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Jupiter Mountain – 13,830 ft.

May 13, 2014 San Juans, Trip Reports

Looking back, skiing Jupiter Mountain, 13,830 ft., might have been our most straightforward day of our whole Weminuche Wilderness traverse.

chicago basin, jupiter mountain
Up the Needle Creek Trail in Chicago Basin, Jupiter is the large mountain on the right.
christy mahon, jupiter mountain
Cresting treeline, the southwest face was up to our left. I saw my first marmot of the season just up ahead.
Sean Shean, weminuche
Sean, on the scrambley final stretch to the summit. Sunlight and Windom stand in the distance.

The day before, we rode the train from Durango and hiked the 5-mile Needle Creek Trail up into Chicago Basin, camping close to the base of Jupiter. In the morning we loosely followed the summer hiking trail towards Columbine Pass and at tree line we turned east and skinned up Jupiter’s Southwest Face. A short, airy scramble east along the the ridge led to the summit.

Jupiter’s summit offers incredible views of the nearby 14ers, as well as Monitor Peak, Jagged, and the vast Weminuche Wilderness. Knowing that we had a full day ahead of us— we had to ski down, break camp, and move into position for Pigeon and Turret peaks the next day— we didn’t spend too much time soaking it all in. We started off the summit to the south (which was the only continuous ski line off the top) and traversed towards a small couloir that dropped down the mountain’s northwest side. Eventually we made it back to the sun-softened slopes of the southwest face we had skinned, and skied all the way back to camp.

jupiter mountain
Christy and Ian ready to ski.
chris davenport, centennial skiers
Dav dropping in as seen from the summit.
christy mahon, jupiter mountain
The snow was pretty frozen here on the north side.
jupiter mountain ski
Partway down the SW side, we all stopped to catch a glimpse of Eolus and Chicago Basin.
Ian
Sean Shean
Sean in the big bowl down below.

It was as easy as it gets in the Weminuche. As soon as we packed up camp and loaded the “pigs” on our backs, we were on our way up and over a pass and down into to No Name Basin where we would set up a high camp at 12,000 ft. for the night. The next morning we planned to attempt two more Centennial Peaks.

Tags: weminuche
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Ski the Centennial 13ers trip reports

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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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