Tag: trico peak

T 10 – 13,484 and Trico Peak – 13,321

RT Length: 9.52 miles

Elevation Gain: 3260’

I’m not gunna lie, this was my third attempt at T10.  I’d attempted it twice earlier this year, when there was too much snow to access from the Three Needles side, and another time when I felt the terrain was too loose on the Trico side.  Both times I’d made it to within 100 feet of the summit, but called it for safety reasons.  Also, I’d been in the area, took a bunch of pictures, and I had a plan.  I wanted to make this a class 2 hike in a different way.  Spoiler alert:  I was unable to make that happen. Sorry folks, T10 is class 2D/2+ (both mean steep scree,  and honestly, I’d much rather climb a class 3 peak) from Black Bear Pass, sketchy class 3 from the Three Needles side. 

I was parked at Red Mountain Pass, which had a sign indicating Black Bear Pass was closed to vehicular traffic. Now, a 4WD vehicle can make it to the pass from this side (it was open when I was here in July of this year) but they’ve closed the gate, presumably from difficulties on the other side of the pass, because this side was and has been clear to go.

I and on the trail at 5:30am.  I took 4WD 823 to the Black Bear Pass/Prophyry Basin junction.

I quickly came to the Black Bear Pass/Prophyry Basin junction and continued straight towards Black Bear Pass

Although steep at times, a standard 4WD should be able to make it to the pass if it were open

The pass was indeed closed to vehicular traffic.

I walked around the closure and continued towards Mineral Basin.

The road continues through Mineral Basin all the way to Black Bear Pass. I could now see T10

The road splits before the pass, but both roads circle back to the same place.  I’m assuming the road to the left is for when there’s still snow on the main road, as there was late July of this year.

There is an obvious road that goes all the way to the base of T10

At the end of the road I sat down and strapped on my helmet and microspikes, and looked at the route up. 

Last time, I’d gone too far to the right, and the terrain became too steep to climb.  This time I stayed more to the middle.

There were tons of game trails here, which most likely weren’t game trails at all but runouts from the snow.  The rocks were not stable, no matter what size they were.  Lots of scree here as well.  Here are some pictures of my route up T10.   Be forewarned, it looks like the rocks shift every year.   Some large rocks were in a different place than they were 2 months ago.

Once on the ridge the summit was clear. 

Here you can see the ‘other’ 13477 to the left and the summit cairn circled)

I summited T10 at 7:30am

T10:

There was a storm coming in, so it was windy and cold.  I didn’t stay long, and instead headed back down towards Black Bear Pass the way I’d summited

Back down on the road, I looked over at Trico Peak, and around at the weather. 

It had been sprinkling off and on, and the wind was fierce, but I knew from the last time I did Trico it was a quick and straightforward hike.  I decided to go for it. This is the overall route I took

After the road ends, there is a game trail that goes pretty much all the way to the summit, keeping Trico Peak class 2.

I summited Trico Peak at 8:20am

Trico Peak:

I’d made it, but the wind was fierce, and I could see storms all around me.  I jogged back down to the pass, stopping only a few times to take pictures of the route

Back on the 4WD road, I turned left and followed it back down Mineral Basin to Red Mountain Pass

I made it back to my truck at 9:30am, making this a 9.52 mile hike with 3260’ of elevation gain in 4 hours.

Trico Peak – 13,321

RT Length: 8.78 miles

Elevation Gain: 2844’

My stats here are going to be off (to be explained later).

I arrived at the Black Bear Pass trailhead the night before, excited to find a good camping spot near the road, at about 11,100’.  If you drive a little further up, 100 yards or so, there are a few more sites. 

I parked, read, ate dinner, and fell asleep early.  I was on the trail at 5am the next morning.  The trail follows 4WD dirt road 823 for 3.3 miles to Black Bear Pass. A stock 4WD can make it to the pass, but be mindful it’s a narrow shelf road at times, with few places to pass other vehicles.  Here are some pictures of the road.

After hiking for 1 mile I came to the junction for Prophyry Basin and Black Bear Pass.  I went right, towards Black Bear Pass.

And continued on, towards Mineral Basin.

There was a little snow to contend with in getting to Black Bear Pass, so I went left to avoid it.

To my left I could see T10, which hadn’t been on my list for today.  However, looking at it now, it looked doable from this side, so I headed over there.  There seemed to be several viable routes.  At the grassy area I put on my microspikes, and headed up.  The first 150 feet or so were straightforward, and then the choss hit.  Terrible, terrible choss that gave way as I ascended.  I was creating rockslides both above and below me, which included not only scree and choss, but also microwave plus sized rocks.  Nothing was stable. It looks like the route changes every time someone attempts to go up or down.  I got cliffed out several times, backtracked, and tried different ways.  Finally, I knew while I could have made it up, I wasn’t going to recommend this route to anyone (someone’s going to get seriously injured or die), so I might as well head back down.  I made it about 100 feet from the summit before turning around. Please don’t attempt this route unless you have great balance and are good with floating and falling talus and boulders (none of the rocks were steady. None of them, and many fell with the scree).  For me, this was outside of my choss-safety zone.

Ok, so from Black Bear pass, I headed northeast, with Trico clearly visible.

This was actually a straightforward and easy route.  There’s a faint trail you can’t see from below, that will get you all the way to the summit.

Here are some pictures of the route

Once I gained the ridge, this was the overall route to the summit

There was a faint trail here as well.

I summited Trico Peak at 8am (still wearing my helmet from T10)

Trico Peak:

I took advantage of the bluebird day and 2 bars of LTE service at the summit, and stayed for about half an hour, calling people and answering emails. 

Then I was on my way back down to Black Bear Pass.

Back at Black bear Pass I turned left, and followed the road 823 back to the trailhead, avoiding the small section of snow along the road.

I made it back to my truck at 10am, making this a 8.78 mile hike with 2844’ of elevation gain in 5 hours, along with a lot of route finding on T10, and spending a half hour on the summit of Trico.

On to the next trailhead!