A few words about the trailhead. As of mid 2003, the good folks at the Colorado Fourteener Initative have created a new, sustainable trailhead and trail for the standard route on Quandary. The trailhead is located about a quarter-mile up McCullough Gulch Rd. There is a large kiosk and parking on the right side of the road. This is now the recommended route. The old Monte Cristo trailhead lies about 1.0 miles up McCullough Gulch Rd, and followed old access roads through private property before becoming the standard route just below treeline. So please, use the new trailhead. Check out this page of the CFI website for more information.

That said, I headed off from the trailhead about 8:00am on this chilly October morning with my two labs, Ben and Dex leading the way. This new trail climbs a little more steeply than the old Monte Cristo trail, but the trek through the trees is enjoyable. As you approach treeline, views of Quandary's wide east face give you a good view of what you're in for - the route follows the ridgeline to the south (left).

Just before treeline, you'll see yet another change to the trail. The old trail used to run straight up a steep knoll, but was rerouted in 2001 to contour along the south side of the east ridge, eventually gaining the ridge top about a quarter-mile below Point 13,146. The closure signs are obvious, and the new trail is well-defined and a lot of work has gone into it's construction, including many sections of well-placed stone steps.

Once you gain the ridge the rest of the route is quite obvious. Quandary rears up directly in front of you, just about a mile distant. The last 1000' feet or so is mostly a steep grunt along the ridgeline, although the trail flattens considerably at a false summit about 100 yards before the main summit. There are a couple additional false summits along the last mile, so don't get psyched out! As you climb, keep one eye on the Blue Lakes Reservoir, almost 2000 feet below you to the south. Quandary's summit is almost dead even with the west side of the reservoir, and it can be handy gauge of how far you have left to go when all you can see is "up". On this climb, this last 1000' feet was definitely the hardest. Several early winter storms had left anywhere from a couple inches to a couple feet of snow on the mountain, and although the trail was visible through the snow, I was surprised that it was unbroken by any other hiker in at least the last few days. The trail-breaking was exhausting work, especially considering the 13,000' + altitude. Finally, the steepness eased abruptly and the summit was right there!

From the summit of Quandary you can see most of Summit County, including bits of the Dillon Reservoir, and Keystone and A-Basin ski areas. Lincoln, Democrat, Cameron, and Bross are the near neighbors to the south, and the Sawatch range is lined up to the west and southwest. On this particular day, the winds at the summit were stiff and cold (not unusual any time of the year, really), and storm clouds were building quickly to the west. I was amazed to have the summit all to myself for the ~20 minutes or so I remained up there, chowing Clif Bars and getting out the dog cookies for my 4-legged trail companions. The summit register indicated no one on top since Sept 27th - almost a full week. Guess that explained the un-broken trail conditions.

Heading down, I ran into a couple guys I saw at the trailhead. They had inadvertently taken the wrong trail and I had ended up in front of them. Their year-old shepherd bolted forward to meet my labs and it was a big sniff-fest for a couple minutes. Bill and Joe turned out to be from the Vail Mountain Rescue group, just out for a casual climb. Heck of a thing to do on your day off, with a profession like that, I thought. We descended together, chatting about this and that. Back around treeline, the day had warmed up quite considerable, and I had to shed a couple layers for the last ¾ mile back to the trailhead.

All in all, a great day in the hills. A little more into winter conditions than I was expecting, but still a great climb! Even in winter, the avalanche danger on Quandary is minimal, making the east slopes a popular back country ski destination. Not quite enough snow up there for that yet, but another couple good storms and it will be.