Distance

2.3 mi to summit

7.0 mi total

Elevation

8,680 ft start

11,275 ft max

Vertical

2,770 ft gain

Time

2 hr 37 min to summit

8 hr 4 min total

What a fun day! Harlan took Ritch and I up a new route (to us) to Lee Peak. From there, we traversed over to Rocketship, then to the base of Devils Thumb, our main objective. Devils Thumb is a technical crumbly limestone tower, just off of the North Loop Trail. Every time I walk by it, I wonder what it would be like to climb this thing. Luckily, Harlan had the same idea. I will not share our technique for ascending this monolith, but I will say that it was indeed shitty rock and not easy. Once at the top, we saw no signs of anyone else ever being up there; none of us know of anyone who has ever climbed it. I guess this is the first known ascent. I left a register, we rapped down & made our way back to the saddle between Rocketship and Lee Peak. Harlan's plan was to reascend Lee Peak, so we could descend the same route we came up. Ritch and I didn't feel like going up any more, so we agreed to all try to descend from where we were over loose scree, hoping not to cliff out. We found a route that worked, working around cliffs until we intersected the ridge we came up. From there, we followed the paths/trails back to the cars.

Route name

Lee Peak 7.0 mi route

out-and-back
Obstacles

routefinding, rockfall/loose rock, snow on route

Key gear

helmet, rope/harness, GPS device

Other peaks climbed on this trip