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| Spent the weekend down around Lake City, Colorado. Mr. Guidebook Writer got in some trail research. This is the intersection of the new CFI (Colorado Fourteeners Initiative) Wetterhorn trail with the main Matterhorn Basin trail. I’m logging the GPS data for an update of my Southern Peaks 14ers guidebook. Louie and Cody (a Camp Redcloud staffer) to left. We had an excellent climb on Wetterhorn. Met some friendly fellow climbers on top, and enjoyed excellent weather. The new trail is beautiful up to the SE ridge. Above there it still needs work. Wetterhorn has an interesting 4th class pitch just below the summit. Most people climb this without a rope, but it always surprises me how serious this pitch actually is. If you slipped you’d take a long fall and likely be hurt or worse. |
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| On the trail in the morning. Lisa (at back) is trying out a Marmot pack called La Meije. This is a ski pack but it works well for anything — Lisa claims it’s the most comfortable pack she’s ever used — seriously. We’ll detail it here in the next few days. |
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| The Marmots of Matterhorn Basin added an element of humor to the day. This guy was splayed on a warm rock, just watching the world go by. I fully expected an eagle to pick him off while I watched, as he didn’t seem to want to move for anything. The amount of digging these guys do is phenomenal. Now that CFI has fixed the human damage to Matterhorn Basin, is it time to wonder how much erosion the marmots are causing? From what I saw I’d say they’re doing more environmental damage than we pesky climbers as their burrows and trails are quite obvious. But of course they’re "natural" so that doesn’t count. Or perhaps CFI should send some professional trappers up to Matterhorn? |
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
