LoJ: #538 (Pre-LiDAR #561) / 13,139' UN 13139 Williams Mtn. North
Range ›
Sawatch Range
Quadrangle ›
Mt. Champion
Summit Location ›
N 39° 11' 29.63", W 106° 36' 21.83"
(Not Field Checked)
N 39° 11' 29.63", W 106° 36' 21.83"
(Not Field Checked)
Neighboring Peaks ›
Williams Mountain
Williams Benchmark [Williams Mtn. South A]
UN 13204 [Williams Mtn South B]
UN 13039 [Formerly UN 13033 Williams Mtn. South C]
Williams Mountain
Williams Benchmark [Williams Mtn. South A]
UN 13204 [Williams Mtn South B]
UN 13039 [Formerly UN 13033 Williams Mtn. South C]
Peak Summary
Except for problems near the low point of the connecting ridge between Williams Mountain and its north summit, Williams Mountain North is an easier Class 2 ascent. Easily combined with Williams Mountain by its north ridge and an access from Deadman Gulch. Access is by passenger car to the Lost Man trailhead on the west side of Independence Pass. Though it is possible to climb all five Williams summits in one long day, many may prefer to make a two or three day backpack trip up the Lost Man trail to clean out all the 13er summits in this area. Lidar bumped this one up quite a bit adding 31 feet in elevation.
Williams North - South Ridge Route
Class 2
Backpack + Medium Day
Climbed with
Williams Mountain
RT From Lost Man Trailhead:
17.25 mi / 5,160'
RT From
South Fork Pass Camps
with
Williams Mountain:
6.25 mi / 3,500'
From Williams Mountain:
0.80 mi / 500' (One-Way)
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Lost Man Trailhead
The name for trail #1996 is "The Lost Man" trail. It has two access points off Highway 82 out of Aspen. The first access is 14 miles east of Aspen and is a large parking area on the north side of the highway, across from the Lost Man Campground. This section of the trail leads up to South Fork Pass and Lost Man Lake. If accessing the Williams Mountains, this is the shortest and easiest access. Once across South Fork Pass, the trail number changes to 1940.
If coming from the Front Range, turn west off onto SH82 from US24 between Leadville and Buena Vista and drive past the Twin Lakes Reservoirs, through the small town of Twin Lakes and continue west up to the summit of Independence Pass. From the summit, continue driving west. At the first switchback heading down is what we are calling the "Roaring Fork River" trailhead. This is actually the other end of the Lost Man trail #1996. Drive on west past here, for another 4.3 miles to the Lost Man Campground and parking for the Lost Man trail on the north side of the highway. The parking lot is sizable.
Camping
On the west side of Independence Pass, at-large camping opportunities have all but been taken away. There are four designated, fee-type national forest campgrounds however beginning with Difficult Creek (four miles out of Aspen), Weller, Lincoln Gulch and Lost Man. All of these tend to fill on weekends. It may be possible to stay overnight in your vehicle at the Lost Man trailhead parking. Do this at your own risk of being run off.
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From Lost Man TH via South Fork Pass Camps & Williams Mountain:
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Williams Mtn. North Ridge Class 3 / 3.25 mi / 2,400’ One-Way
Click thumbnail to view full-size photo + caption
Open This Route in a New WindowOur route to attempt Williams Mountain by it's north ridge was suggested by Gerry and Jennifer Roach who had themselves climbed it this way. Begin your day by hiking down from your campsite at either South Fork Pass or further down Deadman Gulch to the large and wet meadow by Deadman Lake. Once on the edge of the meadow, head northwest along the edge of the forest, and just west of the lake, tree-bashing your way over to the unnamed creek draining the northeast flank of Williams. Once you manage to work your way through the trees, it is fairly easy progress now in a SW direction along the creek following game trails. In the trees, there are numerous trails to follow that head up the creek. Near where the trees began to thin out, get on the north side of the creek and work your way up valley. (We found plentiful signs of elk up here.) At the small tarn at about 12,100 ft., head up toward the south end of the saddle that separates Williams from North Williams. The last few hundred feet to the saddle, skirt south and connect with the main ridge a little south of the low point. Much of this part of the ascent will be on mixed tundra and gravel amid larger rocks, with nice flowers thrown in. Once on the ridge, there's about 700 more feet to gain and it all goes rather quickly. The ridge was mostly upper class 2 rock and boulder rubble with a little bit of fun, 3rd class scrambling intermittently, and one spot that looked exposed, but really wasn't to any degree of danger.
From the summit you can peruse the south connecting ridge over to Williams South B and also look north and study the connecting ridge over to Williams North. Either direction appears rather daunting. Our route took us over to the north summit for this day. See that peak for details.
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Click thumbnail to view full-size photo + captionRoute Description
Year Climbed: 2007We climbed Williams North by the connecting ridge between it and Williams Mountain. The route description picks up from the Williams Mountain summit. Distance between the two summits is .8 mile. If returning to our suggested campsite in Deadman Gulch, add another 2.2 to complete mileage back to the campsite.
Begin your descent, retracing as well as you can your ascent route on Williams Mountain north ridge. It does not matter a whole lot how you go except in a few spots where choices are limited. Once you arrive at the south end of the saddle, you'll need to decide if you want to continue north on the ridge crest or find an easier route. The ridge crest will require some slow, perhaps even technical work. So we dropped a few hundred feet below the cliffs on the east side, contoured north a little and then chose an ascent route back to the ridge that brought us out north of the main obstacles. There is a nice ramp that gets you back up to the ridge and all along the way, there are vivid and beautiful flowers, especially paintbrush. Most of this traverse was on a mix of tundra, gravel and smaller rock with cliffs above. Once back on the ridge, it is an easy stroll to the summit of the north peak, mostly on a tundra/rock mix.
Additional BETA
Links to other information, routes & trip reports for this peak that may be helpful. -
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