Region
Highlights
- Sunlight Peak is a Colorado 14er within the Weminuche Wilderness in the Needle Mountains, a subrange of the San Juan Mountains.
- One of 3 fourteeners in the Needle Mountains; the other two are Mount Eolus and Windom Peak.
- Windom and Sunlight lie on the east side of Twin Lakes, in upper Chicago Basin, while Eolus lies on the west side.
- All three peaks are relatively remote by Colorado standards, and have a strong wilderness character; however they can be popular in summer.
- The standard route up Sunlight Peak is from the south, known as the "Red Couloir". It's a non-technical scramble, but achieving the top of the famed summit block requires an exposed rock climbing move considered by many to be the hardest move of any standard route up a Colorado 14er.
Latest summits
"Hiked from Purgatory Flats TH. Began hike of Sunlight Peak on July 3 at 7am from base camp in Chicago Basin, peaked at 11:45am (did not actually touch summit block this time around). Unable to hike Windom because of bad weather (lightning, snow, rain). Ended back at base camp at 3:40pm. CO 14er #30!" — Globetrotter87 • Jul 3, 2014
"The summit block. After taking the Silverton train, backpacking in to the idyllic Chicago Basin, and climbing through tough terrain to above the 14,000 foot mark, you face what you knew you would have to face all along, and it's mentally not any easier. The famous summit block on Sunlight requires an awkward "leap of faith" move across a gap to a tiny perch of dizzying exposure. While some may have done headstands here in the past, I only managed to hug the rock for a moment before willing myself down." — scott • Aug 27, 2006
"Late season gives you nice solitude in this popular basin. We did a link up from Eolus that gave us some good route finding. There was also some snow from a fall storm. It kept things interesting. " — ChrisMeloche • Oct 12, 2002
Photos
Awards
Challenges
About peakery awards
Log successful summits on peakery to earn awards:
Peak Badges: Earn a special badge for each unique peak you summit. See all of your badges on your Badges page.
First Ascent Award: Only 1 available per peak. Goes to the first peakery member to log a successful summit of a peak. Snag this award and the peak will forever bear your name.
King of the Mountain Award: Only 1 available per peak. Summit a peak more times than any other member. Beware: this award can be lost!
Summit Steward: Summit a peak at least 5 times to become one of its Summit Stewards. As Steward of a peak, you’re encouraged to keep that peak’s info up-to-date on peakery and spread goodwill on your future climbs up the peak.