Uncompahgre Peak

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 7/29/2024, By: Abowser7
Info: Beautiful day on Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre. Started at 3, summited Wetterhorn at 6:30, summited Uncompahgre at 10:15, back to the car at 1:00. Summer conditions everywhere. Wetterhorn was my first class 3 with some genuine exposure, very fun scramble at the top. The connecting route between Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre is well maintained, but the connection "shortcut" going from the Wetterhorn trail to Uncompahgre can be a bit tough to find. Regardless, this is only about a quarter mile stretch and then you cant miss it. I clocked in at just over 19 miles. Long day, but still saves you time if you plan to summit both. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 7/19/2024, By: F5fourteeners
Info: Great hike today! No snow to cross at all. Wild flowers are tremendous this year! Afternoon thunderstorms are happening, and in the forecast for the near future. Had a little hail coming off the peak at about 12:30pm. So, early start definitely a wise move. The views were amazing and the air was so clear most of the day. 

Route: Matterhorn Creek
Posted On: 7/9/2024, By: dgriff
Info: The route was absolutely stunning and I would highly recommend it. At the junction where R233 turns into 233, I would just take 233 which reconnects shortly - R233 seems to run out of trail and you need to somewhat quest to find your way back on route. There was one snowfield crossing but it was extremely minimal (perhaps 10ft across) and had no consequence if you fell regardless as it was a very shallow angle with no exposure. There are a few creek crossings but you can manage across without getting your shoes wet even if they aren't waterproof. If in doubt, do it - truly a memorable day! 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 6/29/2024, By: PJ88
Info: Pretty muddy, but only a handful of insignificant snow crossings. Brought traction but didn't consider using it. I caught a ride the last mile down and it ended up being just over 7 hours car to car from the 2wd trailhead. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 7/1/2024, By: chrislwillers
Info: Left at 5 AM and back in camp after a couple of extended breaks at 10:30. As others have said, three snow fields but none particularly interesting. They were mostly crusted over at ~6 AM and pretty slushy at ~9 AM. None of them drop into anything remotely dangerous. Gorgeous day in the mountains. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 7/1/2024, By: brianpaulhill
Info: Road up to TH is definitely rough with two river crossings, but my 2011 4Runner made it. The trail is perfect summer conditions. The couple of snowfields are very small and easy to pass. We took the right side when the trail splits near the top. Secure rock with light scrambling. We came back down the other route, but the loose scree made it interesting. 

Route: via matterhorn creek
Posted On: 6/27/2024, By: zootloopz
Info: 15 miles and 4,500' of gain RT from 0.6 miles below Matterhorn Creek TH at ~10,450'. Some decent car camping here, although mosquito season has begun. The way to go if you don't want to drive up Nellie Creek, and the traverse between Wetterhorn's basin and Uncompahgre is gorgeous with only like 6-7 easy snow crossings. Two of my friends added on Matterhorn since they were feeling energetic on the way back. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 6/24/2024, By: truekyle
Info: Summer conditions but is muddy on the way down. Now, on to the road... I did not drive my tacoma up very far. It's not worth breaking my truck. HOWEVER, I think you could absolutely get a stock 4x4 up. My tip for anyone who wants to cut some miles is to drive .2 miles before the stream crossing. There are 2 nice camp sites there and it's not too rough to get to. They are 2.4 miles from the upper th. I drove up a mile and backpacked in the rest and the sites at the trail head are great. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 6/20/2024, By: Mountain Goat Magee
Info: Nelly Creek road to the 4WD TH is no joke. Take it slow and youll be fine. A couple of sharp turns plus 2 creek crossings. Started the hike at 5am. The basin was picturesque green with white snowfields mixed in. Truly beautiful when the sun came over the ridge. Following the trail, youll cross seven snowfields. On the way up, they were solid ice and easy to cross. On the way down, everything was melting and made the snowfields more challenging to cross. Gaiters would be nice to have, but not required. Everything above the final ridge was normal summer conditions. The rock to the right of the tower is much firmer than the left. Definitely take this route. The summit was amazing with great views of Wetterhorn. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 6/25/2024, By: Clairebaums
Info: We camped from the trailhead. There are plenty of dispersed spots. There are still some patches of snow throughout the route. I used crampons to ascend and glissaded with an ice axe on the way down, but it can be hiked without this equipment. My Garmin watch measured the route to be closer to 8.5 miles. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 6/16/2024, By: NOJ
Info: Climbed standard route 7/15 to the ridge Traverse from Wetterhorn. Route is certain early summer conditions. Many 100-200 feet length snowfields that can be easy to porthole in as temperatures rise. Otherwise lots of wet snowmelt rolling down mountain. No special gear needed other than gators to keep socks dry. Beautiful conditions out there! 

