I started the Weminuche Wipeout at 5:01:20 AM on August 1, 2026 at the Purgatory Trailhead and finished at 1:33:25 AM on August 3rd at the Thirty Mile Campground. When Andrew completed it in 2021, there were 9 peaks considered ranked centennials in the Weminuche Wilderness. In 2022, more accurate LiDAR measurements added both Arrow Peak and Trinity Peak to the top 100, bringing the total up to 11. Although it's not shown in his GPX track, Andrew actually climbed Trinity Peak during his attempt, meaning I just had to add on Arrow Peak to maintain the original intention of the route.
I went eastbound, which I think is the better direction due to getting all the hard peaks out of the way earlier. I couldn't find anyone available to hike 34 miles to meet at the halfway point, so I ended up going completely unsupported. I dropped my pack for a lot of small out-and-backs but otherwise carried everything with me from start to finish. This probably made me faster because I didn't sleep or take any extended stops for the full 44 hours.
I made a few optimizations to Andrew's route, such as taking a more direct ascent to Pigeon Peak from Needleton rather than the longer Chicago Basin trail. After the neat efficient skirt around Turret Peak and up Mount Eolus, I then did Jupiter, Windom, and Sunlight before dropping into Sunlight Basin for a more direct approach to Jagged Mountain. Later on I also found a shorter route from Vestal Basin to Rio Grande Pyramid utilizing the Trinity Creek drainage.
I started as early as I could without a headlamp, which made for nice cool conditions hiking in from Purgatory. The first 6 peaks went as smoothly as I could've hoped, and I made it to the top of Sunlight Peak just as the sun set. I planned on climbing Jagged Mountain, probably the most difficult Centennial peak, in the darkness. Having climbed it twice before, I was confident in my routefinding and ability to solo the technical sections, but the fatigue from 20 hours of movement made it feel spicier than expected.
The only real inefficiency in my route was going up and over Peak Six (I needed a repeat for my 13er list!) instead of around to the west, which probably cost about an hour. I hit Trinity Peak right at sunrise and descended the Class 4 west ridge, which felt nicer than descending the "standard" gully route. The only real downside of doing the route eastbound was not being able to ascend Wham Ridge on Vestal, but Arrow Peak was good consolation. I could barely stay awake the rest of the afternoon on the way to Rio Grande Pyramid, and almost completely ran out of food and battery power at sunset near the top. Luckily my backup headlamp survived the whole way down, but my GPS watch died about a half mile from the end. I was able to get the exact finish time from my dad's watch, who was waiting at the trailhead.
Much like Andrew's Centennial Elks Traverse, this is by far one of the best high peak linkups in the state. Huge thanks to him as always for dreaming it up. I'm super happy with the execution of my attempt; other than the intentional hour detour I can't think of anything I'd do different. There's certainly another 3-4 hours you could save just by jogging all the easy trail sections. It may be a difficult time to beat, but I hope someone gives it a shot someday!
Splits
- 5:01 AM - (Purgatory Trailhead)
- 11:21 AM - Pigeon Peak
- 12:47 PM - Turret Peak
- 3:20 PM - (North Eolus)
- 3:44 PM - Mount Eolus
- 6:05 PM - Jupiter Mountain
- 7:21 PM - Windom Peak
- 8:26 PM - Sunlight Peak
- 12:39 AM - Jagged Mountain
- 6:02 AM - Trinity Peak
- 8:29 AM - Vestal Peak
- 10:49 AM - Arrow Peak
- 9:11 PM - Rio Grande Pyramid
- 1:33 AM - (Thirty Mile Campground)