Turret Peak sits half a mile southeast of Pigeon Peak above the Animas River canyon, the highest of the Turret Needles, a cluster of fractured towers that also includes Peak Fifteen, Peak Sixteen and Little Finger. The name comes from those turreted rock faces. Pigeon is its parent, and the two are almost always climbed together from high camps in the Weminuche Wilderness.
No road reaches these drainages. The trip starts with the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad to Needleton, then a steep, difficult climb of roughly 3,550 feet into Pigeon's northwest basin and a talus traverse around the south side of Pigeon to upper Ruby Creek (route details). Many parties instead camp along Ruby Creek near 11,600 feet. From the Pigeon-Turret saddle near 13,100 feet, the summit is about an hour round trip up west-facing slopes of broken rock, gravel and tundra, rated Class 2. Counting the approach, plan on about 7,140 feet of total gain.
The top frames Pigeon and Peak Fifteen at close range, with the Mount Eolus massif farther off. Carry an ice axe early in the season. Marmots at the Ruby Creek camps chew through packs and food, so hang or stash everything.
