Mount Silverheels - 13,822' - Class 2
May 2011

Snow free slopes heading back to the car

This was a climb I wasn't too excited to do knowing it was a very gentle and not very scenic peak but it was with a nice group of people so I enjoyed it anyways. I bought snowshoes the day before in Salida that I now wish I didn't buy but since it was May they were on sale. I figured it was time to stop floundering through snow without them and slowing others down so I picked some up. I met a bunch of 14ers members just below Hoosier Pass and we started up the slopes to the unnamed 12er just to the west of Silverheels on the other side of Beaver Creek. What really sucked was that we had to descend 300 feet to Beaver Creek and then re-climb it on the other side. Add to that the east facing slopes heading down to the creek had lots of snow that wasn't too bad in the morning but the willow bushes below the snow really made it annoying. Once across the creek, it was bare rock again and I went on ahead and slogged all the way up to the summit. I felt quite a bit of solitude since I completely lost track of the rest of my group. It was a windy morning so I didn't stay on the summit long, but as I started heading down, I saw the group on their way to the summit. I yelled to them I was just going to descend myself since I needed to be in Salida by mid-afternoon that day. So I got a nice glissade down to Beaver Creek but the 300 foot climb back up was horribly in deep snow to which the snowshoes didn't help much. I just slowly made it probably frying my face in the process but once out of it, I ran back down to the car. Not much more to say about this hike. 

Mount Silverheels from the unnamed 12er

Looking across to the Lincoln Group