El Diente Traverse Colorado 14ers Hike Guide

El Diente Traverse is one of Gerry Roach’s four great Colorado traverses located in the Lizard Head Wilderness of southern Colorado. The traverse is mostly class 3 and involves very little route finding as the ridge is somewhat obvious. El Diente Traverse can be hiked either from Mt Wilson to El Diente Peak or vice-a-versa. Trail conditions range from packed dirt to a solo Class 4 move near the top of Mt Wilson. The hike along the El Diente Traverse requires a long window of clear weather as 90% of the hike is exposed to the elements.

El Diente Traverse Quick Facts

Virtual Trail Guide: El Diente Traverse

El Diente Traverse Rating: ★★★★ (4/5 Stars)

Distance: 14.6 miles RT (5.3 Miles to El Diente/Mt Wilson Split, 6.75 Miles to El Diente Summit, 8 miles to Mt Wilson Summit – Traverse itself is about 1.25 miles, 1.10 miles down from Mt Wilson to split)

Elevation Start: 9,900 ft

Highest Point: 14,160 ft – El Diente Peak, Mt Wilson – 14,246 ft

Total Elevation Gain: 5,000 ft

Estimated Time to Complete: 12-14 Hours RT

Difficulty: Strenuous What does this mean?

Class: Class 4 – What does this mean?

Season: June – September (Expect snow outside of this period)

Check the Weather Forecast

Directions to El Diente Traverse

Trailhead: Kilpacker Basin

Getting Here: From Telluride, drive south on Colorado 145 to Lizard Head Pass. Continue south for 5.2 miles and turn right onto Forest Road (FR) 535. Drive 4.1 miles on the 2WD dirt road to a large meadow and junction. Stay straight on 535, and reach the Kilpacker trailhead at 5 miles.

Fees: None

Parking: There is a small lot at the trailhead that can fit about 5-10 cars. There are no bathrooms at the trailhead, the closest non-plumbing bathrooms are located at Lizard Head Pass.

Summary

Camping: Once you have hiked about 3 miles towards the El Diente traverse, just past he stream crossing, there are a handful of good camping spots down near the stream. Past this point, camping options are very limited. You can camp at the trailhead for the El Diente Traverse, but spots are limited and I wouldn’t recommend it. If you do not want to hike in, there are dispersed camping areas near the trailhead and along FR 535.

Dogs: El Diente Traverse is not a dog friendly hike. From the sharp rock along the ridge to loose trail conditions all over the mountain, to protect your dog and other hikers, I would leave your pet at home for this one.

Make it a Loop: El Diente Traverse is a lollipop loop and can be hiked either from El Diente Peak to Mt Wilson or in the opposite direction. If you are looking to bag other peaks in the area, you could add Wilson Peak or Gladstone Peak which are both doable if you have multiple days to spend in the area. If you are hiking either, I would recommend approaching via the Rock of Ages or Navajo Basin though.

Trail X Factors: Trail Conditions on Ridge

Once you have gained the ridge of the El Diente Traverse, trail conditions vary drastically depending on the time of year you are hiking. In the winter and early spring/summer months, the crossover on the north side of El Diente Peak can be treacherous. Although it’s only a 50-100 yard section, there is 0 room for error if you slip here. Lingering snow can make this section extremely dangerous without traction (crampons).

Once you start hiking over to Mt Wilson, the rock was mostly solid but there are several sections of trail, specifically on the north side of the ridge that can be very loose. When I hiked the El Diente traverse, I was sending half the mountain falling into the abyss below. Luckily, I was the only one on the mountain at the time, but if there were other hikers in the area things could have been bad. Use extreme caution when hiking the traverse (either on the ridge itself or coming up from either side) as rock fall can be common here. Lingering snow on the traverse could foil your plans or at least make them a lot more dangerous.

