"Electric Pass Peak"

Route: Cathedral lake, S face ski
Posted On: 5/25/2025, By: kyrawhitworth
Info: We headed up via cathedral lakes trail in trail runners and connected with the slope up to Leahy. This ended up feeling very sloggy but we were able to stay on mostly grass once the snow ended. From the saddle to Electric Pass Peak, we took a social trail below the ridge that ended in the snow field we intended to ski. We put on crampons + ski boots and headed up to the summit on snow. I dropped at 11am and the face felt pretty steep for me even with the softened snow so I cautiously skied down to a more narrow spot where I stepped down over some rocks. Ryan cramponed down the loose rock/dirt next to the snow with ease. After that, skiing was great and we easily connected with the trail. A few groups skied Pearl as we were coming down and wow, what a line that is! 

Route: Electric pass and SW face
Posted On: 6/10/2024, By: Trotter
Info: Started out on electric pass trail, no snow until about 11,800' Then snow covers trail, didn't use snowshoes up or down, snow pretty supportive where other people have walked. Then took SW face of leahy to stay on dry grass, actually pretty pleasant. Crossed to EPP via ridge walk, still some snow and cornices on ridge, got axes out for a few sections, didn't need crampons. Electric pass trail mostly covered with snow. 

Route: From Cathedral TH
Posted On: 9/24/2023, By: SionaRW35
Info: Dry. Aspens around Cathedral Lake trail are maybe a week from the peak. 

Route: Electric Pass
Posted On: 7/17/2023, By: Camden7
Info: Dry summer conditions. Great flowers in upper basin. Red, White, and Rosy Paintbrush, Elephant Heads, King's Crown, Buttercups, Purple Fringe, Sky Pilots, Old Men of the Mountain... just incredible. Fireweed will bloom in the coming days and it will be even better. 

Route: standard route
Posted On: 7/6/2023, By: adamorsubtractem
Info: I was climbing late in the day and got turned around by a storm. Looks entirely snow-free! 

Route: Via Electric Pass
Posted On: 6/20/2023, By: JosephG
Info: 98% snow free to EPP-Leahy saddle. A few small patches low, one minor on ridge to EPP summit. No traction needed. Route to Hayden/South Hayden holding snow on ridge proper. 

Route: Cathedral Lake TH
Posted On: 10/3/2022, By: coopergould
Info: solid 4-5" of snow above 10.5k (but quickly melting below tree line on the descent). Went up E ridge from Leahy saddle (instead of Electric Pass trail to just south of the summit), which held more snow than anticipated and a little cornice was already starting to build on the NE side of the ridge. Incredible views the whole day with the snow + fall colors... would highly recommend this cruiser gem in the Elks! 

Route: electric pass trail
Posted On: 7/19/2022, By: zootloopz
Info: Summer conditions! Great flowers near the saddle! 2:15 up from the TH. 

Route: Cathedral Lake TH
Posted On: 7/2/2022, By: gcook33
Info: Bluebird day before clouds began to build around 1030am. Summer conditions. Found this trail to be very nice, went very quick. 3600' 9.5mi according to gps. 

Route: From Cathedral Lake TH
Posted On: 10/24/2021, By: Will_E
Info: Summitted Electric Pass Peak today. Started from the Cathedral Lake TH and followed the Electric Pass trail to start, but lost the trail because I'm world's worst routefinder and ended up just going straight up the mountain (see map shot). It worked out okay, but was kind of a loose screeish mess in places. On the way down I stuck to the trail, worked much better. Cathedral Lake trail had mostly melted out by early afternoon. 

Route: from Cathedral Lake TH, east ridge direct
Posted On: 6/17/2021, By: mijoflynn
Info: Snow-free to Cathedral Lake, and to the Electric Pass / Leahy saddle. I was on Castle on Sunday, and could see that there were still patches of snow on both the south and east ridges. The "standard" route, according to most TRs and SummitPost, is to take the Electric Pass trail, which traverses across the steep, Elk-scree-filled south slope, and then angle up the south ridge for the last 200'. But it looked like that would run right into the snow on the ridge, which was deep enough to stop the writer of the last CR two weeks ago. Plus, no one who's written a TR has had anything nice to say about that route even when it didn't end in a snow wall. So I decided to try going straight up the east ridge. Turns out the snow there is just a leftover cornice on the south side of the ridge, which can easily be bypassed -- I think I took all of three steps on snow on the way up. The ridge is low-angle and only moderately exposed, has just one rocky bump to get over, and wasn't any looser than class 2 stuff you see in the Tenmile or the Sawatch. FWIW, looking down the south ridge from the summit suggested that the snow there won't last much longer for anyone who wants to take the standard route. But given the nasty things previous TRs have had to say about it, I'm not sure why anyone would . . . especially given that "Electric Pass" isn't really a pass anymore (the Conundrum Creek side of the trail is abandoned, right?). The east ridge should be the standard route. Hot today -- and hazy: you could barely see the Sawatch. But the views of Castle, Conundrum, and that amazing north side of Cathedral were spectacular. My 99th and 100th summits in CO! 

Route: from Leahy Peak
Posted On: 6/2/2021, By: ScottLovesRMNP
Info: You can take the Electric Pass trail up from the Leahy-Electric saddle for a ways. It's tempting to leave the trail and just head up the ridge, but eventually, there is a cornice along the ridge. I chose not to flirt with it today, as I was hiking with poles and spikes only. Instead, I continued on the trail across the slope about 200 feet below EPP's summit. However, the trail eventually runs into a wall of snow prior to reaching the pass, so you can't stay with the trail all the way. I found that the best way to summit EPP was to leave the trail at a point where, by climbing straight up, I would meet the ridge beyond the cornice. This is very steep and loose rock, but only maybe 100-150 vertical feet. I would not advise a large party on this (maybe two or three people at the most, all spread out), and possibly helmets if going with any more than that. I found trekking poles very helpful in enabling me to light-foot up and down the loose slope. I did still let some rocks roll, but not too bad and not too far. Just have to go slow and be very careful. Once I crested the ridge beyond the cornice, smooth sailing to the top! Summary: This is do-able right now (equipment: snowshoes for the basin and poles for the crux at the top), but will be considerably easier maybe in just a couple weeks. 

Route: Electric Pass Trail
Posted On: 5/31/2020, By: Grover
Info: The view of Electric Pass Peak from the summit of Leahy Peak. 

Route: From Leahy Peak
Posted On: 5/16/2020, By: supranihilest
Info: See my report for Leahy to get info on the approach. The ridge off Leahy is dry and easy to the Electric Pass Trail. There was some snow on the ridge proper so we went under it on the trail, which became increasingly loose until we were under the peak, then we went straight up it on unimaginably loose scree and talus. This stuff was prone to small rock slides, that's how loose it was. We came down the same way and took the trail down as far as we could until it became snow, then traversed back until we were under Leahy and stuck to as much dry ground as possible. 

Route: From Cathedral Lake Trailhead
Posted On: 11/16/2019, By: WildWanderer
Info: Road clear from Ashcroft to dirt turnoff, then the road is icy. Trail is very icy until treeline. The willows are full of sugary snow someone postholed 12 inches at a time in for about a mile what looks like a few days ago. I tried to pack down their posthole trail with my snowshoes in the afternoon. Microspikes not needed in the morning, but necessary in the afternoon. I wore spikes to treeline and snowshoes to the ridge. Trail ended in the basin due to snow so this class 1 hike became a class 2 hike. Ridge varied from bare to areas where traction was very helpful, so I kept my spikes on here as well. Lots of mixed conditions all over this hike. I brought an ice axe (and I'd recommend it) but didn't need it.