Tijeras Peak Trip Report 05/24/2020

Peak(s):	Tijeras Peak - 13,604 feet Music Mountain - 13,380 feet Milwaukee Peak - 13,522 feet Pico Aislado - 13,611 feet PT 13020 A
Date Posted:	05/24/2020
Modified:	07/27/2022
Date Climbed:	05/23/2020
Author:	JDroz
Additional Members:	benbrow1234

El Sonido de la Musica
Total Mileage: 12 mi Total Vert: 7584' Total Time: 5:42 am - 5:22 pm (11hr 40 min) Direction: Lower Sand Creek Lake > Tijeras > Music > Milwaukee > Pico Aislado > PT 13020 > Milwaukee Pass > Lower Sand Creek Lake The routes we used for Tijeras > Music and Milwaukee > Pico > 13020 were the same as the ones laid out by previous trip reports, so I'll save you the hassle of reading a long-winded essay and just give you this: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=19781. The descent off Music's north ridge is best done on the left (west) side of the ridge proper. The ridge proper is blocky with spires and requires more descent/ascent/5th class downclimbing than you want to spend your time on. Staying to the left of the ridge is pretty simple, as you can easily hop on sturdy grass ledges to contour or downclimb stepped/slabbed gullies to descend. Make sure you don't descend lower than the true saddle of the Milwaukee-Music ridge. Once you get to the saddle, continue to stay left of the ridge proper to ascend Milwaukee. I will not sugar coat this: the Milwaukee ascent is a slog, and you miss out on the amazing scrambling on Milwaukee's NE-E face. Easily the least inspiring (route-wise) of the whole traverse, but it's by far the best way to connect these two amazing scrambles. Descent off the north shoulder of the Music summit block (climbers are wearing blue). Ledges to follow. I find great satisfaction in linking up some noice ledges. You could follow the ridge proper if you'd like, but I would save time for the better scrambling later on. THE SLOG (looking back on Music and Tijeras) Once we hit the summit of Milwaukee, we used Dave Cooper's route description to finish out Pico and 13020. The only other word of advice I can give is that you should make the best effort possible to locate the trail over Milwaukee pass while you have a view of it from the Milwaukee-Pico ridge. We didn't find it until we were maybe 200' from the pass. It's not a huge deal-breaker, but if you can't find the trail, it's a lot of 3rd-4th class scrambling until you'll inevitably find it. All we know is that trail starts somewhere to the north of where my gpx heads up. The trail is actually pretty neat, and the whole time I couldn't help but think "who the heck would spend time to build this thing?". I would say the best scrambling (in my opinion) was found on Music's south ridge, Pico's south face, and Tijeras NE gully/SE ridge, in that order. TLDR: stay left for Music > Milwaukee Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

El Sonido de la Musica

Total Mileage: 12 mi

Total Vert: 7584'

Total Time: 5:42 am - 5:22 pm (11hr 40 min)

Direction: Lower Sand Creek Lake > Tijeras > Music > Milwaukee > Pico Aislado > PT 13020 > Milwaukee Pass > Lower Sand Creek Lake

The routes we used for Tijeras > Music and Milwaukee > Pico > 13020 were the same as the ones laid out by previous trip reports, so I'll save you the hassle of reading a long-winded essay and just give you this: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=19781.

The descent off Music's north ridge is best done on the left (west) side of the ridge proper. The ridge proper is blocky with spires and requires more descent/ascent/5th class downclimbing than you want to spend your time on. Staying to the left of the ridge is pretty simple, as you can easily hop on sturdy grass ledges to contour or downclimb stepped/slabbed gullies to descend. Make sure you don't descend lower than the true saddle of the Milwaukee-Music ridge. Once you get to the saddle, continue to stay left of the ridge proper to ascend Milwaukee. I will not sugar coat this: the Milwaukee ascent is a slog, and you miss out on the amazing scrambling on Milwaukee's NE-E face. Easily the least inspiring (route-wise) of the whole traverse, but it's by far the best way to connect these two amazing scrambles.

20131_01

Descent off the north shoulder of the Music summit block (climbers are wearing blue).

20131_02

Ledges to follow. I find great satisfaction in linking up some noice ledges.

20131_03

You could follow the ridge proper if you'd like, but I would save time for the better scrambling later on.

20131_04

THE SLOG (looking back on Music and Tijeras)

Once we hit the summit of Milwaukee, we used Dave Cooper's route description to finish out Pico and 13020. The only other word of advice I can give is that you should make the best effort possible to locate the trail over Milwaukee pass while you have a view of it from the Milwaukee-Pico ridge. We didn't find it until we were maybe 200' from the pass. It's not a huge deal-breaker, but if you can't find the trail, it's a lot of 3rd-4th class scrambling until you'll inevitably find it. All we know is that trail starts somewhere to the north of where my gpx heads up. The trail is actually pretty neat, and the whole time I couldn't help but think "who the heck would spend time to build this thing?".

I would say the best scrambling (in my opinion) was found on Music's south ridge, Pico's south face, and Tijeras NE gully/SE ridge, in that order.

TLDR: stay left for Music > Milwaukee

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

cottonmountaineering	snow? 05/25/2020 18:15 Did you need any snow equipment/encounter much snow?
JDroz	Not much 05/25/2020 21:29 The snow is very manageable. I wore my la sport boots and they did just fine. Small sections on ridges and on talus slopes, but nothing too major. We glissaded the gully off 13020 using rocks for self-arest, but no axe was necessary. Hope that helps!

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