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Aug 24, 2021 — Mount Silverheels, Hoosier Ridge, and Red Mountain are really just three massive humps outsid eof Breckenridge. The hike to access them feels pretty long due to the sweeping and uninspired tundra, but they make for a pleasant and fairly big day of walking along a sloped ridgeline. I parked at Hoosier Pass and headed east along a dirt road. This road would lead to some sort of building, but I left the dirt road and continued east along the tundra slope. I went far enough along the road that was able to avoid all bushwhacking farther down, starting right up the tundra slope. At some point I stumbled on a social trail that led to the ridge crest. I continued east, deciding that I'd do Mount Silverheels first. This meant leaving the ridgeline and heading across the tundra slope to the south-leading ridgeline. I passed under a power line and then was able to side-hill around one big hill along the way, before finding myself at the base of Mount Silverheels. Though not visible from below nor from farther away, the north face has a social trail leading through the talus. The route goes at easy Class 2, but it's steep. It was easy tundra walking once I reached the summit ridge.
After coming down from Mount Silverheels, I headed north and just followed the grassy ridgeline all the way to Hoosier Ridge. Along the way I only had to do a little bit of talus-hopping, but there were multiple humps that required going up and over. Hoosier Ridge also included some Class 2 to reach its summit. Red Mountain was only a short distance away, so I dropped off Hoosier Ridge's steep and grassy northern slope and ascended Red Mountain. This peak was similar to the rest of the hike except that it had the most difficult move of the day. Still only Class 2, a short and steep section of talus required a tiny bit of thought to find a solid and viable route. The views toward the more impressive 13ers to the west, Boreas Mountain to the northeast, and Breckenridge to the north were nice.
I returned back along the ridgeline, side-hilling along the west side of Hoosier Ridge so I didn't have to re-ascend the peak, and made my way back to my car.
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