Ellingwood Point

Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek
Posted On: 5/7/2018, By: didjapelli
Info: Absolutely no snow for quite awhile, and the last mile or two before treeline its not deep and packed so you can use traction or not, I was fine without it. I brought snowshoes but ended up caching them when it became clear they are absolutely not needed. The C2 Couloir has lots of new snow from the snowstorm three weeks ago but it is not consolidated, it still needs a few weeks. There are stretches of it where its excellent, and my crampons were enjoying it very much. Then there are stretches where your postholing up to your waist, and the trouble is you can't tell which places are good or bad. Eventually we started hugging the left side, closer to the rocks where its more consolidated, and we couldn't even go up the last 50 feet of the couloir because it was so deep and soft. At no point did I ever feel unsafe. At this point its doable if you don't mind some posthole frustration. The last 50 feet we skirted to the left and topped out about 40 feet to the left of the couloir. From here, you are never going to touch snow again until you are sitting on the peak. Cached my helmet, ice axe, crampons here. Weather was really perfect, almost no wind all day, towards end of day as we turned from the summit it began gusting pretty frequently but never more than 10 miles an hour. Couldn't have asked for more 

Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek
Posted On: 4/26/2018, By: Dave Mason
Info: 3"-4" of snow on the shady side of the valley for the last mile below timberline. Trail was accessible all the way to the base of the C2 couloir. No flotation needed. The couloir had a couple inches of fresh on top of consolidated. Crampons and axe needed for the couloir. No traction needed from the top of the couloir to summit, mix of talus and snow covered talus. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 4/22/2018, By: TalusRunner
Info: Currently a minimum of 12 inches snow at Lake Como. This will likely change after today's bluebird conditions. Unfortunately, as of 12:30 today there is no trail/bootpack beyond the couloir up to Little Bear. I wasn't terribly familiar with the standard approach to Ellingwood and Blanca so decided to turn around here. Wore a long sleeve tee all day. Brought spikes. Didn't need the spikes. Axe or poles may have been helpful for steeper sections above Lake Como. Also f**k Lake Como road. Hate that road. 

Route: Blanca and Ellingwood
Posted On: 4/8/2018, By: supranihilest
Info: Note: a snowstorm came through the night after these conditions were observed and dropped a couple inches of snow and graupel. Conditions now may be significantly different. From Lake Como all the way to the waterfall you will find a mess of postholes. In the morning the snow may be frozen but if not expect to posthole even in snowshoes (photo 1). From directly below the waterfall and above you'll find mixed patches of rock, mud, ice, and as you get higher, more and more snow. The snow is generally better as you get higher. Much of the trail was obvious and somewhat melted out until the ledges near 13,000', when following the cairns became necessary. From the top of the ledges everything was covered in wind frost (photo 2). It did not pose a problem but be aware that it may melt and freeze into nearly invisible verglas. I traversed from Blanca (photos 3 & 4) and conditions on most of the traverse were good until the slopes turned enough to face south/southwest. These slopes are mostly dry (photo 5), and what little snow is on these slopes became shallow, hollow, and unsupportive. These snow conditions, especially being very shallow, remained true all the way up and down the South Face until back in the basin below the peak. I did not use crampons, opting to wear microspikes the entire way across the traverse and up and down the peak instead. Traction is probably not an absolute requirement but will give you great peace of mind. An ice axe is still a requirement for traversing the steep slopes and especially on the traverse between the two peaks. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 4/2/2018, By: anthonygroft
Info: Hiked in from 8,000'. Road is clear of snow up to 10,000'. From 10k to Como patchy snow in shaded areas. Made it up without spikes or snowshoes. Above Como through the basin snow gets deep and snowshoes were helpful during the descent once the snow softened a bit. Patchy snow and ice up the switchbacks, spikes were used. After the trail split (leaving the Blanca route) a snow field was crossed, deep enough to need snowshoes. Up to the ridge and along the ridge snow is hanging on between the rocks. Stayed mostly on the exposed rocks so no spikes were used. Traversed the ridge to Blanca, most of the class 3 terrain was snow free. Once on the ridge up to Blanca snow was patchy, once again stayed mostly on exposed rocks so no spikes were used 

Route: Blanca and Ellingwood
Posted On: 1/13/2018, By: Eli Boardman
Info: See Blanca report for approach conditions. I traversed to Ellingwood from Blanca on a fairly high contour (probably around 13.6k). An ice axe is highly recommended for this route, although I did not use traction. There is minimal snow cover (1.5 ft. max) with lots of rocks sticking out. However, I knocked loose a wind slab that ran about 3-4 inches deep on an older surface. With more wind loading or more snow, the traverse will require extra caution. The standard south face is fairly wind scoured, but an ice axe is still very helpful. The south face is currently much easier (fewer snow crossings) than the high traverse. Starting around 7.8k, I did this combo in about 14 hours roundtrip. It would have been faster, but I was the first person since the storm and broke trail the whole way. Of course, the trench above treeline was already filled in on my descent. 

Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek
Posted On: 1/8/2018, By: grahampa
Info: Went up to about 12,500' this morning while it was snowing. Turned around at about 8 am at the C3 couloir due to lack of gear. The trail above treeline is about 50% iced over but we did not use traction. Snow was almost melted below treeline on the trail on our way down 

Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek
Posted On: 11/26/2017, By: landonstrain
Info: The trail to S Zapata Lake is covered by 2-4 inches of snow from 10,500' onward. The C2 and C3 Couloirs are filled by 1-2 feet of snow, and require crampons and an axe. Microspikes won't cut it! The snow is not very consistent in the C2 Couloir. Some section are hard-packed and slick like ice, others are soft, sugary powder. Once on top of the couloir, the remaining 1000 feet of climbing on Ellingwood's North Ridge is 99% dry. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 10/29/2017, By: jhughes26
Info: The peak is 99% dry. A few small snowfields to cross but nothing that should keep you off 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 10/23/2017, By: bmcqueen
Info: Some snow on the head wall below the saddle and again on the summit ridge of Ellingwood. I never put my crampons on, but definitely recommend having some form of traction with you. 

Route: South Face
Posted On: 10/16/2017, By: ajstack
Info: Intended on doing Blanca but we ran into 2 guys who had tried previous day and they reported that it was icy and too dangerous to summit. So instead we did Ellingwood Point. We could not really see the class 2 route due to snow so we made our own way to the top- I would say a class 3 scramble. Two of us uses micro spikes, one used crampons and one guy that joined us didn't use any traction. I would not have felt comfortable without traction. Be careful! 

Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek
Posted On: 10/1/2017, By: Hucksley
Info: Fall/winter is here, and the Blanca Massif got pounded yesterday by a stalled weather front, dumping tons of wet, crappy, early-season snow that was the furthest thing from consolidated as we entered the South Zapata Lake basin. We headed up the C3 Couloir where we were greeted by 2 ft. deep post-holing, little to no traction, icy rock walls that provided no grip or reprieve and 40-50 ft. of visibility. The approach was muddy with a slushy ice/snow mix that (later in the day once the storm had gotten through with it) made for a slightly treacherous descent, and after slogging up the couloir and experiencing several close calls, it was a most unwelcome sight. I'm not about to say don't bother until the snow is better consolidated before attempting (I'm not exactly an expert hiker), however, the conditions looked ideal earlier in the week and in the span of 48 hours deteriorated completely. The Zapata Falls trailhead, known for its well-maintained campsites with little to no actual campers, was surprisingly packed and even had a school bus full of Boy Scouts residing at the site next to ours. Absolutely gorgeous though. We'll be back! 

Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek
Posted On: 9/18/2017, By: bmcconahey
Info: Approached Ellingwood via South Zapata Creek and ascended the C2 Couloir. C2 was surprisingly solid in the morning due to cold temperatures but became quite loose and slippery near the top by the time we descended. The final push to the summit had some ice and snow, so we took the Class 3 moves slowly. The sun came through in the afternoon so it may have melted out, but just be aware. Here is a view from Ellingwood's summit over to Blanca, which had quite a bit more snow than Ellingwood. 

Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek
Posted On: 9/16/2017, By: rivrrapids
Info: Made it to about 13600' on last stretch of ridge but turned back due to some nasty verglas that was still building from low clouds and wind blowing up SW face. Did not have any snow as of 9/15 on any of route. C2 dry. 

Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek
Posted On: 8/28/2017, By: Ptglhs
Info: Route is great to Zapata Lake, after that it gets difficult. The C2 is loose and steep, much worse than Challenger or Columbia. The talus from the ridge line to Ellingwood's north ridge is stable, but there's no trail til you hit the standard route on the traverse to Blanca. The last 200feet to the summit is exposed scrambling. Check your hand and foot holds carefully!