West Ridge from Yankee Boy Basin

Overview

Cirque Mountain is the easiest 13er in Yankee Boy Basin, rising on the basin's north side. Newer survey data added 6 feet. Its lower slopes are full of wildflowers from mid-July into August, and the summit view of the Yankee Boy peaks is one of the best around.

From the trailhead at the vault toilet, you walk the road a short way, climb flower-covered tundra and then talus to Dyke Col or the west ridge, and follow the ridge east to the split summit. It is Class 2, with two short, steeper steps near the top that some call Class 2+ or 3. With 4WD to the upper basin, it can be a family hike for kids with some stamina.

The round trip is about 4.5 miles with 2,385 feet of gain.

Plan of the day

Getting to the trailhead

Take U.S. 550 to Ouray. About a quarter mile south of town, turn west onto County Road 361 toward Yankee Boy Basin. This is a dirt road. Keep right at the 4.6-mile mark. Around 5.2 miles the road runs along a shelf cut into the cliff, with rock hanging overhead. Stay right at the Imogene Pass turnoff near 5.9 miles.

At about 6.7 miles you reach the Governor Basin junction. Two-wheel-drive cars should park here; this adds about 1.75 miles round trip. High-clearance vehicles continue to the lower trailhead with an outhouse at about 7.5 miles and 11,350 feet. The figures on these pages start there. The last mile of road above the outhouse is very rough and only for high-clearance, short-wheelbase 4WD vehicles.

Camping inside Yankee Boy Basin is only allowed at the Thistledown and Angel Creek campgrounds lower on the road; check that they're open. Don't camp at the trailhead. Some flat spots near the toilet sit on old mining claims, and whether you can camp there is unclear.

Next: the route, step by step →

The route

1. 1

   Yankee Boy toilet trailhead 11,380' · 0 mi

   Walk up the main road toward Mount Sneffels. Past the toilet the road gets rough, so vehicles may pass you.

2. 2

   Leave the road 11,650' · 0.4 mi

   Just after crossing a stream that comes down from a valley southwest of Cirque, head uphill off the road.

3. 3

   End of the tundra 12,550' · 1 mi

   Climb steeper ground through open trees and thick wildflowers. Stay on tundra as long as you can.

4. 4

   Dyke Col 13,060' · 1.5 mi

   Talus the rest of the way. Climb straight up the drainage to Dyke Col, with the unofficial Kismet to its left, or bear right to meet Cirque's west ridge higher.

5. 5

   Rock step 13,500' · 1.9 mi

   Turn right (east) on the ridge and follow use trails and cairns. One narrow stretch drops off on both sides but has no real exposure. Watch for thin dinner-plate talus that cracks underfoot. A short, steeper rock band comes at about 13,500 feet.

   Watch for: Class 2+ moves.

6. 6

   Summit 13,692' · 2.25 mi

   One more short step near the top. The summit is split into two points; both are easy to reach, and the western one is said to be higher. Their north sides drop off steeply.

   Watch for: Big drop on the north side.

Getting down

Go back the same way, especially with kids. Another option heads almost straight south off the summit into a big bowl, with steep scree gullies and rock outcrops high up and flowers lower down, and ends on the 4WD road.

If things go wrong

From Dyke Col, the drainage leads straight back to the road.

3D flyover

See the trail on video

Other routes

Every way up Cirque Mountain we list, with its class.

• Cirque Mtn. West Ridge this routeClass 2 4.5 mi