anyone so you don't knock any rocks down on those below you while at the same time pick a safe route that doesn't have you falling down on them yourself. Each group picked a different place to slip between the cliffs and then climb up to the west ridge of Windom Peak. As I passed the notch about 300' below the summit, the other groups started passing me heading back down. I was informed the clouds and chance of a storm were about 50/50—I pushed on and reached the summit 20 minutes later. I didn't linger long, as I had another quarter mile exposed on the ridge before the opportunity for shelter if the storms moved in.

I continued working my way down, eventually reaching the basin and rejoining the trail. A light rain started as I passed Twin Lakes and the lightning and thunder started just as I reached treeline. Almost eleven hours after I started I arrived back at my campsite where I broke my own rule and ate lunch in the tent due to the rain. Surprisingly, another rainstorm started just after dinner. When I woke up in the morning it was still raining. No climbing today.

Pictures