South Face from Silex Lake

Overview

Mount Silex shows a sheer 2,000-foot north face to people hiking in from Hunchback Pass. The south side is much easier, at Class 2+. Most people climb it with The Guardian as part of a multi-day backpack. This is deep in the Weminuche Wilderness, so plan a multi-day backpack and follow wilderness rules on camping, fires and group size.

From the Silex Lake basin you sidehill around the south end of the lake and climb a loose couloir to a saddle on the southwest ridge. Then you drop a little over the saddle, slip through a break in a cliff band, and grind up a long talus and scree slope to the summit.

The round trip is about 14.5 miles with 6,100 feet of gain from the trailhead; from the Trinity Creek meadow camp it is about 3.25 miles and 3,130 feet one way. From the high camp west of Storm King Pass it is about 2.25 miles one way with 2,000 feet of gain, plus 600 more on the way back. Camps: the Trinity Creek meadow, spots near 11,400 feet along Trinity Creek, or a high camp by two small tarns on a bench above Balsam Lake, west of Storm King Pass. Mileage and gain are our estimates.

Plan of the day

Getting to the trailhead

This trailhead needs a high-clearance 4WD, and plan on as long as 2.5 hours of driving from Silverton. From the northeast end of Silverton, take County Road 2 up the Animas about 4.2 miles to Howardsville. Turn right up Cunningham Gulch, then take the left fork onto the Stony Pass road. It climbs steeply over the pass and down the far side. You will ford Pole Creek, then turn right at a fork and ford the Rio Grande. Both fords are harder early in the summer. Then follow the Beartown road about 4 slow, rough miles past the old Beartown site and up a rocky, rutted stretch. The Hunchback Pass trailhead is about half a mile below Kite Lake, at roughly 11,800 feet, with limited parking.

You can also reach this area from Creede or Lake City by driving to Rio Grande Reservoir, but the road west of the reservoir has very rough sections. There is some camping near the trailhead and near the old Beartown site.

Next: the route, step by step →

The route

1. 1

   Hunchback Pass trailhead 11,800' · 0 mi

   Walk south on the Continental Divide Trail, gaining roughly 900 feet in just under a mile through open ground and willows to the tundra of Hunchback Pass. Hunchback Mountain is an easy side trip west of the pass. Then go south down the Vallecito Trail through thick willows (soaking after rain). Where the Divide Trail turns east up Nebo Creek, stay on the Vallecito Trail heading south and west. A big campsite sits on a knoll near this junction.

2. 2

   Trinity Creek meadow 10,560' · 4 mi

   The trail crosses a small side stream, then switchbacks down to Nebo Creek. That ford is fast and close to a waterfall; look upstream for rocks or logs, or wade. About 1.25 miles past the Nebo camp, a side path heads west across a meadow (a common camp) toward Vallecito Creek.

   Watch for: Nebo Creek ford can be swift.

3. 3

   Bench above Silex Lake 12,400' · 5.9 mi

   Wade the Vallecito just below the Trinity Creek confluence; it is cold but not usually deep here. An unmaintained trail climbs the south side of Trinity Creek and switches to the north side near 11,000 feet. Near 11,400 feet, turn south into the Silex Lake basin, staying west of a rock glacier by the outlet stream. A faint path climbs steep tundra ramps and rubble to a bench a few hundred feet above the lake on its west-northwest side.

   Watch for: Cold ford of Vallecito Creek.

4. 4

   Silex couloir 12,400' · 6.3 mi

   Instead of going on to Storm King Pass, sidehill southeast around the south end of Silex Lake at about 12,400 feet. You may need to drop below cliffs and climb back up on bad scree. Head for an obvious couloir up to the saddle on Silex's southwest ridge.

   Watch for: Rough sidehill.

5. 5

   Southwest ridge saddle 12,820' · 6.6 mi

   Climb the couloir on loose rock and scree, or snow early in the season. Higher up, stay right of the center gully, where some rock outcrops give better footing.

   Watch for: Snow early season: ice axe and traction.

6. 6

   Cliff band 12,720' · 6.8 mi

   The ridge itself has harder climbing, so go over the saddle and down the far side about 100 feet. Traverse left across small boulders to a break in the cliff band. Note where you came through for the way back.

7. 7

   Mount Silex 13,636' · 7.25 mi

   Above the cliffs it is a long, steepening Class 2 climb on talus and loose scree to the top.

Getting down

Return the same way, through the cliff band break and down the couloir. Or continue to The Guardian.

If things go wrong

The couloir leads back down to Silex Lake.

3D flyover

See the trail on video

Other routes

Every way up Mount Silex we list, with its class.

• Mount Silex SW Ridge this routeClass 2+ 20 mi