San Juan Range · Colorado 13er · No. 266 of the 13ers
South Face from Storm King Pass
Peak Nine, 13,404'
Class 4, exposed and loose
Peak Nine needs Class 4 climbing on very loose rock with severe exposure, and a wrong turn leads to Class 5. Bring a helmet, ice axe and some basic rope or webbing. This page is an outline, not a move-by-move guide.
DifficultyClass 4
Round trip14.7 mi
Elevation gain6,200'
TrailheadHunchback Pass
Trailhead elevation11,800'
Less traffic, less margin
This describes the route on a dry summer day. Most 13ers see few people, so there may be no one along behind you. Check recent conditions the week you go, carry a map, tell someone your plan, and turn around when the day tells you to.
Peak Nine is a narrow, crumbling ridge of rock between Storm King Peak and Peak Eight in the Weminuche Wilderness. Its north and south faces are near-vertical, and it's one of the more serious 13ers in the area. Reaching it is a multi-day backpack from the Hunchback Pass trailhead.
You follow the Vallecito Trail 4 miles to Trinity Creek, ford Vallecito Creek, and climb Trinity Creek and the Lake Silex basin to Storm King Pass. From there you cross to the Peak Eight–Nine saddle, drop into the basin to the south, and climb a green ramp and then either a steep couloir with a 12-foot Class 4 wall or the southeast ridge. Recent reports suggest the unmaintained Leviathan Creek trail, to the Peak Eight–Nine saddle, may now be easier than Trinity Creek, but we don't have details on it.
The round trip is about 14.7 miles with 6,200 feet of gain. From Storm King Pass it's about 1.2 miles and 1,000 feet. Most people camp along upper Trinity Creek or at tarns west of the pass, and add Peak Eight.
Plan of the day
Start by
Leave camp before dawn.
Turnaround
Be at the green ramp by 9:30 a.m.
Crux
The 12-foot Class 4 wall in the couloir.
Route-finding
Hard. Find the green ramp at the far east end of the bowl.
Water
Trinity Creek and snowmelt. Filter it.
This week on the summit
Conditions on the summit
LoadingFetching the forecast for 13,404'…
—Summit temp now
—Sustained wind
—Gusting to
—Freezing level
Today
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Tomorrow
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Day three
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Afternoon storm risk is the line that matters. Everything else is comfort. In summer, plan to be off the ridge before the build-up starts, not as it starts. Forecast for the summit point, adjusted for its elevation · data from Open-Meteo.
This trailhead needs a high-clearance 4WD, and you should allow as much as two and a half hours 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.
Conditions on Stony Pass and the Beartown road change from year to year, so check before you go. Trips from here into the Weminuche usually take several days.
RidgeTrail in the treesTalus and screeExposed to lightning
The line is elevation, the band underneath is the ground, and the numbered dots match the steps below. Mileage and elevations are approximate.
1
Hunchback Pass trailhead 11,800' · 0 mi
Walk south on the Continental Divide Trail through open, willowy ground. It bends southeast, then southwest and west, up to the pass.
2
Hunchback Pass 12,490' · 0.9 mi
From the tundra pass, head south down the willow-filled fork below. The trail keeps to the west side of the drainage until just above the trees.
Watch for: Willows soak you after rain.
3
Trinity Creek camp 10,560' · 4 mi
Stay on the Vallecito Trail where the Continental Divide Trail turns east up Nebo Creek (big campsite nearby). Ford Nebo Creek near a waterfall and switchback down to a meadow on the right.
Watch for: The Nebo Creek ford is swift.
4
Leave Trinity Creek 11,400' · 5.5 mi
Wade Vallecito Creek west of camp (cold, but not as deep as lower down). The unmaintained trail runs up the south side of Trinity Creek and crosses to the north side near 11,000 feet. Recent reports say beetle-killed deadfall and thick growth have nearly erased the lower mile; plan on a couple of hours of thrashing. Watch for an old cairn on the north side and follow the faint trail west to a knoll with an old campsite.
Watch for: Hard bushwhacking in deadfall.
5
Storm King Pass 12,800' · 6.75 mi
Turn south toward the Lake Silex basin. Stay west of a rock glacier tongue and climb steep tundra ramps (or a rift west of the Silex outlet stream) to rocky benches. Contour into the valley west of Lake Silex and grind west up rubble and talus to the pass between Storm King and Peak Nine.
Watch for: Slow, unstable talus.
6
Peak Eight–Nine saddle 12,750' · 7 mi
Rather than contour through loose rock, drop about 200 feet west and climb back to the saddle. In July a snowfield may lead up a couloir to it. The saddle is just a narrow notch.
Watch for: Hard snow early in the day.
7
Green ramp 12,650' · 7.15 mi
Drop south into the basin on big rubble and go left (southeast) along the bowl, descending about 200 feet. At its far east end the green ramp comes into view, angling southeast across the face. Don't start up too soon toward greenish rock above.
8
Summit 13,404' · 7.35 mi
Climb the ramp (some Class 3) to a large cairn. Either keep going to the southeast ridge and follow it back northwest, or climb the couloir just past the cairn: steep broken rock, maybe ice, then its right branch to a 12-foot Class 4 wall and out onto the ridge. Follow the narrow ridge, with one hard bypass on the left, to the top.
Watch for: Class 4, loose and exposed.
Getting down
Down-climb the same route to the green ramp, then recross the bowl and climb back to the Eight–Nine saddle. A used rappel anchor leads down into the couloir if you carry enough rope.
If things go wrong
The green ramp and the bowl lead back to the saddle.
3D flyover
No 3D flyover for this peak
Past the Vallecito Trail the route is trailless. A flyover only works when there is a set trail to trace. Without one, the line would be a guess, and a guess could send you the wrong way on the mountain. Use the step-by-step route with a good map and GPS track instead.
See the trail on video
No video yet
We haven’t found a good video of this route that matches the way we describe it. The route strip, junctions and 3D flyover show the way in the meantime.