Blanca Peak

Route: N/a
Posted On: 6/7/2025, By: hanada
Info: Didn’t go up Blanca. I did california yesterday, so just sharing some pictures from that side of the Blanca group yesterday and taken from driving 160 today. The area is very dry for early June. Lindsey also looked mostly dry. I didn’t get any pictures of the crestone/KC area bc it was in the clouds when I was on the summit of Cali, but I would expect similar conditions. 

Route: Lake Como Approach
Posted On: 2/23/2025, By: wintersage
Info: There is a solid bootpack/trench all the way up to the camp sites by Lake Como. We parked at 8800’ but it’s certainly doable to get to 9300’ or a bit more before the snow gets too deep. From the Lake, there’s a trench to Holbrook Creek where it looks like another party went up LB’s west ridge or to the hourglass. We kept our snowshoes on until past Crater Lake and switched to microspikes but the snow was still quite slippery by midday so we tried to avoid treadmill-ing on the snow by sticking to the rock ribs. Microspikes were a good choice on the ridge to the summit of Blanca due to the rock hopping. Our plan was also to grab Ellingwood but figured it would be possibly better with crampons and a bit more time. Overall a good warm day with minimal wind, a rarity for this season. 

Route: Lake Como Approach
Posted On: 1/17/2025, By: jacolc
Info: Jan 15: For E/B used flotation to 13330' (0-18in snow deep, average 4-6 where switch to crampons) and generally fallow bottom of drainage. Especially above Blue Lake do not fallow summer road/trail. Very windy. On my way down most of my trench was filled with snow. Jan 16: To LBear used flotation only below initial couloir, but deposit it above on the ridge. However after additional snow maybe useful on last part of traverse to bottom of hourglass. Traverse in little unconsolidated soft snow was slow moving with or without crampons. Maybe micro spikes will be better option. Hourglass was in great climbing condition. Very little avoidable ice, hard snow required technical crampons (long section of front pointing in excellent hard snow 50-65 deg)) and two ice tools. However I use one tool and tool/pole hybrid (BD Whippet). For every 10-30 feet I kicked rest steps, mainly for my climbing down. In this condition this is NO Error zone. 

Route: Lake Como Approach
Posted On: 1/6/2025, By: bigfoot1
Info: attempt. moderate boot trench until lake como, didn't need any traction. some moderately icy bits where the rocks poke out of the snow on the road. broke out in snowshoes until 12.5k ft. some parts were easy, other times I sank down to mid thigh. i would not follow my tracks after blue lakes.. ended up meandering around trying to pick a good line. it would probably be easier to take one of the snow gullies directly up. snow seemed pretty stable. gully up to the ridge of little bear is snowed in, but ridge looks dry. turned around at 1230 because i didn't want to get stuck driving back in the snow. yeah, i should have started earlier and summited but i really hate mornings. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 9/30/2024, By: Flatlander35
Info: While the weather was dry and sunny, the snow/hail from the previous few days was apparent on the trail. Starting at the headwall above Crater Lake at about 13,000 feet, slippery and frosted rocks were common. Small patches of snow were common from the saddle at around 13,800 feet until the summit. Overall summer-like conditions except extra caution should be taken due to slippery, frost-covered rocks. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 9/29/2024, By: dweiss
Info: Ascent was nice and safe. Hailed multiple times throughout the day, but not enough to make people stop. There were plenty of caves to hide in on the final ascent up if hail were to become a problem. Hail/Snow buildup made finding the Ellingwood/Blanca split-off point and the trail afterwards to the ridge difficult, but not impossible. Even if you get off the trail at that part, it is easy and safe to climb straight up to the ridge. 

Route: Lake Como Approach
Posted On: 9/26/2024, By: Ohio14ers
Info: Route is fairly clear up until the ridge scramble in which snow and ice are still around. Of note is right before the summit there is a difficult move where it is completely snow covered. I have 42 14ers done and felt it was just a bit too dangerous. Another fellow also turned around although a young couple made it. With benign weather conditions it could be melted out in a couple days. Just be aware it exists. One wrong slip and you would be in a world of hurt. 

