Blanca Peak

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 11/28/2021, By: naomideridder
Info: Snow consistent after lake Como but no more than ankle-deep, except a few small sections that got up to the hips. Traction and axe were very helpful in some sections with ice and steep snow fields. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 10/17/2021, By: scvaughn
Info: Lake Como Road is dry up to about 10,000', and the snow gets progressively deeper from there on. I post-holed to my knees consistently past 13,000', and decided to turn around. There was an orange rock crawler at Lake Como, and they're certain to have had a wild ride on the descent. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 11/7/2021, By: shawn_locke
Info: Drove all the way up to the first Jaws. Parked there and hiked the rest of the way. Not a lot of snow the whole route. What little snow there was, I could easily walk through. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 10/3/2021, By: durkan
Info: Graupel covered the trail between lakes in AM. Snow from ledges up to summit slowly increased in depth from 1~4". Brought traction, never used it. Went for Ellingwood after. 

Route: Little Bear to Blanca
Posted On: 9/19/2021, By: Grisel
Info: A little stream running down the hourglass on Little Bear but otherwise everything is dry. Route finding gets a little difficult at the first tower but there are cairns showing the way. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 8/15/2021, By: Mitsugi
Info: Totally dry. But man not much fun. As you approach the summit, maybe 50 feet from it if you go down and around to the right you get a much easier final approach. If you stay near the ridge it's MUCH harder. Just go around. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 8/2/2021, By: JGMace
Info: Drove from Denver airport Friday evening with my teenage sons, arriving at a suitable stopping point for a rental 4WD Tundra on Lake Como road around 8:30 pm. This was their first 14er, and they were blown away by how awesome it was. We hiked the road to Lake Como and set up camp, arriving around 11:45 pm. We were on the trail from Lake Como by 6:30 am. Holy cow the trail, the surrounding mountains, and the many lakes are gorgeous. We summited by 10:30 am. The ridge was exceptional Class 2+ scrambling with breathtaking exposures. Clouds were moving in, so we did not stay on the summit long. A hail storm hit as we descended through the ledges which was kind of cool for Missouri flatlanders to see in late July. The sun came out as we arrived back at our campsite at Lake Como, giving us nice weather to get back to our vehicle. I wish there was a trail hikers could take instead of Lake Como road, but if there were a trail it would probably increase traffic to Lake Como and the surrounding peaks. I've climbed all over the U.S., both technical and non-technical. This was one of the coolest climbs I've done, and it was joy to share it all with my sons. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 7/10/2021, By: mtgoatmike
Info: Ridge is dry to the summit. It's a fun, "choose your own adventure" style scramble. Bugs were out in full force! 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 7/6/2021, By: apasquel
Info: Mosquitos are out! On trail, at lake, on peaks...they are everywhere. Bring Spray. 

Route: Blanca and Ellingwood
Posted On: 7/3/2021, By: Danielfmorley1992
Info: Summer conditions for both peaks. Did blanca first then traversed for Ellingwood. Blanca seems more popular so knocking that out at first light before everyone was up there seemed best and it was. Would highly recommend the class 3 scramble up and down the gully for Ellingwood. I enjoyed it and then the ridge was easy from then out. Hardest part was finding the connecting trail back down. It suddenly seemed to disappear and we had to do a bit of scrambling. I really wanted to climb Little Bear but didnt want to down climb or tackle the traverse alone, and didnt meet anyone while I was up there. If anyone is planning on Little Bear this month and needs a partner let me know!? The trail got super busy on Friday night/saturday morning. Will not return on those days for sure. On my drive up to the lake in my 4runner I met a jeep head on and started reversing back. He ended up pulling on the slope and as I tried to go around I slid off the road by a cars length and was saved by a tree which popped my tire. The tow company tried to get me to pay $1000 and AAA wouldn't go up there. I set up a sign and waited less than 24 hours and a hero named Russel winched me back up onto the road for free (I obviously donated him some cash). If that happens to anyone that road is busy with crazy rock crawlers who will pull you out for fun. Just have faith, be kind and patient and definitey dont pay the $1000. Great weekend for hiking, happy 4th everyone! 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 7/1/2021, By: kennedy_josh
Info: No issues at all on the peak. Very little snow above Crater Lake, perhaps 100m total in snow. 

Route: Blanca and Ellingwood
Posted On: 6/26/2021, By: coopereitel
Info: Summer conditions. A few snow patches down low that are avoidable/unproblematic. Traverse between two was great. Tad of snow in gully on traverse that is avoidable. I will put this same update for Ellingwood too. Splits: Start from lowest Blue Lakes: 4:40am Summit of Ellingwood: 6:15 Summit of Blanca (did traverse): 7:20 Back to camp: about 9:00 Back to car at 10,070' about 10:30 

Route: Blanca and Ellingwood
Posted On: 6/21/2021, By: Lordofthegnar
Info: Took the South Zapata Lake approach. Trail is dry to the lake. The C2 couloir still holds a decent amount of snow, and the C3 gully is pretty much dry save for some snow you can avoid or simply walk over. The rest of the route up to Ellingwood is totally dry, and the more difficult variation of the ridge traverse to Blanca is also dry except the gully does have some snow, but it's totally manageable without any traction or axe. Speaking of ice axes, however- if you're gonna go up C2 in the morning, I think crampons and an ice would be a good idea. I went up C3 so I can't speak to ascending C2, but the snow I encountered right before C3 was icy and hard. I went down C2 around 2pm on the return where conditions were very soft but the glissade down was pretty fast. Ice axe was really nice to have. Other note: the sign for the South Zapata Lake split off the Zapata Falls main trail isn't there. Found this a little confusing as I saw a picture of it in the route images, but it's gone now. Adding some pics of C2 and C3 as well as a ridge shot. 

Route: Blanca and Ellingwood
Posted On: 6/17/2021, By: thadebracken
Info: Trail is clear all the way up. Some random snow patches and mildly annoying postholing, but not bad. Went from Blanca over to Ellingwood on the combo route. Again, some gullies still had some snow along the cairned path but were manageable. Coming back down to the standard route to meet back up where the Ellingwood and Blanca trails split was a little difficult due to snow covering it up but it's not too hard to freestyle to get back down if need be. Got one good glissade in on the way down. Storms came in around 1pm. Made for a cool photo on the Como road upon the descent. 

Route: Lake Como Approach
Posted On: 5/24/2021, By: Mopphares
Info: Parked at 9800ft. Road dry to Lake Como. Once past lake booted in soft snow about 6-8 inches deep past the water crossing. Snow became deeper and began postholing above knee and waist occasionally and eventually threw on snowshoes for the entire way up to the ridge. Was still postholing to the knee in snowshoes. Had planned to do Ellingwood first but could not find a safe line with all the avi activity and deep soft snow. Headed to the ridge and had to keep snowshoes on up the entire ridge. Snow is deep and unstable. Reached 14,220 feet and the rest of the route to the summit was minimal exposed rock and snow loaded. Could not find a safe route and wx was rolling in and decided to turn back. Snow even sloppier on the way down. Got some great static electricity coming off the ice axe that really had us getting off the ridge as quickly as possible.