Mt. Cameron

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 6/20/2025, By: Sydneys72
Info: Started with Bross, then Lincoln, then Cameron, and finished with Democrat. Started at 8:30, ended around 2:30. All peaks were in good condition with little snow in certain areas. I brought spikes but did not need them. The peaks were all pretty windy, but still fun. Hiked in shorts and a long-sleeved shirt and then put on pants and gloves. Started with Bross and not Democrat because of Bross's steepness, so we thought we would give it a go, and honestly, really enjoyed the counter-clockwise route. 

Route: NW Couloir
Posted On: 5/4/2025, By: slawrence2011
Info: Started from Montgomery Reservoir winter TH at 6:30 with the intention to ski glory hole. First I made a mistake and tried to bushwhack on the Lincoln side of the creek instead of the road since the road looks like it goes up in the wrong direction. Bad idea, very trapdoory over there. The road is in the perfect position once you get to the N aspect of Lincoln. I couldn't see any couloirs in, so I ended up going up an E facing couloir up Traver, and learned that it stopped at 12,8 and you had to traverse a long ridge with mixed snow/dry. Skied down that around 11 and it was sluffing pretty good. Then I saw a couloir on the NW aspect of Cameron from there. Started up at Noon, summited Cameron at 3:30, down to the base of the couloir before 4 and car before 6. Snow goes within 30 ft of ridge which is pretty good, nearly 14K. Snow was mostly heavy powder in the couloir, and wind effected below. Road is surprisingly patchy snow between TH and 11,3, even though some long snow stretches, took my skis off due to all the dry and water crossings. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 11/2/2024, By: madmattd
Info: Patchy snow from the Democrat saddle to the summit, rarely more than a few inches deep. Bare booted without issue. Short snowfield coming off Cameron towards Lincoln that was deeper, but there's good boot steps through it. 