Hike Tip(s): When planning your hike to the El Diente Traverse, you will notice that there are several ways to approach both mountains and you can gain the ridge from both the north and south side. If you plan on hiking El Diente Traverse you will see the standard route is up the north slopes. In my opinion though, I would consider hiking from Kilpacker Basin regardless of the time of year you visit. This approach used to be less popular but now offers a well defined and easy to follow trail along the entire hike. The Kilpacker Basin approach has less elevation gain and mileage from the standard route and offers better trail conditions, almost year round.

Best Views: Once you emerge from treeline, the views on hike up to El Diente, along the El Diente Traverse are fantastic. Since you are so secluded, the summit of both peaks offer 360 degree views that are really stellar. When I hiked the El Diente Traverse, we had a ton of smoke in the air from the California wildfires so views were a bit hazy.

El Diente Traverse Hike Route

Watch died about 3.75 miles from the TH.

Gear Needed

• 14er Day Hike Packing List
• Men’s Trail Runners
• Women’s Trail Runners
• La Sportiva Trango Hiking Boots (Men’s)
• La Sportiva Trango Hiking Booths (Women’s)
• Backpack
• Food & Water
• Climbing Helmet
• Optional: Garmin inReach
• Optional: Hiking Poles
• Optional: Headlamp
• Optional: Garmin Fenix Watch
• Optional: Camera and Lens
• Optional: GoPro, Joby Tripod
• *Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you.

My Trip to the El Diente Traverse: August 2018

Approach to El Diente Peak

After a failed trip to knock out the El Diente Traverse in May 2018, I was back in August for round 2. Weather was looking iffy for the weekend, so I was planning on being flexible with my actual hike of El Diente Traverse. I arrived to Kilpacker Basin around 12PM on a Saturday and hit the trail shortly after. The sky looked ominous, so my initial plan was to hike about 3 miles in, make camp and make my plan from there. Although the Kilpacker Basin is not the standard route, I either had bad timing or it was crowded because during the 1st mile of the hike I passed about 3 different groups of hikers.

About 2 miles into the hike, I finally created some space from the other people around me and the rains started. I was somewhat annoyed to stop and put on my backpack cover and rain jacket, but also knew that the San Juans desperately needed the precipitation. Luckily, the rain only lasted about 20 minutes before the weather dried up again. Even though the rain had stopped, the sky still looked very ominous to the west so I expected more in the immediate future.

I continued hiking through the rolling landscape until I reached a stream crossing and entered into a massive field. From what I had read, this was the area to look for camping spots so I continued up through the large field until I found a clearing that looked very inviting towards the south side near the stream. It was only about 1:30PM but I was not willing to start the hike up towards the El Diente Traverse with the skies looking so grey. I pitched my tent, unpacked some gear and decided to take a short nap.

When I woke up about 45 minutes later and emerged from the tent, the skies were blue with light fluffy clouds dotting the sky. It was only 3PM and in a sporadic moment, I decided to make a push for the traverse that day instead of waiting until the next morning. The sun was scheduled to set at 8:15PM, so I figured I had about 6 hours of daylight left. I knew that I had about 6-7 miles of hiking to get back to where I was camping and figured that would be completely doable. I hit the trail and after about 5 minutes of hiking, realized I forgot my phone in the tent. While not a huge deal, it did have pictures and description of the El Diente Traverse route, so I sprinted back to the tent in order to retrieve it.

Short on time, I hustled up into the Kilpacker basin, passing a group of campers around 12,800 feet. I was surprised to see them but somewhat relieved that I had a “security blanket” close to the hike. After a short conversation, I continued up towards El Diente Peak, my first summit of the day. I kept following the trail until it faded away into a gravel field but had little problem following cairns up towards the red gully below the organ pipes of the El Diente Traverse. I scrambled up towards the ridge, eventually gaining it about 30 minutes later. Now on the north side of El Diente Peak, I could see the section that had caused me to bail on the traverse only months before. I was very happy with the decision that I made because a fall on this section in snow would result in immediate death. I scrambled across the section and reached the summit of El Diente Peak around 6:15PM. I spent about 5 minutes on the summit taking some pictures and video before heading back down the traverse.

