Red Peak — South Flank from Wildernest (Gore, Class 2)¶
Other climbers: Emily Sharpe — ✓ climbed · Shawn D Keil — ✓ climbed
At a glance — recommended day
12.27 mi · 4,290 ft gain · Class 2 · 1 peak · ~2.25 h drive
NOAA weather link: Red Peak Weather
CalTopo research map: https://caltopo.com/m/KDNAN4G
Researched: 2026-07-27
Status in Peak Checklist: unclimbed. A ranked Gore Range 13er (13,186' LiDAR, 932' rise, CO rank 493) in the Eagles Nest Wilderness directly above Silverthorne — and one of the closest unclimbed 13ers to home at ~2h 15m. Unusually friendly for the Gores: climb13ers calls it "an excellent introduction to the Gore Range," Class 2 on trail for most of the distance, with 441 member ascents on 14ers (plus 51 ski descents) — busy by Gore standards.
Combination Options: - Clean solo day — that's what the recorded tracks show: 6 of 7 swept tracks climb Red Peak alone from the east-side trailheads above Silverthorne/Frisco. - Mt Silverthorne (13,361', 1.54 mi N — and Red's own proximate parent) is also unclimbed, so it looks like the obvious pairing, but no recorded track links them: the one Silverthorne track in the sweep approaches from the west/Piney side (~8,700'), and the connecting ridge drops ~930' to a ~12,250' saddle. It gets its own report from its own approach rather than an invented connector. - Snow Peak (2.68 mi) and Mt Valhalla (3.04 mi) are the other unclimbed ranked neighbors — Willow Lakes basin country, better suited to a future backpack than bolted onto this day. (Nearby East Thorn, Rain Peak and Pink Peak are unranked.)
Note: the recommended route was distilled from 7 recorded GPS tracks of real trips (14ers.com · peakbagger) — all layered on the interactive CalTopo research map.
Peaks covered¶
A single Class 2 Gore 13er. All three sources agree on the grade (climb13ers Class 2, LoJ Class 2, peak_db Class 2) — no exposure, easy routefinding. The difficulty is mileage and gain, not terrain: the route drops to South Willow Creek before climbing, so you pay more than the summit-minus-trailhead arithmetic suggests.
| Peak | Elev | Class | Rise | CO rank | peak_db |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Peak | 13,186' (LiDAR) | 2 | 932' | #493 | 618 |
Summit County, Eagles Nest Wilderness (White River NF), Willow Lakes quad — no permits/fees, standard wilderness rules.
Getting there — Wildernest (Silverthorne)¶
Drive from Boulder: ~2h 15m via Google Maps (origin: 1162 Peakview Circle) — I-70 W to Silverthorne (exit 205), then up Wildernest Rd → Ryan Gulch Rd → Stephanies Way to the trailhead parking.
| Trailhead — Buffalo Mtn / Lily Pad Lake | ~39.61993,-106.11008, ~9,770'. All paved, any passenger car (climb13ers confirms). Residential-area parking — small lot, arrive early on summer weekends. |
| Alternate — Meadow Creek TH (Frisco) | ~39.5888,-106.1060, ~9,240' (Lupine Ln). The other 2 recorded tracks start here and reach Red via Meadow Creek / the Gore Range Trail — longer, and it starts ~530' lower. |
| Trails | Buffalo Mountain Trail → Gore Range Trail → South Willow Creek; mapped trail for most of the approach. |
Route — South Flank via South Willow Creek (Class 2)¶
~12.3 mi · ~4,290 ft round trip — the recommended line follows a recorded ascent verbatim (the densest of the 7 swept tracks, starting right at the trailhead), so it traces a real party's actual line rather than a composed one. It lands essentially on top of climb13ers' documented 11.5 mi / 4,250' for the same route — the gain matches within 40 ft, a good independent check.
- Buffalo Mountain Trail, WNW from the trailhead — wide, well-used, through beetle-kill forest; ~0.75 mi to the signed Buffalo Mountain junction (stay straight, don't turn up Buffalo).
- Down to South Willow Creek — the trail levels, then drops steeply NW through rocky outcrops and ledges (climb13ers notes it's briefly hard to follow here), follows an old ditch for ~¼ mi, then swings north to the creek. This descent is the gain you pay back on the return.
- Up South Willow Creek on the Gore Range Trail system toward the basin under Red's south side.
- South Flank to the summit — leave trail for boulder talus, rubble and scree; a steady Class 2 grind with no exposure and easy routefinding to the 13,186' summit.
- Return the same way (the recommended line runs a small basin variation low down — see the CalTopo map).
climb13ers rates it a "medium day // take a lunch" and calls it family-viable for strong middle-school-age and up — a genuinely moderate Gore outing.
Gear & season¶
- Best window: July–September for a dry Class 2 walk-up. climb13ers flags an ice axe as worth carrying earlier — the south flank holds snow into early summer, and the steep NW trail section down to South Willow Creek can be snowy/icy.
- Gear: Class 2 — no rope/helmet demands in season; poles earn their keep on the talus and on the steep re-climb out of South Willow Creek.
- Terrain: trail for most of the distance, then talus/scree/rubble above. Above treeline for the final push — early start, off the summit before the afternoon monsoon.
- Cell: decent low down (Silverthorne is right there) but unreliable in South Willow Creek and on the flank — still worth an InReach.
- Winter/ski: 13 winter ascents and 51 ski descents logged on 14ers — this is a known ski-mountaineering objective, not just a summer hike.
Other considerations¶
Why this one is easy to say yes to. At ~2h 15m on pavement to a passenger-car trailhead, it's among the closest unclimbed ranked 13ers on the list, and at Class 2 with no exposure it's weather-tolerant — a strong candidate for a marginal-forecast day or a short-notice outing when bigger objectives don't fit.
The mileage is real, though. ~12 mi with ~4,290 ft, including a steep drop-and-regain to South Willow Creek in both directions. Not a stroll — climb13ers' "medium day, take a lunch" is honest.
Parking is residential. The trailhead sits at the top of a Wildernest subdivision street with a small lot; summer weekends fill early. The Meadow Creek TH in Frisco is the fallback if it's full (longer day, lower start).
Trip reports & GPX (all three sources)¶
Sources confirmed logged in: 14ers.com ("Basin"), listsofjohn.com ("letsgocu"), peakbagger.com ("Kyle Knutson"). Red Peak's library was swept across all three sources and deduped — plus Mt Silverthorne's (to test the combo question) and the full OSM trail network — all layered on the CalTopo map.
- 14ers.com: peak Red Peak (10230) — 4 GPX-library entries, 441 member ascents, 13 winter, 51 ski descents; conditions reports through 6/2026.
- listsofjohn.com: peak 618 — 13 trip reports (text; no downloadable GPX).
- peakbagger.com: peak 5775 — 5 ascent GPX pulled (incl. both trailhead variants).
- climb13ers.com: Red Peak South Flank Route — Class 2, 11.5 mi / 4,250' from the Buffalo Mtn–Lily Pad Lake TH, with the full turn-by-turn used above.
Sources checked: 14ers.com ✓ (logged in, "Basin") · listsofjohn.com ✓ (logged in, "letsgocu") · peakbagger.com ✓ (logged in, "Kyle Knutson")