W5N/SS-001 Wheeler Peak

The goal for today was to climb Wheeler Peak, the highest in New Mexico, then hike around the cirque to Lake Fork and Kachina Peaks, and descend down the ski slopes. We weren't able to do this, but it was an excellent hike nonetheless. We left the AirBnB super early and got to the Williams Lake Trailhead for a 4am start. It was dark.

The moon lighting up the sky. Somewhere below the lake.

As we were driving over, Allison announced that she had forgotten her headlamp at home. We decided that the two we had, plus the bright moon would be enough to safely do the hike. It was pretty chilly as we set off, but we quickly warmed up as we climbed. In the dark we all managed to go the wrong way at the junction above the lake. Joe had set out a minute before Allison and I, and walked all the way to the lake before realizing his mistake. Allison and I got suspicious that we weren't going up, and turned around before losing too much elevation.

Finally light enough to take a selfie.

As we got to the treeline, it got light enough not to need the headlamps. We started switchbacking our way up the steep slope. The original plan was to be on the summit for sunrise, but our late start made that impossible.

Joe and Allison reminiscing about their first date on the mountain. 

It got much windier as we got higher, and it was quite windy on the ridge. I sped up a bit near the end since I was cold and didn't want to stop to put on more jackets until I got to the summit. I was faked out by a false summit, but did see a herd of bighorn sheep below the summit ridge.

The bighorn sheep run by.

On the summit I bundled up. A man from Georgia caught up to us on the summit, and took some group photos. Joe and I then retreated to the lee side of the mountain to set up an get on the air. Once again, Allison was the videographer, getting some beautiful shots of the mountain and us operating.

Starting the cirque.

After working everyone, we packed up and continued along the ridge. The traverse over to Simpson Peak was easy, and there was a trail out of the wind for most of it. After taking a picture of the plaque on top, we started the class 2 descent. It took us all a minute to find our legs, but the descend was uneventful. At the bottom we paused in a flat area that we called Contemplation Point, at the bottom of FU wall.

Joe posing. Contemplation point is at the top of the green area in front of FU wall.

Joe was the first to climb up the wall. He took one look over and decided that it wasn't a good idea to keep going. We looked to see if there was a way around, but it would have involved a huge descend and climb to get around it. Allison and I then climbed up to take a look, and we all came to the same conclusion: turning around was the best option here.

View of the class 4 section on top of FU.

FU wall.

We climbed back up the way we had come, and then traversed back to Wheeler. There were a lot of people on the summit by now, but we took a break to enjoy the view. We had passed some climbers on the ridge who claimed they were going to do the traverse, bet we didn't see them at all.

Wildflowers were blooming on the ridge.

The descent down the switchbacks was quick. We decided to glissade down a snowfield, which was a lot of fun. I had never glissaded before. Back at the junction we decided to go check out the lake. Joe and Allison recreated a photo from the last time they were here.

Williams Lake was quite pretty.

At the end of the trail it passes The Bavarian. We decided that the only thing to do was stop and have a beer. I don't know if I've ever had a beer that tasted so good. Back at the car we drove back to the house for some beautiful showers.

Also, check out N0MAP's video of the hike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRdE54_d3_Y

Trailhead: Williams Lake Trailhead. Also possible to start at the Bull of the Woods TH.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Follow the trail up to the junction in the col above Williams Lake. Follow the switchbacks uphill to the summit.
Red Tape: None.

Columbine flowers blooming on the way up.