Posted by: dave c
at 01:00, October 16 2012.
When my old friend Gary N. asked if I was interested in climbing a route in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, The Casual Route (5.8, 8 pitches) I responded that the climb had been on my wish list for some time. We made plans to head down to the North Rim of the Black. Gary then suggested adding another objective to our trip, since it was fairly close. Twin Peaks, in the La Garita Wilderness, is a rarely-climbed technical peak noted for it’s poor rock quality. Once thought to be the most difficult peak over 12,000 feet in Colorado, Gary had information that an easier, though still challenging route, existed.
We drove to the trailhead for Twin Peaks after work, arriving late in the evening, then hiked in the next morning. After walking around the base of the summit monolith, really nothing more than a giant hoodoo, we chose a route that looked reasonable and headed up the “vertical mud”. It was certainly an interesting climb and very scenic.
Arriving back at the trailhead quite late, we decided to spend a rest day at Hartman Rocks, near Gunnison, exploring and doing a little climbing. Unfortunately after climbing one pitch it started to rain, putting an end to that, so we headed over to the campground on the North Rim of the Black Canyon and prepared for our climb the following day – the Casual Route.
After descending the SOB gully for 800 feet we found the start of our route and had a fine adventure on my first route in the Black. No photos of the climb I’m afraid, but for a slideshow of the rest of the long weekend, click on the photo below.
A fine weekend in a very scenic part of Colorado, and successful climbs of two gems.