Route: South Couloir
Posted On: 5/30/2024, By: Jcinco
Info: South couloir is in. Fantastic corn through the gut and below, but sharks starting to poke through in the upper part, so get after it soon. This upcoming hot spell will probably end it. Definitely does not fill in every year. Also attaching a shot of Quandary. Looks like the SW couloir of Quandary might be in, but the view of the lower choke is slightly blocked by Northstar. Anyone been up past Blue Lakes for a view? 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 12/22/2023, By: Willhf1011
Info: Copied from Democrat: Road closed at lower gate, ~1mi from Kite Lake. Road is pretty clean though, easy hiking. Kite Lake up to Democrat has the most snow of the route, snowshoes would be nice but not necessary. Once up to the saddle the standard routes are pretty good, just snowy. A little bit of snow loaded above the standard route up Democrat but its thin, well consolidated, and SE facing. Saddle between Cameron and Lincoln is bone dry and Bross is also quite dry. Some nice cornices forming in the chutes on Lincolns south face. Spikes were helpful on Democrat thru Lincoln, not really needed for Bross, though there are some steep snowy parts of that descent. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 11/14/2023, By: Da Legit Master
Info: The road leading to the Kite Lake Trailhead is closed at a locked gate 1.1miles back from the trailhead at around 11,500'. There is enough room to park three vehicles here. There is hardly any snow on the road, but starting at the trailhead there is snow on most of the decalibron loop. There was not a lot of ice, but I would still bring poles and spikes. Crampons are probably a little overkill right now. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 10/7/2023, By: jfm3
Info: No snow on the trail up from the Democrat-Cameron saddle. There is some drifted snow just below the summit on the north/northeast side but it can be easily avoided. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 9/23/2023, By: backcountrybrodes
Info: Democrat was nice and then 70+ mph winds at 14k on Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross. OOF. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 8/31/2023, By: donovanrice
Info: Umm... who left their truck just shy of the summit? 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 2/19/2023, By: bangerth
Info: We intended to do the whole loop counterclockwise. From Bross to Lincoln, one has to cross a snow field on the east side of Cameron that is iced over and too steep to treat casually. We could presumably have bypassed it via some rocks below, but instead decided to climb to the summit of Cameron instead from where it would have been easy to head over to Lincoln. Alas, the storm had by that time driven hard snow crystals into every pore of exposed skin for the past hour or two, and the wind chill was certainly below -10F, and so decided to call it a day, descend 2/3 of the way to the saddle with Democrat, and from there angle left down the mostly windblown slope that leads down to the basin. That worked reasonably well, and one ends up on a little shelf at around 12,800' from which one wants to head east and make a detour via some flatter terrain and finally a rib that leads back to the trailhead. This is also the ascent route described in several previous condition reports for Democrat. The issue is that the ascent to/descent from that 12,800' shelf is steep and snow covered. There is no good way to do that part of the trip. Snowshoes: From the winter closure to the trailhead boots will probably do by now, but snowshoes were useful in the basin. For the trip up to Bross, we used snowshoes for the first 1/3 and microspikes for the rest. I kept them on till we were back down on the shelf mentioned above where the snowshoes went back on until we were back to our cars. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 2/3/2023, By: madmattd
Info: Minimal snow and largely avoidable by rock-hopping if desired from ~200' vertical above the saddle with Democrat to the summit - bare boots were fine for the ascent. Hardly any snow on the drop down to Lincoln. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 10/17/2022, By: Gweilo climber
Info: Conditions were excellent, especially for mid October. Some patches of snow - several hundred meters long needed some careful steps (We only had hiking boots - no spikes). Peaks were clear of snow. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 5/31/2022, By: mtnmike
Info: Since we just did Democrat a couple weeks ago, planned to hike just the "Calibron" today, but ended up with the "Cabron" :). Parked at the closure gate ~1 mi below Kite Lake. Road had a light dusting of new (and falling) snow. Bathrooms at Kite Lake still locked up. Trail from the Lake to the Dem/Cam saddle is still covered with snow, some deep and punchy. We had spikes but honestly snowshoes would have been helpful to the saddle. From the saddle to Cameron and (ahem) the general direction of Bross, the trail is snowcovered but not too deep. On Memorial Day there were intermittent snow squalls and vicious winds, nearly knocking us off our feet. Based on the visibility and conditions of the moment, we lurched over Cameron and decided to give Lincoln a pass. Photo is Democrat and the basin descending below Bross. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 3/21/2022, By: Eli Watson
Info: Summitted "DeCaLiBro" from winter parking at private property below Kite Lake TH. Parked approx 1.8 mi shy of Kite Lake TH. Some cars were parked right at the sign at the edge of private property. I chose to park a few hundred yards down the hill where there's an obvious pull off area off the road. I wore snowshoes shortly after the gate and was glad to have them on until approx 12,800'. I bobbed and weaved through the Kite Lake bowl and upper Democrat slopes to avoid avy terrain or wind drifts. I'm probably around 200 lbs with gear and pack, and the strong wind gusts out of the NW were not fun. There's a lot wind drifts that make for really variable snow conditions from bulletproof wind hammer to sugar that made for a more frustrating day than expected. Wore spikes from the summit of Democrat all the way back to the car. The Bross "S Gully" is tempting to want to take down, but it doesn't look ready and I wasn't prepared to have to climb out of it if the snow was too sketchy. I honestly think descending Bross with snow is preferable to dry. Saw 7ish other hikers out today. A group of them summited Democrat without snowshoes, but I was glad to have mine on. I could have put them on the road walk out and avoid sinking down a bit, but it would have been more effort than it was worth to switch again. 10.95 mi, 4260', 6:50 Car-to-Car Splits: 5:55 AM Parking 6:25 AM Turn off from Kite Lake TH Rd (0:30) 8:48 AM Democrat Summit (2:23) 10:15 AM Cameron Summit (1:27) 10:40 AM Lincoln Summit (0:25) 11:20 PM Bross Summit (0:40) 12:45 PM Parking (1:25) 

Route: Bross-Lincoln-Cameron-Democrat
Posted On: 1/11/2021, By: HikesInGeologicTime
Info: Easy as stealing four snowflake-flavored candies from a baby. Road should be navigable by even 2WD vehicles to 1.1 miles below Kite Lake. Some soft snow on first part of ascent to Bross/last part of descent from Democrat, but not deep or consistent enough to warrant flotation. Snow mostly avoidable between Bross, Lincoln, Cameron, and Dem-Cam saddle. Did use traction for steep, hard snow section on Democrat, but it is also possible to stick to rocks to climbers' left of it and likely avoid such a necessity. Snow was shallow and springlike enough near and through the potentially problematic slopes below the D-C saddle that we encountered no problems crossing them in early afternoon, but future hikers will obviously want to make their own evaluations. Bit cold and windy around dawn on trail up to Bross. Wind calmed somewhat as we descended to saddle with Cameron and was not a factor at all after we left Lincoln's summit. We stripped down to our base layers halfway between D-C saddle and Kite Lake and were only half-jokingly contemplating removing even more. If you don't have winter ascents of these four yet, would like them, and can do them tomorrow (nearly identical forecast to today's), go get 'em!