From: ajs@hpfcla.HP.COM (Alan Silverstein)
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 86 18:31:43 MDT
Subject: Re: Trip reports on the San Juans
Newsgroups: hpnc.general

Thursday, July 24: Mount Eolus (14084') and North Eolus (14039')

The previous day's weather left us in soggy spirits. We considered packing out of Chicago Basin without climbing Eolus. It's not a good peak to climb in bad weather. To our amazement, for the first time in eight days, Thursday dawned clear and bright.

No excuses; tired as we were, we had to go climb that next mountain! So we (Dave, Scottie, and I) started up from camp (11400') again at 0700. That's a late start, but we were optimistic. Or maybe just too mellow to care. Certainly we were kind of tired.

To get to Eolus, you go almost up to Twin Lakes (12500') and turn left (NW) into a long basin. The main peak is the high point of a long ridge on the left, which drops a little and rises up to North Eolus. This ridge continues a long way around, eventually becoming Sunlight Peak. The basin below Eolus is formed by a smaller sub-ridge east below North Eolus. The walls of the basin are steep and rugged on all sides.

I found Borneman and Lampert's description a little confusing. You find a trail on the NE side of the basin that takes you way in, to below the cliffs of the main peak. Here there is a small ledge running up and right (not left), and a bigger cut behind it, which is the way to go. We climbed mostly on snow up to above some large, snow-capped flats atop the ridge east from the north peak, at 13500', 0900. To this point the route is easy and reasonably fast. From here you get a nice view over to Sunlight and Windom to the east, and down to a frozen lakelet.

Once you reach this spot, don't listen to B&L and head west to the Eolus ridge. Instead, listen to Ormes (and me) -- go around north and NW onto gentle snow. That takes you up to the Eolus - North Eolus ridge just a little north and above where you can get with much more difficulty. The route we picked going SW required some ledge and crack climbing with a couple of stretch moves, and some intense exposure down a several hundred foot cliff. In fact, getting to the main ridge this way was the worst part of the climb.

Once on the ridge itself you're almost there, just a couple hundred feet from either summit. The ridge is narrow and very steep on both sides; more so than the infamous Capitol knife-edge (but that's another trip report). Unlike the knife-edge, it's got a wider, flatter top that's easy to walk along, most of the way. And a tremendous view west to Pigeon and Turret Peaks, brown masses thrusting high above the surrounding terrain, with shadows playing over them from the building scud clouds.

Eolus's horrible reputation and occasional deaths probably all come from the last section, or other (more difficult) routes. We chose not to take the ridge directly south, but to follow cairns onto ledges and cracks on the east face. The ledges are pretty wide and flat, unlike e.g. the Maroons, and there is a wide choice of routes on the complex mountainside. It's steep, but comfortable if you are used to heights; the rock is good, but not great. (I recommend a helmet.)

We reached the summit at 1005 (3:05 for 2680'). It's a narrow ridgetop built of huge angular boulders -- a fun kind of summit. It's narrower than the Windom summit, with smaller rocks. We didn't stay long, only 15 minutes, before retracing our steps back to the "catwalk" on the main ridge.

From the low spot of the ridge, North Eolus is a fast and easy climb on good, solid, rough-surfaced boulders. It took me about eight minutes for the 200' rise.

The weather held, so there was no real rush. We glissaded and hiked down a series of snowfields and hillsides back to the SE basin and then to camp, from 1120 to 1300. Coming off the ridge just south of the north peak is MUCH easier and safer than from the low point.

Back at camp, we luxuriated in the warm sunshine, drying out all our gear and packing up. We hiked out to Needleton pretty much separately. I made good time, with only one long stop, going the 6.5 miles (or more) from 1455 to 1820 (3:25).

Of course, the last train north to Silverton was long gone, so we had to spend the night down there again. And the first in the morning is a non-stop express. Finally, at 1050 Friday morning, we boarded the steam-engine train for the hour-long ride back to civilization. After the thrills of climbing, the views of the Animas River valley were ho-hum. It was more fun watching the tourists go ape over horseback riders, kayakers, and waterfalls. Me? I went ape over the donuts, popcorn, etc. in the concession car!

Back in Silverton, I shared a pizza with Scottie, said goodbye to him, and drove alone over Red Mountain Pass, north through Ouray again -- with another stop at the hotsprings pool, ah... I met Dave, his brother John, and friend Joe, at an intersection north and west. We went into Telluride for a hot dinner before driving up to the next trailhead, to climb the Wilsons.