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Uncompahgre

Our descent line down Wetterhorn‘s east face. Photo: Luke Kroiss.
 
Access from Lake City, CO:
Follow Henson Creek/Engineer Pass Road 9.1 miles from Lake City. Take a right onto the North Fork Henson Creek Road for 2 miles. Take a right onto the Matterhorn Creek Road for 1 mile to the TH or as far as possible due to snow closure.
 
Run 1: Luke Kroiss and I hiked/skinned up Matterhorn Creek to the base of Wetterhorn‘s east face. We climbed the face to the base of the summit block and scrambled to the the summit (14,015‘). We downclimbed the summit block and glissed down the east face. We had nearly perfect corn conditions on a steep (48 degree) slope.
Elevation: ~1755‘
 
Part of runs 2 and 3 off of Uncompahgre. Photo: Luke Kroiss.
 
Run 2: We skinned up to the base of the west face of Uncompahgre Peak and climbed up a notch to gain the south ridge and continued up the south ridge to the summit (14,314‘). The summit was dry. I was able to ski about 50‘ from the summit. I had to pick my way down the upper south ridge, but from the notch down, there was a decent amount of snow.
Elevation: ~2,104‘
 
The summit of Uncompahgre. Chris Davenport skied from the summit only 17 days earlier. Photo: Luke Kroiss.  
 
Run 3:
We skinned up to the saddle above Matterhorn Basin and dropped in. The snow was mostly good, with the occassional snow that nearly stops you in your tracks.
Elevation: ~2,258‘
 
 
Total Skied Elevation: ~6,117‘
Total Elevation: ~6,467‘
Time: 12 hours
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