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Dallas Peak – 13,809 ft.

May 2, 2014 San Juans, Trip Reports
Chris davenport, centennial skiers
Easy skinning turned to deep powder booting higher up.

At 13,809 feet, Dallas Peak has the distinction of being the shortest Centennial Peak. It’s #100 on the list in elevation. But as anyone who has spent time in the mountains knows, shorter doesn’t equate to being easier. While Dallas may rank lower in elevation when compared to its peers, the community consensus ranks it as the most challenging Centennial summit to climb. So in a strange bit of numerical irony, #100 in elevation ranks first in difficulty.

It’s deserving of the status. It’s steep, the routes are complex, giant cliff bands block most direct approaches, and the rock is all very loose. But it’s the the final stretch to the summit that solidifies its reputation as most challenging, where a 90-foot, 5th class chimney (5.3) on the mountain’s north side must be climbed to gain the summit.

Dallas Peak
Pete, Dav, and Christy approach the south side of Dallas. Our route ascended the ramp that climbs up to the right between the cliffs.
Pete gaston
Which only got deeper as we climbed. Pete, seen here, starts up the east side.

As you traverse out to the base of the chimney, in the cold, breezy shade of the north face, huge cliffs below exert their pull on you. It’s a chilly proposition in the height of summer, and is even less friendly when you add a full season’s snow like we had. There’s ice on the rock and the winds blow up the face, which makes communication difficult while spindrift flies everywhere. Once at the summit you’re only half way there, and some excavating and/or creative anchor building is needed to rig a suitable rappel to get everyone back down. Suffice to say, the technical finish on Dallas (like Teakettle, Jagged) prevents a ski descent from its exact summit.

Dav and Pete push up towards the summit while Christy and I shoot a couple selfies.
chris davenport, dallas peak, centennial skiers
Once at the top of the east side, a descending traverse across the north side brought us to the base of the chimney. Here Dav starts across. It was extremely airy.

It ended up being an incredibly memorable day. The cold, clear morning transitioned into a bluebird May day, and the recent storms had deposited an impressive amount of new snow up high. As we ascended the south and east sides of the mountain, it was exhausting work to set a trail in new snow that was at times more than two feet deep. Once we reached the high corner that took us around to the north face, Dav took the lead and made a really impressive solo up the chimney.

Digging out an anchor.
Christy readies to rap. It’s an awesome summit.
christy mahon
Hopefully it’s obvious why you don’t ski off the summit here.

And then it was time to get down off the summit and ski. We rappelled down and traversed back to the east side, where we switched to ski mode and got an unbelievably fun descent down the flanks of Dallas Peak in spring powder. We had long wondered how this day would go, and we couldn’t be more psyched to have got it in such great conditions. The challenging peaks are what make this whole project worth doing, and Dallas will stand out as one of our favorites.

chris davenport
And on to the skiing! Dav on the upper east side.
ted mahon, dallas peak, centennial skiers
That’s me in the spring powder. We didn’t ever think we would get Dallas in this condition.
Pete
christy mahon, centennial skiers
Christy, taking it home down on the south side.
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  • #1 Grizzly Peak – 13,988 ft.
  • #2 Stewart Peak -13,983 ft.
  • #3 Columbia Point – 13,980 ft.
  • #4 Pigeon Peak – 13,972 ft.
  • #5 Mount Ouray – 13,971 ft.
  • #6 Ice Mountain – 13,951 ft.
  • #7 Fletcher Mountain – 13,951 ft.
  • #8 Pacific Peak – 13,950 ft.
  • #9 Cathedral Peak – 13,943 ft.
  • #10 French Mountain – 13,940 ft.
  • #11 Mount Hope – 13,933 ft.
  • #12 Thunder Pyramid – 13,932 ft.
  • #13 Mount Adams – 13,931 ft.
  • #14 Gladstone Peak – 13,913 ft.
  • #15 Mount Meeker – 13,911 ft.
  • #16 Casco Peak – 13,908 ft.
  • #17 Red Mountain – 13,908 ft.
  • #18 Emerald Mountain – 13,904 ft.
  • #19 Horseshoe Mtn. – 13,898 ft.
  • #20 “Phoenix Peak” – 13,895 ft.
  • #21 Vermillion Peak – 13,894 ft.
  • #22 Cronin Peak – 13,870 ft.
  • #23 Mount Buckskin – 13,865 ft.
  • #24 Vestal Peak – 13,864 ft.
  • #25 Jones Mountain – 13,860 ft.
  • #26 North Apostle – 13,860 ft.
  • #27 Clinton Peak – 13,857 ft.
  • #28 Dyer Mountain – 13,855 ft.
  • #29 Crystal Peak – 13,852 ft.
  • #30 Mount Edwards – 13,850 ft.
  • #31 California Peak – 13,849 ft.
  • #32 Mount Oklahoma – 13,845 ft.
  • #33 Half Peak – 13,841 ft.
  • #34 Atlantic Peak – 13,841 ft.
  • #35 Hagerman Peak – 13,841 ft.
  • #36 Turret Peak – 13,835 ft.
  • #37 PT 13,832
  • #38 Holy Cross Ridge – 13,831 ft.
  • #39 Jupiter Mountain- 13,830 ft.
  • #40 “Huerfano Peak” – 13,828 ft.
  • #41 Jagged Mountain – 13,824 ft.
  • #42 “Lackawanna” – 13,823 ft.
  • #43 Mount SiIverheels – 13,822 ft.
  • #44 Rio Grande Pyramid – 13,821 ft.
  • #45 Teakettle Mountain – 13,819 ft.
  • #46 PT 13,811 – 13,811 ft.
  • #47 Dallas Peak – 13,809 ft.

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