Mt. Rosalie and Mt. Epaulet

23 May 2004 - by T Colorado

We (my husband Michael and I) were looking for a "one day" climbing trip near town that would be a good workout/acclimatization. Thus, the selection of Mt. Rosalie (13,570') and Mt. Epaulet (13,530'). The trailhead, from Deer Creek, had a few vehicles when we left our truck at 7:30 in the morning. We followed the Tanglewood trail to a saddle above treeline that hooked up with the southern broad ridge of Mt. Rosalie. The wind was a continual gust from the time we hit treeline until we returned, but the weather was good. There were two people descending from Rosalie as we were ascending ... it's the only people we saw all day. We hit the summit just before 1:00 p.m. and headed on over to Mt. Epaulet (approx. 1-1/2 miles to the north). Snow on Epaulet made the ascent more interesting than anything else we had walked on the entire day. We returned over Mt. Rosalie and got back to our truck around 6:30 p.m. This is approximately 12 miles (or a bit more) roundtrip with over 5200 feet of elevation gain. The climb is categorized as a 2 due to distance and elevation gain and loss and gain and loss and gain and loss (a good workout for the quads, the hammies, the calves and the glutes). I would not want to be on either of these peaks in a lightning storm. There is nowhere to hide. The views of downtown Denver and DIA are pretty cool, though. Happy Trails!


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