Quandary Peak

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 7/20/2026, By: taylorjoshua1
Info: Surprising amount of people for a Monday morning but I guess that's normal for Colorado Summer. Started at 6:30am. Nice and cool going up. Warmed up a lot coming down, got back to the car around noon. Wish I had started earlier for the coolness and fewer people. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 7/18/2026, By: EvanKBlack
Info: Great day, good conditions, fun rock, though the basin was wetter than I imagined, as were some of the talus higher up (melting overnight frost? remnants of rain in the area from the day before?)

I think there were maybe 8 of us total on WR on a mid-summer Saturday, quite a contrast to the conga line of the standard route. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 7/1/2026, By: sethjameslittle
Info: Quandary's trail was in fantastic condition. No snow was on the trail, but there were a few mountain goats. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/20/2026, By: afcolorado14
Info: There was one snowfield we crossed in the basin, we put on spikes but didn’t feel axes were necessary, snow was hard and there were fairly deep footprints through the snowfield. This was the only time we crossed the snow and it probably could have been avoided. The ridge itself was completely snow free and gorgeous! 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 6/8/2026, By: Cogwheel4755
Info: No spikes needed. Maybe 30 steps total on the snow. About 10 cars at 5 am. A few spots left at 9 am. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/9/2026, By: dmorris3
Info: I did it with no spikes, poles, ice ax, etc. The conditions are doable if you are comfortable with a little extra scrambling. I stayed left at the first gully and then stayed left again before I hit the ridge. I'd say do this now if you're comfortable with
a. a bit of snow
b. class 4 scrambling
c. finding easy lines 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/8/2026, By: zootloopz
Info: Still a bit of snow but no traction needed with careful footing when going from Quandary standard to Fletcher. Saw at least 15 people along the ridge while descending. Blue Lakes Basin still has a decent amount of snow, expect to posthole. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/7/2026, By: gmarcotte
Info: Some steep snowfields still remain when going from the lower to upper basin and then ascending to the ridge. Bring at least spikes and an axe and get an early start or you'll be postholing -- I'd aim to get up to the ridge by 7am with current conditions.

The rest of the route only has avoidable or easy snow. All of the scrambling and the two cruxes are dry.

The first 2/3 of the ridge is simple class 2 with lots of cairns to help with routefinding. If you want to add more scrambling, it looked like the ridge direct would go on the initial difficulties with some Class 4 (didn't try it myself). 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 6/4/2026, By: dougrz
Info: As below, short sections of snow with no issues to bypass or walk over. Parking lot wise, arrived at 4:30 to 6 others. At 6, there were 20, with plenty of space. At 12:30, still plenty of space. I expected the days here before the reservation date kickoff to be busier. Not so. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 5/31/2026, By: Been_Jammin
Info: It goes. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 6/1/2026, By: Lily_Bravo
Info: The hike had little snow. No need for spikes.
There were a mountain goats on the trail at the treeline. 

Route: North Gully aka Quandary Couloir
Posted On: 5/27/2026, By: rpziemian
Info: Hiked up east ridge and skied north gully, snow was continuous from summit until about 100 ft from the lake at the bottom. A lot of fun! 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 5/25/2026, By: hobbes7714
Info: Did it with 10 & 8yo daughters. Patches of snow up until the last 0.5 miles where it was fairly constant though mostly avoidable if you really wanted to put your mind to it. We used traction and did fine. Summited around 9:30 and the snow was good, though turning slushy on our way down.

The parking lot was maybe a quarter full when we got there and around 2/3rds when we left at noon. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 5/23/2026, By: raynor22
Info: Beautiful day for late May. I didn’t wear micro spikes, but they would have been helpful for the final third as there is still some snow at 13,000+. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 5/22/2026, By: jfrank122
Info: Absolutely perfect conditions for a late May summit. Started just after sunrise. Microspikes, though not completely necessary, were helpful for the final third to and from the summit. All in all, a beautiful day and a phenomenal hike.