Introduction

Pedestal Peak is well-named, and despite its rounded talus-heap appearance, a bit of scrambling is required to surmount the pedestal-shaped summit boulder. For a long time, it was unknown whether Pedestal had enough prominence to qualify as a ranked 13er–thus it was referred to as “soft-ranked.” With the advent of LiDAR peak analysis, I determined that Pedestal Peak falls 7 ft. short of the minimum threshold to qualify for the main list. Still, Pedestal Peak has a very cool summit, it is easy to climb on your way to or from Flagstone, and the first five people to finish the Wyoming 13ers each climbed Pedestal.

General Considerations

Since the easiest way to access Flagstone’s standard route requires traversing near the summit of Pedestal, it only takes a few minutes to climb the extra few feet to this unique summit block. Pedestal Peak offers a superb view of Flagstone. See Flagstone’s description for approach route information.

Route 1: North Slopes – Class 3 **

From the broad slopes of the Continental Divide south of Klondike Peak, Pedestal rises as a mound of talus and snow. Despite its lack of prominence, Pedestal is nearly as high as Flagstone, and reaching its summit requires almost 900 feet of elevation gain over boulders of varying size (class 2). The last boulder is the infamous pedestal (the only class 3 on this route). The pedestal rock is about 10 feet tall and overhanging on most sides, but the southeast side is lower and has a series of stair-like ledges which give relatively easy passage to the top.

Route 2: South Ridge – Class 3

To continue from Pedestal to Flagstone, hike down the rocky class 2 southern slopes of the peak to the Flagstone saddle. If returning northward via the same route, you can save a hundred feet of elevation gain or so by deviating to the west of Pedestal’s summit.