Ute Pass to Ptarmigan Peak Traverse, Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness, Silverthorne, Colorado
Looking back towards Ute Peak from Ptarmigan Peak
If you’ve driven from Silverthorne to the Green Mountain Reservoir in Heeney, you may have noticed a long ridge line on the passenger side of the car that spans from Ptarmigan Peak to Ute Pass. Mike and I have driven up Route 9 countless times, always wanting to run the ridge line at some point. We figured waiting for a September day would be best since the chance of thunderstorms is lowest that month, and with the ridge being mostly above tree line, we wanted to make sure it was going to be a good weather day.
We parked one car at the Ptarmigan Peak Trailhead and then drove in one car together to Ute Pass. We arrived a little after sunrise with the only other people in the parking lot being 2 hunters. Good thing Mike wore bright orange shorts. It was below freezing that morning with frost on the ground so that was motivation to start moving. We started following the trail and it quickly started diverging from where the trail should go based on the map. We began questioning if we had taken a wrong turn, but at this point were too far along to turn around so we decided to just keep following the trail to see where we ended up. Ultimately, we did come to a trail junction that would take us to Ute Peak. Whew. However, this rerouted trail was going to make the run 1-2 miles longer than originally advertised.
We headed up the trail to Ute Peak, and it was steep. We definitely weren’t running. We gained about 2400 vert in 2 miles. On the positive side, we got a good chunk of the vert out of the way. Once we got above tree line, we weren’t in the trees much again until we were coming down Ptarmigan Peak. One thing on the ridge that surprised us a little was the lack of trail. This slowed us down because it a) made it more difficult to try and run in general and b) required some stopping and regrouping to make sure we were staying true to the ridge when possible.
Panorama of the Gore Range
After several hours, we finally made it to the top of Ptarmigan Peak, and we knew it would all be downhill from there. We decided to meet back at the car so we could each run at our own downhill pace. On our way down from Ptarmigan, we saw the first people we had seen since the hunters at the Ute Pass Trailhead. We were both pretty happy to make it back to the car where we had cold water and electrolytes waiting for us. We were ready for a big meal after that day!
The traverse ended up being 19.6 miles with 5500 vert. Would I ever do the traverse again? Absolutely. The views of the Gore Range the entire time are some of the prettiest views you can find in Colorado. That said, this ridge isn’t for the faint of heart, and I would only recommend trying it if you have been training for something of this distance with a lot of vertical and have a perfect weather day picked out. To get stuck up there in bad weather would get pretty dangerous pretty fast.
