Mt. Princeton

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 7/5/2016, By: tjerasdave
Info: Summer conditions 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 7/9/2016, By: scottbstein
Info: My Ford Escape made it about 1.5 miles away from trail head, I could see an Outback or similar SUV making it up the road but be very careful driving as there are some areas that I did bottom out. Trail conditions were great, super dry, and the round trip hike took about 3.5 hours. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/22/2016, By: Drewprice
Info: Summertime conditions from the trailhead up to the summit. As another poster mentioned, the trail is talus slopes from about 12,000 ft up to the summit. The trail is marked by cairns a lot of the way which is helpful, and an old washed out trail is rerouted to the new trail at about 12,800 ft (follow the 14ers.com trail directions). With all summer hiking, earlier is best! 2 young hikers told us on the way down they experienced static shocks (i.e. Before lightning strikes) during their summit at about 11:15 am. Overall, this was a great hike! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/20/2016, By: Lville
Info: Summer conditions the entire way up - both the road and the trail. Go get it ... if you like lots of rock hopping. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/15/2016, By: Chase_Rowdy
Info: Road is clear to the last switch back before the section of the road where the trail starts, being blocked by a large snowdrift. Looks like it will be gone in a week or more. Trail is dry besides a couple gully's around 12200, with one major snowfield still holding a lot of snow for about 40 feet in distance. It was easily accomplished in hiking boots, but trekking poles made it easier. Snow was very soft descending around 10:45. I didn't bring my axe and was happy I didn't. Microspikes weren't necessary either. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/11/2016, By: roemmic1
Info: Some small snowfields needed to cross between 12,000 and roughly 12,500 feet. Overall the peak is nearly in summer conditions at this point and the snowfields are easily traversed with very minimal postholing. No microspikes, snowshoes or winter gear needed. A lot of people on the route today and it was beautiful conditions on the summit shortly after 8 am. Still some snow up high on Mt. Princeton Rd around 11,500 but nothing that can't be easily walked around. I would suggest parking near the radio tower or shortly thereafter as minimal spaces are available. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/7/2016, By: Nelson
Info: Standard Route is not that bad. With an early start you can cruise up without potholing at all. You will posthole some on the way down but not too bad. I used microspikes from about 12,400 to 12,900 to get across the snowfields on the way up. I used nothing on the way down. Flotation, axe, crampons are not necessary. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/6/2016, By: supranihilest
Info: There's a bit of snow on the road from the 4WD trailhead to where the trail splits north over the east ridge of "Tigger Peak". There is also lingering snow on long stretches of the east slopes of both "Tigger" and Princeton, though most of it is on "Tigger". The snow was soft and in some spots was prone to postholing. Much of the upper slope on Princeton itself was muddy and slick, with the usual loose talus and scree. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/4/2016, By: AnastasiaC
Info: Road is dry until about 1/4 mile past radio towers, after that snowdrifts block any further entry. There is one parking spot/pull-off area at the very end where a vehicle should be able to turn around if needed. I drove my Chevy pickup without any issues, although since it was at night, few spots were a little sketchy just because I didn't know what to expect. When we started hiking at 4:00, snow was still solid enough to hold our weight; however it became soft as soon as the sun came up. To access trailhead, follow the road until trail junction. It is easy to miss in the dark, but we were able to find it by using pictures from .com. Later in the day someone made an arrow out of stones pointing to the trail. Instead of following standard route towards Princeton, we went up Tigger first, then followed the ridge to Princeton. Surprisingly we didn't encounter any snow on Tigger, and very minimal snow on the saddle between Tigger and Princeton. On the way back we descended using standard route. There was a lot of snow, the soft and rotten kind. Microspikes, snowshoes and crampons that we brought with us were useless. We ended up following existing postholes. I recommend going back over Tigger Peak to avoid dealing with snow. We didn't observe any wet slide activity. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/4/2016, By: jmc5040
Info: Road is driveable to first main switchback above radio towers before snow is blocking. A solid trail exists to the summit through snow on the standard route. 50% of the route is snow free. A summit ski is still in. The face is getting thin in spots. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/30/2016, By: lfishsays
Info: As previous reports have stated, the road is clear to the campsites. You could drive a bit further up until snow drifts block the road, but there is nowhere to park. We started early (5:30) and the snow was pretty solid until 10 or so when it started to soften up. Would recommend starting early or you'll likely be doing a lot of postholing. I felt comfortable in microspikes - the trail is pretty well packed down but we saw a couple people with crampons too. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/29/2016, By: jeffth5
Info: Road clear to camp sites above radio towers. Impassible snow .25 mile beyond last campsite. Significant snow on route on the slopes below Tigger all the way to the summit. Can be done in microspikes for the brave, but crampons highly recommended. No signs of any recent avalanche activity (unlike other nearby areas where wet loose have been prevalent). Expect a lot of time picking your way over the intermittent rock bands that poke out of the snow along the standard route. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/25/2016, By: kevintheclimber
Info: Like previous condition reports attest- the road up to mt princeton is open. I drove my 2007 outback to the radio towers. (should have added another .3 mile to campsites) I drove up during the night and it a weird experience- for sure it takes some skill and conjones to take your medium clearance car up to the radio towers area. the route itself is nice. I climbed all the way in my ski boots. i thought i would be able to ski tour some but that wasnt the case. started 6;15 ( definitely too late) summit at 10 am. Skied down from the summit proper, and went down for 2k. Glorious skiing. I didnt want to leave the couloir early, but instead was punished a gruelling 500 feet climb back to the ridge in wet slushy snow. back car by 12:30. the drive down on princeton road was much easier due to two reasons- gravity and daylight!!! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/22/2016, By: kwhit24
Info: Same as yesterday's post, road was clear and dry so we parked just above the radio towers. Snowshoes weren't needed but microspikes were a must. Started at 5:45 and reached the summit by 8:45. We missed the trail and ended up higher on Tigger than we would've like so it took longer. I agree with the previous post, take the standard trail up to the ridge and work your way up. That is the route we took down. It was very windy on the summit (damn near lost my hat) as I'm reading was the case on many other summits today. The hard pack snow was good in the morning up to the top and the whole route down was very slushy and slick (good amount of postholing). Got back to the trail head by 11:00. Looked like the skiers had a pretty good descent (saw about 10 by the time we got back) 

Route: Visual observation
Posted On: 5/21/2016, By: RyGuy
Info: Long range pictures from just east of the Mount Princeton hot springs on 05/21/2016 @ 3:15PM.