Details: | From the Summit Lake parking area, walk past the old building and follow the tourist trail northwest to the north end of the lake. Turn left and follow a trail that runs southwest along the side of the lake. When the trail starts down to the lake, stay slightly up on the hillside and continue straight toward the end of the basin (west of Summit Lake). Photo #1 shows the route seen from the hillside above the lake. When you near the end of the basin, turn left and hike down to the corner near 12,900'. You do not want to enter the bottom of the gully that separates the west ridge and Mt. Spalding (to your right). Stay left of the gully by keeping low in the basin - almost level with the lake.
Photo #2 shows the route up to the west ridge. From the west end of the basin, hike directly south toward the easiest terrain on the rugged face below the west ridge. Begin your climb up the face. To reach the ridge, you must gain over 900'. The higher you climb, the more rocks you will encounter. Near 13,400', the route angles up to the right. Keep climbing and hit the ridge near 13,700'. The summit is nearly a mile away.
Turn left and hike south up toward the west end of Evans' West Ridge. There should be cairns and trail segments in this area. Continue up toward the initial hump on the ridge and to a notch in the ridge just before the hump. Drop to the right slightly and follow the cairned trail east below the ridge crest. The trail stays below the ridge for most of the remaining hike to the summit. From the hump on the west end of the ridge, it’s almost 1 mile to the summit. Continue along the ridge to a point where you can finally see the summit. Hike to the corner of the Mt. Evans road and then over 100’ to the summit OR walk all the way to the parking area and take the tourist trail to the top.
Descend via the same route or down the Northeast Face Route #5. |
 "Photo #1")
 "Photo #2")