Wilson Grand Slam

View from El Diente towards Mt Wilson 

Not to be confused with a tennis racquet of the same name, the Wilson Grand Slam(WGS) is a logical linkup of the four main peaks in the Wilson Massif, located just outside Telluride. The four peaks are three fourteener's, Mt Wilson, Wilson Peak, and El Diente and wannabe 14er Gladstone Peak coming in just shy at 13.9k'. Hence the Grand Slam nickname. If you don't understand baseball references, this will be tough to understand.

From 14ers.com. I took route A2(Rock of Ages) up, then down into Navajo Basin and up E3(north buttress of ED), then across "combo" to Mt Wilson, then unlabeled towards Gladstone, then across unlabeled ridge and up W1 to Wilson Peak 

If I may digress for a minute.... Who was the idiot or group of people who approved the naming of two peaks, both 14ers, within one mile of each other, by the same surname? Was this Wilson character really that cool, or arrogant, of an individual? There really was no other option besides "Wilson"? El Diente(Spanish for, "the tooth", acronym ED) is a cool name. They could have easily gone with the Spanish oral reference theme. Whatever.

It's unclear to me just how popular the named WGS really is. Obviously the linking of 14er's quickly and efficiently has been going on for decades, and still persists today. I have no doubt that the three 14er's in this group get linked at least once a weekend, if not more, by the hardcore Colorado 14er community. However, the missing link between that effort and the slam is Mr. Gladstone. Not being a true 14er, he might often get overlooked by the peak bagging community. I have no doubt the slam has been done countless times, though I assume far less often than individual efforts on all the peaks, the classic ED/Wilson traverse, or the three 14ers together.

I first learned of the slam a mere 2 weeks ago when I was researching the classic four 14er traverses in Colorado, of which the El Diente/Mt Wilson linkup is one. It appealed to me immediately and found that only a few folks had posted times, the fastest being about 7 hours. Whether this was the true FKT or not was unimportant, as it gave me a reasonable time frame to shoot for. It does not appear the name "Wilson Grand Slam" has garnered much attention or acceptance based on my research, but I like nicknames for objectives so I will propagate it here in hopes the 5 people who read this will then spread it worldwide via the interwebs.

The Slam seems like it can be most logically be done from two starting and ending trailheads, the Navajo Basin and Rock of Ages. The two reports I found seem to indicate the Navajo Basin was their chosen route, which I agree seems like a more aesthetic approach if not also a bit easier, though I chose Rock of Ages, because that's just a way cool name for a trail (and it was a shorter drive from Moab).

I drove out to Telluride Friday night and slept at the trailhead in the Subaru, which turned out to be a much more pleasant experience than my Sneffles insomnia was back in August. Saturday morning I was awoken by the eager peak bagging crowd well before dawn, but I wasn't super keen on using a headlamp, so I deferred till 6:30. My left posterior tibial tendon has been bothering me for almost two months now, and my good friend Nate had suggested some "low dye" taping to help heal it. I had meticulously followed the instructions on the Youtube video he sent for the first few weeks, but after becoming impatient over the ensuing weeks I employed a "put a bunch of freaking tape all over" method which seemed to work just as well.

With my gimpy foot subdued, I set off about 7am. The Rock of Ages trail rises 3000' in 4 miles up to the saddle of a similar name, which is the jumping point up to Wilson Peak, likely the most summited peak of the four, due to its class 3 status, or at least that was my observation based on the conga line of folks heading up there. This would be my final peak, so after 1.5 hours to this point, I left the crowds and did a brief and relaxing 15 min descent down into Navajo basin to the start of my first route, the North Buttress of El Diente.

Fall colors on ROA trail 

Wilson Peak in the background 

From ROA saddle, ED on right, Mt. Wilson on left 

North Buttress follows sun/shade line to the summit 

This was a fantastic route up a very cool peak. The rock was super solid, the route finding straightforward, very direct, and landed me within 50 feet of the true summit. 2000' of great class 3 and class 4, 100% off trail. Didn't see anyone else on it, which may be due to the class 4 sections, which were legit but very reasonable. Some good exposure at times. I found myself all alone on top of El Diente, now close to 3 hours elapsed time and 5k' of climb. I took a short break, and set off across the classic ridgeline over to Mt. Wilson.

