A summit gathering for the 50th anniversary of Bill Bueler's climb of Mt Wetterhorn in 1948.
Pictured left to right ... Bob Martin, John Wilson, Doug Pierce, Bill Bueler, Kent Hendrick

WETTERHORN PEAK CLIMB

All ---

Here's some information on the proposed 50th anniversary climb of Wetterhorn Peak (14,017) in southwest Colorado, scheduled for August 4, 1998, weather permitting.

Why this peak: Wetterhorn wasn't my first Colorado 14,000-foot peak, nor my last (Eolus, 1952).  But it has been one of my favorite peaks ever since I first climbed it in 1948.  Earlier that summer I had already climbed Elbert, Antero and Pikes Peak, but all of these were just walk-ups.  Wetterhorn, with its exposed 100-foot-high summit scramble, was something new.  Here was "real mountaineering" --- at least for a kid two years out of New Orleans.

Meeting place: Capitol City, 9.1 miles west of Lake City on the Henson Creek Road. (See map.)

Meeting time: Late afternoon, August 3.  We plan to set up camp and fix our supper there. You can either bring your own camp food and join us for supper or arrive later, after eating on the road.  If for some reason contact is not made on the 3rd, a backup meeting place will be the Matterhorn Creek trailhead (see map) at 7 a.m. on the 4th.

Route: Standard route.  Left skyline in the attached photo.  A walk to the last 100 feet, then a steep scramble.  A rope will be available.

Weather: If lightning intervenes, the climb will be postponed until the next good day.

--- Bill