Route: Lake Como Approach
Posted On: 9/20/2024, By: Androzs
Info: There is some hard crusty snow near the top that obscures and also makes the route more dangerous. 

Route: Blanca and Ellingwood
Posted On: 9/3/2024, By: chelsluckb2
Info: Hiked on 9/2. I decided to go the Zapata Falls route to knock off a bit of distance and avoid the labor day Lake Como crowds. The approach hike is gorgeous. I have seen a lot of high alpine lakes, and I thought South Zapata Lake was stunning. I went up C2. The hike up wasn't bad. As others have said, I would stick to the right mostly as there are decent holds and more solid rock. I was a little demoralized when I got to the top of C2 and saw the length of the talus section to the summit, but knocked it out without too much trouble. Lots of fun class 3 climbing near the summit! I traversed over to Blanca and tried to stay high on the traverse as much as possible. The rock is pretty loose at times but overall nothing too bad and the traverse is fairly short. With having to re-summit Ellingwood to get back to the TH, the elevation gain on this is no joke - I came in just over 6500 ft in 15 miles. The downclimb of the talus field and C2 was the lowlight of the day. Pretty much everything moves on the talus field, including huge boulders, so I went slowly. C2 is very loose and a slog of a downclimb, but I stuck to the more solid rock as much as possible. Overall, it was an awesome hike and I recommend this approach if you want fewer crowds on these peaks! 

Route: Lake Como Approach
Posted On: 8/13/2024, By: Novicewhofailsmore
Info: This 14er was my most rewarding of all 11 I have done this year. I have stared at this peak for over 35 years growing up in the SLV. I failed to summit last year. Today it was way more wet than last year. Freshwater streams to hydrate all the way to the bottom of the peak. So I packed less weight this year than last year. Started 3.5 miles from Lake Como. Left at 12:30 am and sumitted at 10:30. Some people turned around on the ascension as storm clouds intensified all around the 3 14ers at about 9am. 500 ft from the summit and I prayed as I did not want to fail like last years attempt. I pushed on till I summited. The rains never came. At about 2pm all had subsided and the rest of the day it was sunny and hot. Reached my vehicle at 6:30 pm. Total hours to peak and back was 18 hours and 12 miles total. From about 2 miles before the Ellingwood/ Blanca saddle the views are incredible. The Little Bear hourglass and much more. 

Route: Blanca and Ellingwood
Posted On: 8/11/2024, By: streetyz
Info: We were going to do Little Bear but swapped to Blanca/Ellingwood due to an intense thunderstorm that came in at 2AM the morning of the climb. While it didn't last long, nearby creeks were full of runoff spilling onto trails and making the rocks on the approach to the ridge very slippery all the way up to ~13200. We were glad to not be in the hourglass. The road had one creek crossing in particular that was tricky to ford and there were several other spots where we had to get our feet wet. We had a '99 Jeep Cherokee which made it to around 10200' before it was too rutted for us to feel comfortable. As for this route, it's good to go as for now! Really wonderful day and fun class 3 (albeit pretty loose) from Ellingwood to Blanca. The traverse took us ~1 hour 15 minutes. It definitely looks worse than it is (imo.) The ridge itself was completely dry by the time we made it up. 

Route: Blanca and Ellingwood
Posted On: 7/17/2024, By: wahpaha
Info: Summer conditions :) 

Route: Little bear Blanca traverse
Posted On: 7/8/2024, By: BoulderDudes
Info: Route up to Little Bear was completely devoid of snow. Conditions were really good but would not want to follow anyone up the initial gully or the hourglass due to rock fall. The little bear to Blanca traverse was great and also had no snow! 

Route: Lake Como Approach
Posted On: 7/1/2024, By: caesarsalad
Info: Some of the trail is currently a stream, but avoidable or rocks available to use to cross. A few short, non steep snow fields to cross, but otherwise in summer conditions. One of our group used poles on the snow, but the rest of us did them just fine without spikes or poles. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/24/2024, By: coffbrauhaus
Info: Due to heavy rain Friday night, absolutely everything was wet, and the trail briefly turned into a stream around 12,100. Still one major snowfield to cross, used spikes and trekking poles.