Mt. Champion

Route: South Slopes: Champion + PT 13,736
Posted On: 8/4/2024, By: kyrawhitworth
Info: Full on summer! Creek is only shin height so I just popped my shoes off and walked across. There were rocks that looked like theyd provide a drier crossing. The route in the trees is nicely cairned (I just happened to miss them in the dark going up). I have a question too: see photo! 

Route: South Slopes: Champion + PT 13,736
Posted On: 6/23/2024, By: artemavovk
Info: Knee deep creek crossing at the start, couldn't find a way around. Summer conditions all the way to the top. There's a couple bypassable snowfields near the mine. 

Route: South Slopes: Champion + PT 13,736
Posted On: 9/25/2023, By: rleclair
Info: Followed the South Slopes route description and had a solid GPX track to follow as well. Stream crossing was very easy as it's low water now in September. Found a series of rocks to get across the stream. From there a fairly well defined trail east through the forest. Some downed trees were easy to navigate through. Then reached a point where basically hike straight up to the Champion Mine area. A cold wind was blowing but no snow to worry about. Made summit and then traversed over to UN 13,736'. Easy Class 2 traverse to summit. Reversed course and returned back to the trailhead in decent time. Only saw 3 people the entire day. Great 13er! 

Route: South Slopes: Champion + PT 13,736
Posted On: 7/29/2023, By: daway8
Info: Steam crossing was slightly troublesome - went to where GPX tracks crossed and while there were plenty of rocks, none quite made it all the way. Went up and down a bit then just tried and failed a long step - got wet midway to knees - oh well. Surprised there was a fairly good trail much of the way through the woods but it did fade out now and then - I lost and found it a few times. Going over to 13,736 you could make the class 2 fairly robust and enjoyable if you so chose (I did) and even milk it for a few class 3 or more moves, but beware loose rock on the funner looking features. Very exposed to hot sun once head up slopes so dropping back down along the stream for a wade was nice at the end. 

Route: South Slopes: Champion + PT 13,736
Posted On: 6/19/2023, By: jbealer
Info: We tried to hike Champion on Sat. We knew the water would be high, we found the slanted log in someone talked about in a trip report but did not like the angle and scooting that it would involve. we decided to call it and maybe go climb something else. we walked back towards the car along the creek just to see if there was any other crossings. we found one with a few short logs on it, we thought it might work, i made it across with spikes on as they were slippery and icy. my Partner made it half way across and she either slipped or the log broke but either way she fell into the creek and went under water. she made it out unharmed (lost a trekking pole) but then we were stuck on the other side of the water. i found 2 dead trees and rebuilt the bridge for us to cross back. this is closer to the lackawanna crossing if you want to test your luck. i have no idea on snow as we did not get far but included a pic of the mountain from the morning 

Route: South Slopes: Champion + PT 13,736
Posted On: 6/17/2023, By: swilson753
Info: I wouldn't attempt this route right now. The creek is very high and the one log bridge we found (not on the gpx track) was very sketchy. I slipped or one of the logs shifted and I took a plunge in the creek. We aborted the hike because all of my clothes were totally soaked. Wait a bit for the water to go down. 

Route: West Face
Posted On: 5/27/2023, By: Chicago Transplant
Info: Beta photo from Twining. West sides of Champion and 13736 are not continuous snow. 

Route: Smile Loop
Posted On: 4/30/2023, By: Geckser
Info: Arthurspiderman and I started at the Indy Pass closure (2.5 miles before the first hairpin turn). Two of the miles were on dry plowed road and then we switched to skins. We followed a creek up to the Frasco/Champion saddle. Was very easy going now but the snow on top of the water will be treacherous in a week or two. Skinned continuously from the saddle to the summit of Champion Skied down to the saddle with 13,736 and then back to skins. Skinned 90% of the way up but booted a couple steep/rocky sections. From the summit of 13,736 we skied Hi-Def couloir on the north face. Steep (50-55 degrees) and exposed turns up high and then some fantastic 45 degree turns through a tight choke. Mellowing apron at the bottom with great snow. Was able to ski all the way back to the plow stoppage with a moderate amount of pushing. Followed N Fork Lake Creek for the bottom portion but this will be a death trap in a few days. Extremely fun day with the best turns weve gotten all year! Highly recommend the rarely skied Hi-Def couloir. We were planning on X-rated today but made a last second audible after hearing about the crowds. Went in blind on this couloir but couldnt of found better results! 

