United States Mountain
Date: 08/02/2024
Partner: Kristi Henes
Trailhead: Upper Camp Bird Mine CR26A (4x4 required)
Distance: 4.7m
Elevation Gain: 2450ft
Duration: 4hrs 40min
GPX
United States Mountain 14ers.com Page
We were hoping to summit United States via the west ridge however after getting most of the way across, our route options were not great. The terrain was steep, exposed and loose. After exploring various options, we decided to retrace our path down and find a route from the summit side of the ridge.
After contouring around the the south side of the mountain we found a somewhat reasonable route up the mountain. Our route was much better than the ridge but still loose and steep... descending was especially tedious.
Although the summit views were great I can't say I will go back to United States Mountain.
Would love to hear if you find a better route up this choss factory than we did.
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4.7m - 2450ft - 4hrs 40min
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United States Mountain above Hidden Treasure Mine ruins
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Approaching with T7 & T8 behind
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Dinosaur skull? We ascended to the saddle - It was somewhat loose (but not too bad)
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United States Mountain looking like a carcass
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Up to the saddle
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Yankee Boy views from the saddle. L2R: Sneffels, Kismet, Cirque, Teakettle, Coffeepot, Potosi
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Taking in the views before taking on the ridge
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Gilpin and Sneffels
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Sneffels and Kismet above Stony Mountain
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Potosi lookin like a boss
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At first the ridge didn't seem too bad. You could almost reach out and touch the other side
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Things started to get loose and steep. Dinner plates peeling off the top of seemingly solid rock
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Exploring options. This one didn't go
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We poked around for about 30 minutes for options before deciding to back track and ascend from the summit side of the ridge. The terrain was a bit heinous
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Run away run away
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Contouring around to the east
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Looking for ascent options
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Cool looking but nope
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We found this steep and loose gully to the rib. Wasn't great but the choices were few
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As the terrain got steeper we climbed to a rib on the left
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Gaining the summit ridge and looking back across the traverse we bailed on
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Summit views of the Yankee Boy peaks to the north
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Time to descend the choss we climbed
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Butt scootin on nastiness.
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Steep and loose - don't recommend
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Didn't need these pants anyway
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Exfoliating the caboose
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Should have brought the screeboards

