Looking toward Mt Wilson 

Unfortunately, due to bagpipe-like gendarmes, one must drop off the true ridgeline for almost half the route, which is obviously a huge bummer. I soon encountered a group of 3 traversing the same direction as me, navigating the class 3 terrain below the ridgeline. They seemed to be traveling pretty slow, but making it. I found it inspiring to see folks of all skill levels and experience out in the mountains, appreciating the beauty and challenges they provide. I ran into about 10 other folks doing the traverse, in both directions. I noticed that I was the only one wearing a T-shirt, shorts, no helmet, and a lightweight running vest. Guess I didn't get the memo about 14er traverses requiring a bunch of unnecessary gear. The 2nd half of the traverse was pretty dang fun, with lots of class 3/4 on great rock with spectacular views.

Some Peeps coming the opposite direction as me 

Another group

From Mt Wilson looking back towards ED 

I summited Mt Wilson close to 50 min after leaving El Diente, which I thought was decent. Some other folks stated it had taken them 3 hours, and two dudes were bragging loudly about their 1.5 hour time. "We did that so F^% fast!". The frequency, quantity, and grammatical use of the F word always amazes me. I'm sure someone has gone sub 30 min on it.

Two peaks down, two to go. I was now about 4 hours into the day. The descent off Wilson to Gladstone was going to be the crux of the day, as I didn't think too many folks did it. Unlike the previous traverse, this involved a full descent down into the basin as there wasn't a high ridgeline connecting the two. The descent turned out to be quite the event, with lots of horrible talus and loose choss, all while trying not to get cliffed out. The usual mountain stuff. After finally making it down through Dantes Inferno, I was left at the base of a long, steep couloir that provided access up Gladstone. It was pretty frustrating from the get go, but the rock progressively got better and better until I hit the ridgeline, where I was somewhat surprised to see a group of two heading up to the summit. 5 minutes later I was on top of Gladstone, stoked to be done with the largest unknown of the day. Gladstone had eaten away another 1.75 hours, so I was looking at close to 6 hours elapsed now.

From Mt Wilson, Gladstone on the right and ridge line to Wilson Peak center 

Halfway up the choss gully on Gladstone 

Getting more solid towards the notch 

I chatted with the two guys from Denver. They had started from Navajo Basin that morning around 6am and this was their first peak. They were hoping to still make it up Wilson Peak as well, though I didn't give them super good chances with their current pace. They had left their 3rd buddy somewhere back on the traverse from Wilson Peak, as he found the rock too unstable and scary.

I then set out for Wilson Peak via an extremely aesthetic and worthy ridge line. To be honest, this section of ridge was in my opinion, far superior to the quality of the Wilson/El Diente traverse. If only God had made Gladstone 100' higher, then it would likely get more attention. The ridge was again an extremely engaging, but not scary, blend of Class 3/4 on great rock, and descending off the true ridge at any point would land you in a mess of loose choss and sorrow on one side, and a quick death on the other, so as to make navigating the true ridge experience even more desirable, necessary, and valuable.

I found myself back at the Rock of Ages Saddle, or close to it, approximately an hour later. I was sad for the beautiful ridge to end, but eager to tick off the last of the peaks. Wilson Peak has by far the most, "trail-like" option of the four peaks, though that is an overstatement. More loose class 2/3 took me up over a false summit and finally to the true summit, where a lone hiker was waiting. He kindly offered me a "hit off his joint", but I declined. He responded by saying, "yea, I didn't think so". I guess I don't exude a pot-smoking aura, or my singing "I love to see the Temple" as I crested the summit tipped him off.  When he asked me what I was up to, I told him the Grand Slam. He looked at me puzzled, but after explaining it he exclaimed, "No F&^* way! The  F^&# Grand Slam, that is F%$^ Epic!"  Again, my point about the F word stands true. Not sure if his THC consumption played a significant role.

View towards Telluride from Wilson Peak 

At this point 7 hours had gone by, and though I was far from miserable I was fairly toasted. I was very low on water and not very excited about my last Honey Stinger waffle, so I set off, bidding adieu to my dope smoking friend. I took my only digger of the day heading back down, for which my tailbone is not happy today.

The jog down to the car was fun until my 1.5 liters of total water for the day ran out. I don't like using the word "dehydrated" too often, as I have people tell me all the time how "dehydrated" they are. But 1.5 liters for a 9 hour effort, which despite drinking almost a gallon of water on the drive home without producing any urine, probably puts me somewhere on that spectrum. Anyway, it got to the point where I could either leave the trail and descend maybe 50 feet down to the stream to access water, and I chose not to, so it couldn't have been Aron Ralston status.

9 hours, 15 miles, and 8k' feet later I arrived back at the car, extremely pleased and satisfied with my effort. Certainly not a FKT by any stretch, but a great day in the mountains. The Colorado mountains never disappoint.