Back in April, we looked to Engineer Mountain as one of our training peaks prior to attempting to climb Iztaccihuatl in Mexico – Mexico’s third highest at over 17k feet. Getting used to high altitudes is one of the keys to success in attempting big, high climbs like Izta. Engineer mountain is close to home and fits the bill about as well as possible given our altitude challenged peaks (mostly under 14k feet) here in the lower U.S. That said, climbing Engineer in April requires preparation and is no mean feat.
As per usual, the San Juan range was still covered in snow on this mid-spring day. Acoordingly, we were somewhat concerned with avalanche potential and general snow conditions before the hike. So, we checked the Colorado avalanche reports and decided to fly around the mountain and do our own assessment of the situation. One of the wonderful things about being able to fly an aircraft like the Cessna 182 is the ability to quickly access areas not readily available to those on foot. Upon arriving in Durango, CO by air, Roger met me at the airport. We quickly decided to launch again, fly around Engineer and make our own assessment on the conditions. If you look close, just left and below the summit you can see some avalanche activity on south facing slopes. Our approach would be from the northeast and we decided that this would not affect our climb.
Engineer just forward of the wing strut
At this altitude (around 12,500 ft.) you can only spend about 30 minutes in the airplane without supplemental oxigen. Since we don’t carry that in the plane, we stayed up only long enough to make a loop around the mountain before descending over Molas pass and the Purgatory Ski Area on our way back to the Durango Airport. The whole trip took about an hour and the scenery was spectacular to say the least. Practically, all of the San Juan range of the Rocky mountains were visible during our loop around Engineer mountain. Inspecting this amount country by car or foot would have been practically impossible.
Route up north east ridge
The next morning early, we loaded the packs with water, food, crampons & snowshoes and headed up the “million dollar highway” for the trailhead. It was a beautiful day with sub freezing morning temperatures providing perfect snow conditions. A little wind at the top reminded us that we were, in fact, in the mountains. On a couple of exposed areas, ice crystals pelted our faces as 25 mph winds out of the north rose up and over the ridge of Engineer. We stayed on the summit just a few minutes and took in the breathtaking view. Four skiers had beaten us to the top and were sitting around waiting on the snow to get just right (thaw on top) for a quick ski descent. This is a popular backcountry ski destination from Durango.
Glissading
We went down the hard way – Glissading and snowshoeing. Here, I take a break after coming to a sliding stop just above the parking lot. The view compelled me to snap a shot. I’m looking East towards the Weminuche Wilderness. I was pretty much spent at this point and decided to take five and enjoy the view. These MSR snowshoes are great and kept us from punching down through the deep spring snow after it had warmed up on the descent. They were lifesavers!
The Nugget with Engineer in background
We were down by noon and headed back towards Durango. On the way down, Roger suggested a burger and a beer at the Nugget. How could I say no? You can see the impressive upper reaches of Engineer in the background with the northeast ridge (our climbing route) at the right. What a fun mountain and what a beautiful day. It does not get any better than this in the Rockies! Also, thanks to my friend Roger – for being a great guide! Now, off to Mexico.