LoJ: #189 (Pre-LiDAR #190) / 13,604' Gray Wolf Mountain

From the trail where it crosses the outlet for the upper Chicago Lake, cross on over the outlet stream to the south side and then work along the SE shore of the lake to the southern end of the lake. The authors ventured up here nearly four decades ago with no specific information regarding what they might find in regards to an exit out of the Chicago Lakes valley. The rugged headwall presents several couloirs as a possible escape. We chose to continue in a SSW direction from the end of the upper lake toward a rounded slope that formed the lower cone of a well-defined couloir that appeared to split near the top. The top of the couloir intersects the Spalding east ridge. Google Earth offers a fairly well-defined view of this slope and how it gives way to the couloir higher up, so we have provided an image to assist in identifying this exit. We believe this is the same couloir that Roach describes in "Colorado's Thirteeners" and has provided the name of "Windy City." The coordinates for the bottom of the rounded slope are: N 39° 36' 26.01 W 105° 38' 44.73", elev. 11,900 ft. This route should top out at these coordinates approximately: N 39° 36' 04.20 W 105° 39' 03.61", elev. 13,460 - 13,500 ft. appx.

Walk steeply up the lower rounded cone of this slope for several hundred feet before you are forced into the couloir. The authors found themselves in the midst of a large group of resting mountain goats who were sunning themselves on the open tundra patches. As you enter the couloir, the terrain changes from mostly tundra and embedded rock to rocky rubble, talus, medium boulders, etc. The scrambling will approach Class 3 if you're here later in the summer. Earlier in the summer, you may find snow and will need ice axe and at a minimum, micro-spikes. Keep at it until you break out of the couloir and onto the east ridge of Spalding, near where the ridge fans out more widely. From there, stroll and trip on to the summit amid mostly boulders & rocks of varying sizes. Return as you came or continue over to Gray Wolf.

Alternate to the Windy City Couloir: From the upper Chicago Lake at the outlet, a trail leads off to the south passing through some willows and gaining a bench on the southeast side of the lake. This trail actually continues steeply up the north flank of Mt. Warren all the way to a point on the west ridge of Mt. Warren about .25 mile east of Summit Lake. You can then just drop down to the Warren/Spalding saddle, then follow the east ridge route to the summit of Spalding (or Warren & Rogers to the east for that matter.) The trail that leads up from the upper lake is not drawn on some maps. The Mt. Evans USGS quad does not show it, neither does the Trails Illustrated map. Nevertheless it is clearly there and is used by many who choose to ascend Mt. Evans by way of Echo Lake, a longer but much more sporting way to climb that 14er.