The trail to the cutoff is very gentle and well defined. Unfortunatly, Mr. Roach's maps and book are a little outdated. We arrived at a faint trail, marked by a small a cairn, took a look at the map and decided that the trail to Wetterhorn must be further up the main trail. The trail to our left was 500ft lower than the map showed and headed east-northeast. Roach's map shows the trail heading north toward Matterhorn and than slowly turning west-southwest below the Wetterhorn - Matterhorn ridge.

After following the main trail for about 45 minutes (and 900 feet of elevation), we took a break and tried to figure out where we were heading. From this vantagepoint we could now see the trail at 11,500 more clearly. I decided to scout a little more of the main trail to see if I could find the cutoff shown on the map. After reaching 12,400 feet and seeing no signs of the cutoff, I went back down to were Shayne had been resting and we decided to give the trail at 11,500 a shot. We couldn't see the whole trail but we figured we would just scramble up to the ridge if need be.

We went back down then headed along the faint trail for half a mile, passing a few primitive campsites and crossing Matterhorn creek. The trail hugs the upper West side of the basin to the left of Matterhorn creek, it then becomes much more defined, quickly steepen's and heads directly toward point 13,117. We reached the point at 11:45 and took about a 15-minute break. From the cutoff to point 13,117 the trail is a class 2.

After our break, while slowly making our way up the ridge, we meet up with a couple of guys on there way down from the summit. They informed us that we were about 45 minutes to an hour from the summit. Shayne and I talked with them for a few minutes and decided to make the final push. Ten minutes later Ingred passed us. We saw him coming about 20 minutes earlier and were amazed by his pace. We exchanged hello's as he started up the final portion of the ridge to the summit wall. As soon as Ingred passed us, we noticed that the clouds above were becoming more threatening by the minute. After a short discussion we decided that if we hauled ass we might make the summit before the storm developed but our pace was becoming slower and slower and neither one of us had any desire to climb down the 150 foot summit wall in the rain. The wet rock would have turned our climb into a suicide mission.

Shortly after turning around I was surprised to see Ingred peaking over the ridge, he apparently had been listening to our conversation and after pondering his own fate for a few minutes he decided to go for the summit. Neither Shayne or I were worried, we knew he was traveling at about twice the pace we were and knew that he would have no problem getting down from the summit before the storm materialized.

Mildly defeated, I followed Shayne down the trail, the altitude was really messing with my head and I found myself running and jumping over exposed sections of trail that I would normally think twice about. It didn't occur to me, what I was doing, until we were 1/3 rd of the way down. Shortly after my self diagnosis of altitude stupidity, Shayne informed me that he wasn't feeling so hot. His head was pounding and he was feeling nauseous. We took a 10 minute break, slammed some water and continued on down to the truck. By the time we reached the truck the storm had finally pulled itself together over Wetterhorn. Shayne was still feeling nauseous and I was just flat out beat! We decided to head towards Lake City and find a place to eat and crash.

It took us about an hour to change and rearrange the gear in the truck, just as we started, Ingred passed through the access gate and started down toward the parking area. 45 minutes later we passed a hitchhiking Ingred along Henson Creek road. Shayne and I stopped an offered him a ride to his car and as the rain started, he accepted. It turns out he started his day at the Nellie Creek 4WD parking, climbed Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn then came down the Matterhorn Creek trail. This put him a little over 15 miles from his vehicle, while a heavy thunderstorm chased him down the road. Ingred was in the states on Holiday from Italy. The previous day he had asked the local forest service worker, the most direct route up Wetterhorn and the above instructions are what they gave him. He wasn't too happy when we showed him a map of the area and pointed out the 15 mile trek he almost had to make between trailheads. He also stated that he was listening quite attentively to our conversation on the ridge and pondered the idea of following us down.

When we dropped him off we were shocked to find that he had driven a 2WD ford aerostar, with zero ground clearance, up this rough 4WD road. He laughed and explained how he would drive about 20 feet get out of the car move the big rocks out of his way than drive another 20 feet or so and do it again, until he reached the 4WD parking area. He also gave us a couple beers, as "thanks" for the ride to his car. We never did get his name, Ingred was the first name that came to mind and It just stuck.

Shayne and I made it to Lake City, at approx. 8pm, only to find everything closed. So we decided to push on to Gunnison and prepare for round 2.

-Scott Parry