Finally I reached the notch in
front of the Ship's Prow. Note the cairn in the opening showing
the way. You have to climb up and through this notch to reach
the final summit pitch.
This is what you see when
you look through the notch - makes you take a breath for
sure. You have to friction down this slab and climb right,
up the slight gully. To the left is nothingness.
From the top of the slab, I
could see climbers in front of me already in the gully.
From the bottom of the slab to
the summit is called Wetterhorn's "crux".
Looking up I could still see
the climbers ahead of me.
And here is the view down from
the same spot.
About halfway up the final
pitch, the other climbers are just reaching the summit.
Here is the view left from
this spot.
And another nervous look
down.
Life is good! The summit! I am
pointing west to Mt. Sneffels, which was mostly hidden in the
clouds.
And to the east, a great view
of Uncompahgre.
Here is a summit view of the
Ship's Prow, and the valley beyond from whence I came. Terri
(and a jeep!) would be down in those trees somewhere....
On the way back down I was
obsessed with getting a clear picture of Sneffels.
Many marmots on much calmer
trails on the way back. This guy looks regal between Matterhorn
and Uncompahgre.
