Sunlight Spire 5.10 - Chicago Basin, CO

Sunlight Spire is a distintive tower just to the east of the main summit of Sunlight Peak. For years it was marked on the map as 13,995 feet, just shy of the magical 14,000 foot line. However, with recent revisions in the altitude of Colorado Mountains, the Spire is now recorded as an even 14,000 feet. As such, it is the most difficult of the 14,000 foot summits to reach in Colorado. In addition, since the prominence is nearly identical to that of Thunderbolt Peak in California, an argument could be made that it is the most difficult 14,000 foot summit in the contiguous USA. - Rob from SummitPost

Holy heck it happened! For years my buddy Larry told me of the mystical Chicago Basin. And for years our schedules and the weather did not align to allow a visit. But with some proper priority placements we were able to make the trip in 2021. We summited all four of the primary peaks; but I hiked every trail sideways or backwards so I could keep my eyes on the Sunlight Spire. Larry is a mountain goat but he is not a technical rock climber, so we knew the Spire wasn’t in the cards for this trip. But that did not make it any less tempting. The altitude sickness from that trip did not compare to the sickening heart affair between the Spire and myself.

So I went home and never thought about it again.

Wrong. I came back with photos and instantly began recruiting for the next year. To my ignorant surprise, not many people wanted to spend many days, dollars, and calories on a single pitch. Fortunately, I was somehow able to convince the strongest climber in Oklahoma to join me!

Okie Climber Jake and I took a couple days off over Labor Day weekend and drove west. We spent one night in Durango around 8,000’. We then took an almost three hour historic train ride into the middle of the San Juan’s. After hiking for over five miles we setup camp around 11,000’. The next day we ate 1,000’ of elevation gain for breakfast and then the camera started rolling!