Rolling Mountain, 13,693 ft., is located at the head of South Mineral Creek, a popular backcountry access point near Silverton, Colorado. Many people are familiar with this valley, as it serves as the access point to the famous Ice Lakes Basin area.

And if you’ve ever been to the Ice Lake Basin trailhead parking and gazed southwest, at the end of the valley, you would see Rolling Mountain.

By late May, we were able to drive relatively high on the road towards Rolling, well past the South Mineral Campground. We continued on foot along the road to its end, to a flat meadow area that’s very popular with campers in the summer.

We skinned from there, south, along the route of the Rico-Silverton trail. At a certain point, we left the valley and began heading west, up into a bowl on the south side of Rolling. Its defining feature is a section where you ascend between some rock walls. If you’re in the area, it’s hard to miss this landmark.

Once through the notch, we continued higher, eventually cresting a ridge that comes off Rolling to the south-southwest. From there, we hopped over the ridge into a large, southwest-facing bowl, which gave us access to the west ridge of Rolling, from which you can reach the summit.

It’s a roundabout route, but it makes for an interesting tour of the mountain. Starting at South Mineral Creek provides good access, and it’s a route that allows you to skin to the summit and ski continuously back down as well.

Our only wish was that we had better weather. We were getting hammered by spring snow squalls and bad visibility the whole time, and we didn’t get any views! But that’s just part of the game.