Ascent of Parrott Peak on 2022-06-08| Date: | Wednesday, June 8, 2022 | | Ascent Type: | Successful Summit Attained | | Peak: | Parrott Peak | | Location: | USA-Colorado | | Elevation: | 11857 ft / 3614 m |
Ascent Trip ReportCamped in La Plata Canyon to get an early start, and took the Miner's Cabin route through some old forest service roads to a drainage on the northeast side of Parrott Peak. From there, the route goes off-trail and gets quite steep first through some brushy overgrowth, and then through krummholz and scree to the saddle at 11,540'. Turn SE and ascend to the summit of Parrott (11,857') over loose talus.
From Parrott, the ridgeline works its way north over several rolling, but often steep, peaks. After descending back to the saddle, ascend Madden Peak (11,972'), Star Peak (11,761'), Unnamed Peak 11,870', and Unnamed Point 11,931'. That last point doesn't count as a standalone peak because the descent to its saddle with Gibbs is only about 100'. Typical descent between each peak was around 400-500'.
The ascent to the summit of Gibbs is the technical crux of the route. The ridgeline gets cliffed out at the final push, so you have to skirt around to the west, and then ascend some easy class 3ish (or hard class 2, I don't know. It was harder from a technical standpoint than class 2 terrain I've done in the past) terrain to regain the ridge. Walk the ridge the rest of the way to the summit of Gibbs (12,286').
For the descent, traverse to the north subpeak of Gibbs, and work your way down the east ridge. This starts with a downclimb of some class 3ish rock similar to what you saw on the ascent. From there, the grade evens out a bit, but is still steep with loose gravel in place of the solid rock we saw earlier. For me, I find it easier to downclimb class 3 on solid rock than to slip and slide down loose gravel, even if it is 'easier' from a technical standpoint. After a while, the ridge intersects an old trail that switchbacks down to a forest service road. Work your way down to Madden Creek, where you join up with the Madden Creek trail (the first actual trail of the day!) back to the bottom of La Plata Canyon.
The whole route is around 9 miles and 4,900' of elevation gain. I guess I added a little bit to the mileage by roadwalking to and from my campsite. Started around 6:30am and ended around 4pm. Not at all happy with my pace, but thankfully the weather was great all day. There is a bailout point before Gibbs if the weather is threatening. |
| Summary Total Data | | Total Elevation Gain: | 2969 ft / 904 m | | Total Elevation Loss: | 395 ft / 120 m | | Round-Trip Distance: | 2.5 mi / 4.1 km | | Grade/Class: | 2 | | Route Conditions: | Road Hike, Maintained Trail, Unmaintained Trail, Bushwhack, Snow on Ground, Scramble | | Gear Used: | Ski Poles, Tent Camp | | Weather: | Pleasant, Breezy, Partly Cloudy | | Ascent Statistics | | Gain on way in: | 2960 ft / 902 m | | Gain Breakdown: | Net: 2877 ft / 877 m; Extra: 83 ft / 25m | | Loss on way in: | 83 ft / 25 m | | Distance: | 2.3 mi / 3.7 km | | Route: | Miner's Cabin | | Start Trailhead: | Miner's Cabin 8980 ft / 2737 m | | Descent Statistics | | Loss on way out: | 312 ft / 95 m | | Loss Breakdown: | Net: 303 ft / 93 m; Extra: 9 ft / 2m | | Gain on way out: | 9 ft / 2 m | | Distance: | 0.2 mi / 0.4 km | | Route: | North ridge | | End Trailhead: | Madden Creek 11554 ft / 3521 m | Ascent Part of Trip: Parrott-Gibbs Traverse
Complete Trip Sequence:
Total Trip Gain: 4824 ft / 1471 m Total Trip Loss: 4756 ft / 1449 m |
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