Mosquito Range: See The Path Less Traveled

JD pushes up from Weston Pass, which sits at an elevation of 11,900 ft.

With one of our Ergon Bike USA offices located in the heart of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado I am lucky to drive through some mind-blowing terrain. I often pass through Leadville en route to events, to visit Ergon retailers, and weekend rides. The Mosquito Range sits to the east of Leadville. Its peaks are high (topping out over 14,000 ft), but less aggressive than it's brother range to the west, the Sawatch Range. From a distance they look smooth and relatively flat in comparison to some of the jagged and aggressive peaks in any other direction. For the past few months, I have been eyeballing this range that shoots across the sky from south to north as I would pass through Leadville. I was curious if it could be ridden. I knew it was accessible, but just how accessible would it be with a bike in hand?

Over the past few months I looked at maps and did some web research. Folks had hiked the range, but nothing on anyone taking a bike across the ridge line. After putting a route on digital paper, I pinged the guys a 92Fifty Cyclery, a small shop near Black Hawk, CO. As personal friends, an Ergon retailer, and knowing they are all up for any bike adventure, I asked them if they would like to try to traverse the Mosquito Range by bike with me. I was straight up with them. I told them I had no idea how much of the route was be riding vs hike-a-bike. At 35 miles round trip with about 6,000 feet of vert, I planned on a 5-7 hour day taking into consideration we likely would be pushing and/or carrying our bikes.

From 92Fifty was Jon, Kyle, and Richie. The four of us set out from downtown Leadville at 10 AM on a Sunday. We had 18 miles of pavement and jeep road to cover before we could even begin to gain the ridge line. We pedaled for 2 hours before we reached the top of Weston Pass to the southeast of Leadville. From here, the hardest part of the day towered over us. We had a hike-a-bike that was 1 mile long, gained 1400+ ft, and was an average gradient of 30%. On top of that, there was no trail.

Kyle and Richie led the charge through the high-alpine flora being chased by a very thick crop of mosquitoes.

With no trail, we all alternated from making our own switchbacks and pushing the bike to putting the bike on our backs and hiking straight up. There was a sense of urgency. We wanted to know what exactly was at the top and what our proposed route really looked like.

At an elevation of 13,300 ft, we reached the ridge line and stared onto the beauty of mother nature. There wasn't much talking. Just silence and the occasional sound of a picture being taken. The wind, non existent. I couldn't think of a better adventure to break in a brand new Canyon Spectral AL 29, received just a few days prior.

We began the northward push on terrain that was very bike friendly. So far, so good. The route demanded the pedal friendly larger travel bikes. Most of us were on 140-150mm travel 27.5 and 29ers.

Not long and we found ourselves in pretty typical Colorado high mountain terrain; a blown out boulder field. Each step careful, as the rocks would slide and move. Each rider careful as to not roll and ankle or slice open some skin on the sharp rocks. Bikes became hiking poles on wheels.

We made plenty of stops during the day on the ridge, mostly for sightseeing. Early in the ride we had to stop so JD could attend to some heel carnage sustained from the Weston Pass hike-a-bike. Both heels had pretty good size blisters on them. The fix was quick, but as we all know, blister hurt like hell until you can get out of your shoes.

We truly are very small in this World.

A quick break in the saddle just below Horseshoe Mountain.

Kyle makes his way to the summit of Horseshoe Mountain at our high point of the day, 13,800 ft. A cabin still stands telling the story of the mining times long ago.

The top of Horseshoe Mountain is unlike any other terrain on the Mosquito Range. It's flat and smooth....and littered with the occasional mining hole.

The flat smooth conditions didn't last long. Moments later we were back on the terrain that was expected....loose moving scree. JD had no problem pushing his Nukeproof down the "trail"

Room for error? Not much. Ride or walk, it didn't matter. It came down to making smart riding decisions.

Signs of the long hard winter still exist below the summit of Mt Sheridan. Kyle watches his step as to not loose bike or footing.

The saddle between Mt. Sheridan and Mt. Sherman would be our exit point. Mt Sherman is a popular 14er hike. The trail here is very well established, but it's very dry and loose. The camera doesn't do the steepness justice as JD drops towards Leadville.

Kyle comes into one of the many switchbacks on the Mt. Sherman trail.

The lower sections of the Mt Sherman trail are the burliest of the route. JD made most of this descent. The rest of us, had a hard time keeping the bike moving forward and upright.

7 hours after we left, we were back in Leadville. Pizza and beer was in order and the infamous High Mountain Pies!

After seeing the path less traveled east of Leadville, I think we'll being doing a little bit more. If the sense of adventure is there, the path will always be there waiting to be traveled.

Photos and words by Jeff K, Ergon Bike USA

Riders
Jeff Kerkove
Jonathan Davis
Richie Trent, aka MTB Jesus
Kyle Taylor