The standard approach for anything on the west side.

Statistics

1 - 2

hrs

303

m

12

m

19

max°

Difficulty

FATMAP difficulty grade

Easy

Description

From the parking lot at the top of the pass, cross US HWY 40 and follow the Continental Divide Trail.

Just before the trail goes into a stand of trees (about 40 vertical feet up) there is a cut off to the right for people boot-packing.

Those who are skinning should continue to follow the CDT through the stand of trees for roughly 100 yards until the trees open up.

At that point, the skin track cuts sharply to the right. The boot-pack climbs along the climber's right of the trees while the skin track climbs along the climber's left of the trees.

The two merge again after roughly 350 yards at around 11700 feet.

Depending on your desired desired descent route you can either turn right (North) to arrive at the top of lines like The Plunge and Lift Gulley, or you can continue to climb in the same direction and reach the "upper west weather station" at 11900 feet.