StatsDate: 9/22/2007 Elevation Gain: 4032' "Silver King Peak"After reading Colorado's High Thirteeners and Ryan Kowalski's "Silver King Peak" page, I was convinced the 24 mile trek up Pine Creek was required. Then I busted out the map and couldn't miss noticing a shorter route originating from the Pear Lake Trailhead. The Pear Lake Trailhead is also used for climbs of Emerald and Iowa Peaks.Devin Rourke and I left Boulder at 4:40 am and drove to the Pear Lake Trailhead, making one stop in Leadville. We started hiking up the Pear Lake Trail at 7:30 am. We followed the trail to the saddle south of Emerald Peak and discussed our route. We decided to gain the Emerald Peak-"Silver King Peak" saddle and follow the ridge to the summit. We dropped down into the large basin above Pear Lake and traversed it, finally gaining the saddle. There were good views of Emerald Peak from here. We continued up the ridge finding dangerously loose and large rocks. Avoiding the loose rocks on the west side of the ridge took us onto time-consuming 5.easy terrain. We abandoned the ridge and descended towards Silver King Lake. Just above Silver King Lake, we found a trail climbing Silver King Peak's northeast ridge. We followed the trail to the "Silver King Peak"-13352 saddle and followed the ridge to the summit. There were oppurtunities for easy 3rd class, but is mostly class 2. We reached the top at 11:13 am. The views and weather were good, so we rested a while on the summit. |