Route: West Face Central Couloir
Posted On: 5/29/2024, By: slawrence2011
Info: Started from my parking space 1/4 mile below Matterhorn Creek Road at 4 AM. Made it to the Matterhorn broken peak saddle just after 6. Managed to stay on continuous snow starting at Matterhorn basin. Patchy snow starting just above TH before that, that I now made a posthole highway through. Out of the 3 couloirs, far right looks like it has at least one choke that is 3 ft or less down low. Far left has chokes up high, but it can easily connect to middle on snow up high. The middle one was continuous until right before the snow strip at the top. It is way less steep than it looks, probably high 30s or lower for most of it, and the choke is plenty wide. Sun hit shortly after 9. At the top, I did some easy class 2 mixed through the rocks, and got to the snow strip, followed it to the right and connected to the S ridge finish, though not quite continuous snow. Before this, I explored the snow strip to the left, as it looked like there might be some continuous snow sneak for skiing, but they were all worse than the way I came up. Dropped in around noon, including a forced ski a few hundred feet from the summit, then a few hundred feet of walking, then several hundred feet off the remainder of the S ridge finish, then a walking traverse to the skiable part of the snow strip, then about 5 turns to the rock crossing at the top of the couloir, class 2 walking to the top of a 10 foot steep chute, 2 turns down the chute, more class 2 walking, and finally, continuous skiing all the way to around 11,9 in the basin between Matterhorn and Uncompahgre. I then traversed all the way around the basin back to the saddle at 12,4. I could have cut off much higher and made this easier, but it was worth it for the continuous fall line descent. Skied from the saddle, and attempted to ski down the E side of the drainage (instead of W where the trail was and held no snow), and it was brutal, had to cross a couple creeks, take off skis, ski a lot of sticks and traverse steep snow between trees, but it did end up getting me about 500 feet more skiing, right after where the sign splits off around 11K. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 5/19/2024, By: artemavovk
Info: some tesla drove all the way past the second creek crossing on the road; after that there's big patches of snow, but you can get get up to treeline without flotation; with some creativity you can get continuous snow from the last gully to treeline; and a few sharky turns off the summit; 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 12/30/2023, By: supranihilest
Info: Our crew of five re-established the trench. No signs of unstable snow, even on the steeper stuff. Gully to summit plateau basically dry. Flotation needed from 4WD trailhead to south ridge's eastern slopes, not useful above. Microspikes useful for ascent to ridge crest then summit but not strictly necessary. Crampons overkill. Ice axe not necessary either, some might like one for peace of mind but poles would work as well or better. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 12/23/2023, By: astranko
Info: Judd (CaptainSuburbia) and I summited 12/22. This probably won't be terribly relevant given the snow over the holidays. We booted up a trench from the 2wd to 4wd trailhead. At the 4wd trailhead we switched into snowshoes and followed a decent trench to treeline. We ascended the south facing steep slope that the summer trail goes up and plowed our way across the basin until the gentle south ridge. There was one spooky-ish section right at 13.4k where there was a deep slab that rolled into both the east and west side of the south ridge. Look out for that if attempting later. The 3rd class and 2nd class ways to get onto the summit plateau were both low-snow/snow free. From there to the summit was easy going. The snow overall was pretty thin and variable. The deeper snow was very layered and was a little spooky. I didn't see any recent slide activity, but it doesn't seem like a good base for the snow that is coming. I had a very difficult day due to a respiratory illness I apparently wasn't over. Big and public thanks to Judd for being such a spectacular partner.