Keyes Peak was a long time coming for me. I had been drawn to it since my first of many trips to Blanca Lake years ago. It also helped that it was the highest point of the Monte Cristo Range, and views down to Blanca and the surrounding area were sure to be spectacular.
There is no way around the fact that Keyes is a LONG day. The stats are big, and travel on the ridge above Virgin Lake is often slow. I’ve heard of parties completely underestimating this peak and have either finished way later than they expected or been forced into an unplanned night out. Because of this, a night at the trailhead and an early start were in order to give us as much time as possible.
Fern and I set off from the Blanca Lake trailhead at around 5:45 am. The Blanca Lake trail was as steep and switchback-filled as I remembered but we made relatively short work of it up to Virgin Lake, a swampy backwater pond that provides a sharp contrast to its counterpart down the trail. From this point we delved into the unknown as we left the main trail at 4600’. I didn’t know what to expect and was pleasantly surprised to find a nice use path. Progress was quicker than expected as we stayed on the ridge crest up until 5000’.
Here, we ran into some rocky outcroppings that required us to traverse below them on the east side. This part was kind of a pain, with some bushwacking and clinging to tenuous footholds on steep ground. There was also just enough lingering snow to make things awkward. Sometimes we chose to stay in the moat between snow and rock, and others we carefully kicked steps across. Eventually, we were able to pop up out of this section and regain the ridge crest at around 5280’. I think that this section would be easier if it was snow-free, but I’m not entirely sure.
From here, travel became easy again. Our pace had slowed considerably in the last section, so it felt great to be moving quickly again. Eventually we reached a notch that allowed us to drop down onto the west side of the ridge. Make sure not miss this or else you will unnecessarily climb up to Pt. 5845. From here we dropped into a snow-filled bowl with our first views of Blanca Lake below. We initially had to deal with a bit of an awkward steep snow field, that was surprisingly hard in the cool morning, before the slope leveled out. From here we traversed at approximately the 5400’ level, trying our best not to do any post holing. After a half mile or so we came to another notch and picked up a surprisingly snow-free use path that climbed steeply up the ridge. At this point, views were really starting to open up back down to the blue-green waters of Blanca Lake below. The impressive east face of Columbia Peak was also looking imposing.
Our next obstacle was a big permanent snowfield that swooped up to what looked like the summit area. We took out our ice axes for this section, but the snow was softening so it felt pretty secure. Eventually we reached a saddle with bare, kitty litter rock, and a super cool rock pinnacle behind us. It was here that it became clear that we still had a decent way to go, which was disheartening to say the least. This was going to be a big day!
After gingerly kicking a few steps up a snowfield at 6600’ (I think this would be easier in later season) we began to see where the true summit was. It was much further than I expected across a big snowfield but still within striking distance. I was also able to start scoping out the summit block. As others have stated, it looks improbable from a distance.
Eventually we found ourselves at the base of the summit block. We were both physically and mentally exhausted. The bad-weather spring meant we hadn’t been getting out as much as we would have liked so our stamina wasn’t what we were used to. Plus, Keyes is just a huge effort.
Starting out the scramble was pretty fun, but things quickly got steeper and more covered in kitty litter. We reached one section that was probably stiff class 3, on loose, friable rock that I didn’t love. Most reports seem to indicate that the scramble isn’t too bad and is much better than it looks. We must have been slightly off the best route, because I didn’t find this to be the case. Eventually Fern decided to call it a short distance below the summit, and I completed a precarious, airy traverse to stand on the true summit. Views were great although some peaks were shrouded in cloud. I was proud of our effort, and it was a cool feeling to stand on top of the Monte Cristo Range. I tried to enjoy my stay on the highest point as much as possible, but I was feeling a bit nervous about the downclimb ahead. With care, some butt-scooting, and a bit of guidance from Fern while downclimbing the stiff class 3 part, we made it safely off the summit block.
Here, we scarfed down some calories and prepared for the super long descent. We reversed our ascent route exactly. Thankfully, the few steep snow at 6600’ wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be on the way down. Before too long, we were cruising back down the ridge with beautiful Blanca Lake below us. The way back went relatively smoothly, the snow was softening a bit, but overall travel was smooth. The traverse on the east side of the ridge was still terrible on the way down, but it was over soon enough. We eventually hit the Blanca Lake trail and cruised all the way back to the car, seeing some people getting late starts on the way up to the lake in the process.
Keyes is a big day, there’s no getting around it, but it’s also extremely rewarding. I love its position in the range and I’m happy with we were able to knock it off in (what I think is a respectable) 12 hours and 23 minutes.
Final Stats: 14.18 miles / 5842 ft of gain
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