Eagles Nest

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 7/15/2024, By: Kitten
Info: Gorgeous Peak and spectacular views. Route completely 100% snow free. Had ice axe and microspikes but never used them. Camped at Upper Cataract Lake. Route followed the Mirror Lake trail to the unnamed Lake above it (as others reported here and in other trip reports). Then gained the ridge through one of the steep gullies. Going up, I went to the left (North) and found myself doing a couple of Class 4 moves. Coming down I mainly stayed on the ridge where the rock was more solid. There are a couple of places you have to by-pass, other than that stays Class 3. Mosquitos were bad even at 13,000 feet (never seen than before!). Long route, took the whole day. The only picture I have is from the top looking at Mt Powell, I was too focused trying to find the best route and did not take any other pics. 

Route: Upper Cataract Traverse
Posted On: 9/3/2023, By: colin j
Info: Packed into Upper Cataract Lake and climbed Eagles Nest via the North Ridge and descended the East Ridge back to the lake. The North Ridge is class 4 with potential low 5th if you adhere to the crest in its entirety; frequent 3rd class bypasses exist climber's right. It is about 1000 ft of relentless scrambling and is now one of my favorite routes. The East Ridge was pretty tedious with steep talus and boulder hopping; great views but pretty average climbing. 

Route: Piney
Posted On: 8/28/2022, By: Sbenfield
Info: Approached via Piney Trailhead. Very good trail to the turn off to kneeknocker basin. Turn off easy to miss in the dark, gps helpful. Steep grunt to kneeknocker area and then more gentle ascent to go up and over Game Pass. After a rain it's easy to get soaked from vegetation, consider extra socks. Accessed the Eagles Nest ridge about 2/3rds the distance relative to Mt. Powell via a series of class 2+ gullies. Occasional cairns. Looks like several possible routes to choose from (took a different variation on the way down). Once on the ridge ~Class 3. Some difficulties can be avoided by dropping to the west from time to time. The top has 3 summits of approximately equal elevation with the middle allegedly the highest. 12 hour RT including ~1 hour on summit. GPX is located in the GPX library (Reg0928) 

Route: Ridge and slopes
Posted On: 9/6/2021, By: Laxer04
Info: We climbed this from Piney Lake and camped in basin below Kneeknocker pass, which was full of goats all weekend. More goats than people, which was a pleasant surprise on Labor Day Weekend. We dropped down too low in the basin over "game pass" and headed for the connecting ridge to the far north. We took a steep gulley up (no fun), hit the connecting ridge which was a collection of class 3 and 4 moves. You can make it as hard as you want. There was no clear route and no cairns whatsoever. We missed the much easier "grassy slopes" route that you can access by heading north east after reaching game pass. We took that on the way down and found that route much more direct, better marked (a few cairns here and there) and much easier. I would call it class 2+. Amazing mountain, we had it all to ourselves and the views of the entire gore range on the summit were majestic. Highly recommend. 

Route: A west facing gully
Posted On: 11/9/2020, By: tdawg012
Info: Snow free from upper Piney Lake TH to grappel/game pass...sugary 4"-8" on north side of pass but not bad once you get closer to (your choice of) western ascent gullies on Eagles Nest. Kneeknocker pass was snow free on westside. Didn't get a good visual of east side as I took a different ascent/descent path to Powell's summit. East facing ridges/gullies+ passes further south looked pretty snowy. Storms will change things as per usual. 

Route: West ridge from North
Posted On: 8/3/2020, By: climbingcue
Info: Summer conditions, route was long and the mosquitos ripped us up in the basin. Round trip mileage was 15.86 and 5k vertical feet. Here is the garmin GPX file of our route. https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/38952055 

Route: View from the area
Posted On: 7/17/2016, By: WillRobnett
Info: Climbed Spider and The Fly 7/14 Scouting Kneeknocker Pass 7/15 

Route: West ridge via Elliots Ridge
Posted On: 9/21/2014, By: Unknown
Info: Dry route for the most part. Some class 3, but more "difficult class 2". Some marshy areas to cross in the valley that I can imagine would be a pain in early summer, but were easy this time of year. Some "fun" bushwhacking in the willows as seen in 3rd pic. 

Route: South ridge via Piney Creek
Posted On: 6/17/2012, By: Matt Lemke
Info: Great climb! Trail up to basin below Kneeknocker Pass is snow free but muddy in spots. Beautiful camping in that basin! Basin itself snow free and the way up to Game Pass is also snow free. Descent off other side of Game Pass has some remaining snow but can be avoided. The west slopes (you must pick the correct gully as said in Scotts‘ SP description) is snow free and the south ridge is snow free. Traverse to Powell looked snow free. Windy but beautiful day. Cliff Lake (below Eagles Nest) was still frozen. Bubble Lake was 100% thawed. Backside of Kneeknocker Pass (Black Creek side) was still snow covered requiring axe/traction. Piney side of Kneeknocker was snow free. PM me for any more details.