The Dyer Mountain Group is a set of Colorado 13ers located close to Mount Sherman, a very easy and popular Colorado 14er.
This group consists of Dyer Mountain (a Colorado Centennial and the 81st highest peak in the state at 13,855 feet), Gemini Peak (an unranked Centennial at 13,961 feet), and White Ridge (an unranked Colorado Bicentennial at 13,698 feet).
There are two routes to tag these, a shorter route from Leadville on the western side of the Mosquito Range, and the route we took from the Fourmile Creek trailhead.
Although longer and more elevation than coming from the west, this saved us several hours of drive time getting to the trailhead.
One other downside of this route is that we have to climb Mount Sherman first, then descend the north side to head to Gemini Peak.
Since we’ve both done Mount Sherman before, it was a pretty meh start to the day.
Especially since we did a good chunk of this route to the saddle while tagging Mt Sheridan and the other peaks in the Horseshoe Mountain Loop a few weeks ago.
I waffled on wearing baselayer bottoms, but was immediately glad I did when we arrived to the trailhead.
The forecast was for brutal winds, and Mother Nature delivered.
Baselayer bottoms, softshell pants, and hardshell pants over them.
Hooded baselayer top, insulated midlayer, and hardshell jacket.
Beanie hat, all three hood layers pulled, up and ski goggles to keep the frostbite away.
Gemini Peak
A windy shot of me getting blasted on Gemini Peak. The orange thing hanging on my jacket is a pocket anemometer to measure wind speed.
There were probably 10 other people headed up to Mount Sherman when we got started, including a very fit young lady who trail ran past us on the way up, and was running back down while we were still several hundred feet below the summit.
Good for her! Colorado natives are built different…
The snow started around 13,000 feet and sideways snowed on us until we reached Sherman’s summit.
Once we started descending down the north side of Sherman we had the rest of the day to ourselves.
Just us and the wind.
Gemini Peak comes quick, along with Little Gemini, and you stand there looking at the long descent and re-ascent to get over to Dyer Mountain.
Not technical, but it’s a lot of elevation loss that you know is really going to suck on the return trip!
And the ridgelines – sometimes you can drop just enough below the ridgeline to deflect most of the wind, sometimes you just get blasted.
I bought a pocket anemometer since I had seen the wind forecasts, it showed constant 40+mph wind throughout the day and I clocked a maximum of 54mph on the hike over to White Ridge.
Speaking of White Ridge – the standard return route would have us ascending Mount Sherman again, then descending the path we hiked up.
There is an alternate route called the Mount Sherman South Slope which is a snow climb and ski down in late spring/early summer with consolidated snow.
We opted for this, even though we knew the snowpack was lower then normal.
This was a great call, as we were able to semi-glissade through the soft snow many times, probably saving a thousand feet of descent on our knees, and plunge stepping in the snow where we couldn’t slide is way easier than hiking down loose rock and scree.
At 7 hours 43 minutes, 9.79 miles with 5,423 feet of elevation gain, this was another great climbing season warmup but we were both very very happy when the Jeeps came into view below us.
With any luck we might be able to bang out another peak before summer hits and Colette and I hit the road.
Daybreak in the Rockies
Colorful clouds over Horseshoe Mountain
On The Edge
Watching two young guys traverse the slope we just crossed
Mount Sherman Ridge
The snow on the ridge to Mount Sherman is much easier to walk on than talus and scree.
White Lines
The view from Mount Sherman back along the saddle to Mt Sheridan
Tricky Slopes
The lower slopes to Dyer Mountain are easier with snow, but still not fun with lots of switchbacks necessary due to slope angle.
Dyer Mountain Selfie
Dasani gets a mandatory selfie with the summit sign on Dyer Mountain.
Second Fastest Way Down
The fastest way down is to fall of the edge, the second fastest is to glissade down every suitable slope you can find.
Happy Jeeps
We were very happy to finally spot the Jeeps down at the Fourmile Creek trailhead. One more glissade to go.
Pirate Property
Very clever sign at a mine along Fourmile Creek Road.
Dyer Mountain
The final steep slog up to the summit of Dyer Mountain.
Happy Hikers
An ussie on White Ridge. With the wind we could only have faces uncovered or gloves off for a few seconds.
Dyer Mountain Panorama
A view around from 13,861 feet on the summit of Colorado Centennial Dyer Mountain.
Windy White Ridge
A view around from the summit of Colorado 13er White Ridge. The wind was whipping on the ridgeline continuous 40+mph and a highest gust of 54mph on my anemo…
Dasani Glissade
A low-slope sledding glissade down the Mt Sherman Southeast Slopes route. We were able to do multiple slides down and save a ton of wear and tear on our knees.
