Hike Peak 13201, Peak 13300 C, Matterhorn Peak, Broken Hill Loop Grand Mesa-Uncompahgre-Gunnison National Forest, CO

Aug 12, 2021 — This traverse includes a couple of unnamed 13ers, Matterhorn Peak, and Broken Hill. Luke included Wetterhorn Peak since he hadn't hiked it before. Since I did years ago in conjunction with Uncompahgre Peak, I was content to save my legs. Including Wetterhorn Peak along this loop would make a lot of sense since the route passes just beneath it and even follows the standard trail route used to reach the summit, as a note. This traverse received the name "Broken, Wet, and Horny", a combination of the peak names, which was labeled on the folder Luke sent me containing photos. I died of laughter and had to share.

We parked at the base of the tricky Matterhorn Creek Road, finding one of many possible pull-outs to leave the car. Reaching this point is doable for any car, but low-clearance might have to go slow at points. We continued west along the main road in search of a trail we were hoping still existed called the "Wetterhorn Basin Trail", which follows Mary Alice Creek. The trail was a bit overgrown, but only required short spurts of easy bushwhacking. It was also fairly steep and followed an old roadbed for its majority. I marked where we left the trail on my attached map since it seemed to curve away from where we wanted to go, but who knows. The terrain was mostly tundra with a couple hunderd feet of easy walking through brush. We crossed over Mary Alice Creek and ascended to the south ridge of Peak 13201. Some talus-hopping led to some Class 2+ when gaining this ridge. The hike along the south ridge to the summit was pretty and quite easy.

The summit of Peak 13201 got us in even better moods than we were in. We were hoping to drop down from the north ridge of Peak 13201, but our friend Whiley warned it was very sketchy. She was right. I marked this Class 4 spot that Luke descended, while I decided I'd rather not risk dying do to loose rock. In fact, while attempting to descend I caused an otherwise solid-looking boulder to slide off. That was enough to convince me to return down Peak 13201's south ridge instead. Luke was convinced he wanted to go for Wetterhorn Peak, so I told him to run off (because he runs mountains like a crazy person) and I'd catch up later on Matterhorn Peak.

I descended the south ridge and headed along Class 2 talus along Peak 13201's east slope. It was pretty easy-going overall, but you might want to consider just dropping all the way down to avoid the relatively slow-moving boulder-hopping. I made it to the saddle on Peak 13201's east side and continued on steep tundra to Peak 13300C. Along the way there were two very short and easy Class 2 sections, but otherwise it was a lovely grassy stroll. Wetterhorn Peak looked outstanding from this angle. I backtracked slightly to avoid cliffs on Peak 13300C's east face and continued on steep tundra with a couple of Class 2 moves to avoid minor rock outcrops down to its saddle with Wetterhorn Peak. I made a slowly ascending traverse to the southeast ridge of Wetterhorn Peak, still only tundra with some very light boulder-hopping. There was even an animal trail for the second half. Once on Wetterhorn Peak's southeast ridge I stumbled onto the standard Wetterhorn Peak approach trail. Next up was Matterhorn Peak, visible ahead. I followed the trail down to where the boulders ended and tundra began, deciding to take the easier walking route even if it meant losing extra vertical gain. Instead of descending as far as I did you could traverse the boulder field. Later on Luke and I compared tracks and he decided to do just that, but he ultimately only saved 200 vertical gain and likely had to deal with a lot of boulder-hopping.

I was now on the very southern slope of Matterhorn Peak, steep tundra. About a quarter mile from the summit I located a cairn which soon led to a faint social trail. This continued through the tundra, then the rocky terrain, and finally on the standard Class 2 talus route to Matterhorn Peak's summit. There was a Class 2+ move near the summit, but it's only because the boulders are really big and require some light scrambling. I headed down from Matterhorn Peak, passing Luke along the way. I wanted to make faster time because I knew he'd catch up, so I continued down Matterhorn Peak's southeast ridge on easy tundra and to its saddle with Broken Hill, our final peak still over a mile away. The tundra hiking here was much easier than most of the day. I kept just to the right of the ridge crest since it appeared to be a lot more rocky, and I was successful in sticking to grassy terrain for the majority of the ascent. There was a false summit along the way, but only forced me to lose a hundred feet of vertical gain. The grassy ridgeline continued to the base of Broken Hill, where a steep section complete with a social trail led to just below the summit block. Broken Hill's summit block looked formidable from this angle, but a social trail wrapped around its south side on easy Class 2 and up to the summit.

Now for getting back. Our plan was to take Broken Hill's southwest ridge down to the Matterhorn Creek Trail (or rather, the road leading to the trailhead), and follow this down to the car. We headed down from the summit block and started descending this ridge. While perfectly nice as a descent on tundra for its majority, I wouldn't recommend reversing our loop. It's quite steep along this ridge. Toward the bottom we entered the forest on an animal trail and wandered down the slope until we reached the road, a short hike from the car.