Silver Star Mountain
By Ryan Budnick
(w/ George Reeves & Will Pieti)
May 27
Plans to climb Eldorado with Michael Rutten had dematerialized due to Michael needing to go on an outing to get done with the class from hell. I had three days off, there was no bloody way I was not going to do anything. After numerous calls, I connected with my savior, George. George also had Tuesday off. I thought of Silver Star, but was willing to climb anything. George thought Silver Star was a good idea, having done it with the class. We decided on the Burgundy Col route, new to both of us.
George recruited his neighbor and frequent climbing partner Will and on Monday night we were off on Hwy 20. We camped on the road to Cutthroat Pass trailhead and grabbed a couple of hours of sleep. Awake at 4 a.m. and walking down from Hwy 20 at 5:15 a.m., we found a log to cross Willow Creek. I am not ashamed to admit I crawled across while my companions simply walked. I hate log crossings and have been soaked before.
Up we went and shortly found the trail. We hit spotty, punchy snow at 5,400 feet. We hit full snow coverage about 6,200 feet. We stopped at the campsite highlighted in the Beckey Guide and Nelson’s Select Climbs book at 6,600 feet and had a quick meal and break.
The next 1,200 feet up to Burgundy Col seemed to me to take forever. The gully was mushy snow topped with a frozen over layer. Much wallowing was endured. It was nice having three pairs of feet to break trail. At the col we enjoyed the view, cached some excess gear and glissaded down. Traversed the Wine Spires and here Will stopped and enjoyed a nap. Up George and I went, avoided a series of snow boulders that collapsed off of the West Peak. We cached more gear at 8,300 feet, including our crampons. Of course Murphy’s Law came into play as the slope up to the peak from Silver Star col was icy. We stuck to the Class 3 rock as much as possible, hit the summit at five to noon. Victory! Downclimbed the ice carefully, glissade, traverse, up to the col, glissade, hike down, log crossing, up to the bloody highway and beer!!! Remember always cool your beer and bring your crampons!!!