Sep 12, 2018 — Obviously, peaks with names like "Fancy Peak" and "Savage Peak" beckoned to be climbed. Neither were fancy, nor savage, but definitely super pretty. This route seemed particularly interesting because it uses a fairly popular loop in the Holy Cross Wilderness to access the ridgeline, but avoids the more popular sections of the trail by taking the high road. The official trail is known as the Fancy Pass and Missouri Pass Loop, or Fancy Lake and Missouri Lakes Loop, depending on where you look. My route hits both passes, but follows the ridgeline that bisects the passes, as well and continuing to two Colorado 13ers, Fancy Peak and Savage Peak, neither of which are part of the official trail. I added the official trail section that I skipped in the attached map for reference.
From the Fancy Pass Trailhead, head up the uneventful wooded walk to Fancy Lake, and then continue up an old mining road to Fancy Pass. From here, you'll see the trail head down into the bowl to the west toward Treasure Vault Lake. To the north, the ridge heads up to Fancy Peak, and to the south, it stretches all the way to Savage Peak, which becomes visible as you head up to Fancy Peak. There's a fun Class 2+ mini ridge you can follow to gain Fancy Peak, or a walk-up just to the left of the ridge. From Fancy Peak, you can get a better sense of the entire ridge traverse to Savage Peak. If you don't want to do it, you can always head back down to Fancy Pass and take the official loop trail for the rest of the day.
Assuming you want to continue along the ridgeline south from Fancy Pass, head up a low Class 3 scramble to an unnamed high point between Fancy Pass and Missouri Pass, and then head back down to Missouri Pass, where you cross over the official trail again before continuing up the ridge that will ultimately lead to Savage Peak. There are a couple of easy Class 3 moves along this ridge, but you can likely avoid any serious scrambling by dropping just west of the ridgeline. The views west toward the lakes along Carter Creek and east to the Missouri Lakes are each a different color, and all overwhelmingly beautiful. From the summit of Savage Peak, head down the obvious ridgeline until you feel comfortable leaving the ridge and bushwhacking through beautiful alpine meadows to get back to the official Missouri Pass Trail. Take this back to the Fancy Pass Trailhead.
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Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I'm not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!