El Diente Traverse

The sun was fading quick and I knew it was probably going to take me a couple of hours to make it across the 1.2 miles of the El Diente Traverse. Getting back to the tent with daylight was out of the question, but I just hoped to gain the summit of Mt Wilson before it was pitch black so that all technical moves of the hike would be behind me. The traverse started off with familiar terrain, retracing the path I had taken along the ridge about 30 minutes before. After a short hike, I reached my initial path up El Diente and continued east along the ridge.

I hiked across a short section of loose dirt and shortly after reached the point where the north trail up El Diente met the ridge. I scurried past this section and continued on towards the steeper Class 3 section of the traverse known as the gendarmes. This section was a bit exposed, but offered solid rock with tremendous holds along the way. I made quick work of it and continued up the ridge to the longer “flat” section of the El Diente traverse. When I did regain the ridge, it was about 7PM and the sun was starting its daily departure into the other hemisphere. The flat section of the El Diente Traverse was narrow with a bit of exposure on both sides but it made for quick hiking which I desperately needed at this point of the day.

I reached the end of the narrow section and now had to descend back to the spine of the ridge which I thought would be no problem as it was only about 75 feet below. However, as I started to descend the north side of the ridge, entire sections of rock starting flying leaving for a sketchy situation. In retrospect, I probably should have just stayed on the ridge itself instead of crossing over to the north side. When I did regain the ridge, I was now looking at another steep section of Class 3 rock. I found a nice little chimney which got me most of the way up and traversed left to regain the ridge of the El Diente Traverse yet again. From here, I could now fully see Mt Wilson and knew that I was in the home stretch.

Yet again, I had another flat but narrow section of ridge to walk across and reached my last downclimb of the traverse shortly after. Identical to the section before, I again had issues descending with loose rocks and gravel flying all over the place. Thank god it was 8PM and no one else was on this mountain. At last, I was finally on the doorstep of Mt Wilson with only a small section of Class 3 and one Class 4 move remaining. I made quick work of the solid rock in the Class 3 section and reached the crux of the route, an exposed Class 4 move. After scoping out both sides, I decided to go right. It was the more exposed of the two options, but offered great holds to boost myself over the large boulder and on to the summit of Mt Wilson!

Mt Wilson Back to Tent

I was so pumped that I had knocked out the El Diente traverse, even with a 3PM start. I had now summited 51/58 Colorado 14ers! The sunset was spectacular, so I shot some video and pictures before making a quick call home to Jackie in order to let her know I was not dead. (This was never a worry, but somehow she always thinks that is going to be the outcome when I hike alone.) With sunlight fading quickly, I didn’t have much time to enjoy the summit of Mt Wilson, but soaked up the accomplishment a little bit. I started my descent of the south slopes of Mt Wilson and knew that I was going to have a long dark slog back to my tent.

Before my trip across the El Diente traverse, I had heard that the path down Mt Wilson was somewhat hard to locate as there wasn’t much of a trail. Even with darkness enveloping the basin, I was still able to locate cairns with my flashlight and follow them all the way back to where the trail split. The boulder field had lots of loose rocks though and tested every single muscle fiber in my legs, ankles and feet. I was exhausted when I finally reached those campers I had passed hours before, but happy to report that I had successfully tackled the traverse.

I hiked back through the pitch black of night, enjoying the stars and keeping a constant eye out for creatures of the night. Luckily, I didn’t encounter anything but my mental fatigue finally caught up with me as I had a difficult time locating my tent. Random campers that I probably creeped out, if you are reading this, I apologize for stalking you I was just trying to find my home for the night. I ate a glorious Ramen dinner which I hardly remember and passed out in my tent, exhausted and dehydrated.

Overall, I enjoyed my time on the El Diente Traverse and if I had to rank it with the three other great Colorado traverses, I would easily put this as #3. Although El Diente Traverse had some technical sections, there was only one Class 4 move and route finding on the traverse was extremely easy which was not the case on the Maroon Bells traverse or the Crestones traverse.

El Diente Traverse Virtual Trail Guide