Peaks 1-4, Ten Mile Range
(class 3-4 scramble)
TH/Route: Mt Royal TH. Peak 1-4 ridge scramble then loop down to Colorado Trail, Miners Creek Rd, and back out .
Elevation Gain/Length: over 5,000ft gained in about 11 miles RT
Time: 9.5 hours
Elevation Gain/Length: over 5,000ft gained in about 11 miles RT
Time: 9.5 hours
A fun day of hiking and scrambling was in need. I called up Greg and we decided on the Peak 1-4 scramble as a viable option. He had to work late the night prior so an entire Ten Mile Range traverse wasn't an option and I was o.k with that cause it's nice to have a "leisurely" day once in a while. Not a late start by any means as we were on the Mt Royal trail by about 7:30. Greg's wife Laural and dog Balto joined in on the hike up to Peak 1 and we made our way up. Such a beautiful hike even just up to Peak 1. We passed by a group of 3 near the summit of Victoria. They ask, " How far are you guys going?". I reply, "Just over to Peak 4 and then down and around back into Frisco." "Oh, thats it??? We are going all the way!" I kinda laughed a little bit inside as it was already 9:30 and they seemed a little unprepared for the task, but who am I to judge. Long story short, we ended up summiting Peak 2 as we saw them reaching Peak 1 and from there I believe they had second thoughts and turned around on their mission. Hey, they are outside doing something and that's all that matters! Anyways..
After a leisurely pace we found ourselves on the summit of Peak 1 in about 3 hours. From there we briefly snacked, said our goodbyes to Laurel and Balto, and then headed off to the more fun part of the day!
The Peak 1-2 ridge offered some great warm-up scrambling for the route ahead.
An hour later we summited Peak 2, aka, TenMile Peak
The remaining ridgeline was definitely the highlight of the day. For the most part, you can make it as hard or easy as you want. You can stay on the ridge direct from Peak 1 all the way to Peak 4 besides about three times you have to bypass to the right or left. The first was at the deep V notch where you bypass a class 5 tower on the right. The second was a little bit before the feature known as "The Dragon" where while staying on the ridge I came to a sheer 10ft drop that I couldn't down-climb and so retraced a little ways and downclimbed to the east. This then brought you to the "The Dragon". The dragon holds some lower 5th class climbing onto the Dragons back from the East while I chose to scramble up the neck and onto the Dragon's back from the West. This was my favorite part of the climb. Super exposed but very solid. It leads you into a class 4 downclimb onto the tail and then off, around, and back onto the ridge.
An hour and a half from Peak 2 we found ourselves on top of Peak 3! The remaining ridge to Peak 4 was, besides The Dragon, the best part of the ridge traverse. Solid ridge all the way to the summit. Stay high!
An hour later we found ourselves at our goal, Peak 4! What an awesome ridge line! For the millions of times that I look up at that ridge it was a great feeling to finally get up there and hike it! The remaining ridge to Peak 9 looked inviting but our plan for the day would take us elsewhere. We hiked the ridge a little bit further South before we headed East down Peak 4 towards the Colorado Trail. From there we eventually hit Miners Creek Rd and walked it all the way back to Frisco and the cars.
A classic scramble right out the back door!