Route: South Slopes: Champion + PT 13,736
Posted On: 10/24/2022, By: CheapCigarMan
Info: Bluebird day. Clocked winds at 49.6 mph with winds averaging in the 30mph range and 8 degree windchill. No snow to speak of with summer conditions. Route finding through forest. Intermittent and faint trail with cairns to give clues along the way. Absolutely beautiful views. French Benchmark, Casco, La Plata, Massive. Grizzly's Couloir was so stunning to look at. 

Route: South Slopes: Champion + PT 13,736
Posted On: 8/26/2022, By: cdgibbons
Info: Traverse from PT 13,736 is easy class 2. On the descent, worth finding the cairns and path in the route description- bushwhacking would be unpleasant otherwise. 

Route: loop from Deer
Posted On: 7/24/2022, By: zootloopz
Info: Summer conditions! Loop of UN 13,500, Twining Peak, UN 13,545, UN 13,202, Deer Mountain, UN 13,736, and Mount Champion. Storms moved in earlier than we anticipated so we skipped adding on UN 13,300B and K49. Beautiful ridge as far as the Sawatch goes with some opportunities for class 3 and occasional 4th. Fun to get 4 bicents in one day!! 

Route: South Slopes: Champion + PT 13,736
Posted On: 7/11/2022, By: kwhit24
Info: Instead of wasting time trying to cross a dry place on the creek we opted to just bring sandals and walk across. The creek crossing was mostly 6" deep but some spots can get close to knee depending on where you step. Good wake up and not all that difficult. I packed my sandals with me for the crossing at the end and the others tossed theirs back across. Followed a solid game trail until we turned up the slope. The trail we were on (yellow) ended up being a little more north (right) of Ben's (orange) and Bill's (red) tracks. You can see the difference in the screenshots of the tracks. Raj's track (blue) went up a steeper and bushier area. Definitely recommend going as far as Bill's route shows plus we went by some old mine ruins. Once on the ridge it is pretty obvious to PT 13,736. We wanted to make this a loop so we had some information that told us we could go down the NW ridge and then at 13,400' we turned due west down the drainage which was steep grass. Once we got towards the bottom we were able to pick our way through the bushes via rock drainages and game trails without much bushwhacking. We found a few good rocks to cross the creek and stay dry. It was south of the rock pile area near the creek. It looks like Ben's route going all the way down the NW ridge was much gradual but may have lead to a little more bushwhacking back to the good trail. After the creek crossing we headed down the North Fork Lake Creek Trail which was muddier than I expected since the lower part of the trail is dry. (7.78 mi; 3,414' gain; 5:35:58 total time) Start at TH 5:55am; Mt. Champion 8:20am (15min on top); PT 13,736 9:10am (15min on top); Back to TH 11:30am 

Route: South Slopes: Champion + PT 13,736
Posted On: 6/17/2022, By: Skimo95
Info: Summer conditions, dog friendly route. Had to avoid thunderstorms coming off PT 13,736. Creek crossing knee-thigh deep with some current. 

Route: Via Deer Mountain A
Posted On: 10/24/2021, By: durkan
Info: After ascending Deer Mountain A, we traversed over to UN13736 and Mt. Champion. The traverse was slow to UN13736. A lot of fun scrambling mixed with rotten rock and loose gullies/ledges. Overall kept at class 3 max due one point of a very short scramble needed to avoid snow in a spicy spot. The worst section where microspikes would have been helpful to put on was the saddle just NE of UN 13736 at 13,080ft as there were some steep-ish snow attempts (had them in the pack at least). Traverse to and descent down from Champion straightforward per the .com route. We noticed on the drive in and the hike that most N and E facing aspects were holing the most snow in the area. 

Route: South Slopes: Champion + PT 13,736
Posted On: 9/9/2021, By: angry
Info: Creek wasn't more than a trickle where I crossed. No summit register.