Uncompahgre Peak

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 5/3/2026, By: bcmurphy
Info: Beautiful day! Still some post holing and mud, but we did it without traction or microspikes. There was still enough snow to ski the East face, which would have been perfect conditions with spring corn snow.

Road to trailhead was rough. Large mud hole 2ish miles from the trailhead was nearly impassible; took 4lo and lockers. Moved a tree and numerous rocks from the last half mile. Numerous snow banks took some momentum. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 4/23/2026, By: wmagnuson7
Info: Gorgeous day to summit a beautiful mountain. Largely summer conditions, but numerous large snow fields to cross, so would recommend gaiters and microspikes. See TH report for Nellie Creek road if interested. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 3/19/2026, By: Splitboard14ers
Info: Drove 2.3 miles up Uncompahgre Trail road towards Nellie Creek Trailhead until reaching impassable snow blockade. Parked. Skinned up road a few hundred feet, then next 2 miles snow was on and off with mud patches, so I just walked. Snow was firm.

I reached Nellie Creek Trailhead and skinned the rest of the way up through basin towards peak. Gusting extremely high winds made travel difficult, and kept everything cold, and firm.

Once on the lower South East face transitioned to boots and climbed up without using crampons, mix of snow and rock. Reached cliffs, and climbed up ridge rather than around due to high winds coming from North West direction. Once above cliffs, the remaining hike up to Summit was surprisingly easy going, with almost no snow, and only a short distance to Summit.

I reached Summit with high wind still raking up the cliff walls. Stayed low to keep safe from being blown over, and tagged Summit. Descended back down off Summit to first snow field, and strapped in to ride a few feet. Then unstrapped and walked on to ridge, strapped back in and rode another section. Climbed down cliffs and strapped in for the main South East Face.

Peppered with uncovered rocks, it was a needle threading ride with little value. I opened up at the bottom and rode across the basin all the way back to the trailhead, only having to unstrap once to cross a section of uncovered rocks. From the trailhead back down I found a few strips of snow to ride, but mostly hiked out. The last few hundred feet were rideable back to where I parked.

10.26 miles round trip *(add 4.6 miles if you do not drive up the 4WD road, and start at 2WD area)
8 Hours 29 minutes round trip
4530' vertical feet. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 2/9/2026, By: AlejandraOutside
Info: Boot pack/ skin track goes well up to the final push just before the summit. Things get hairy around 13,000 feet, though. Multiple options on how to gain vert up to the final scramble. Follow the standard trail (mostly dry w/ some minimal trail breaking) or climb stable snow up the gulley. Did veer to hiker's left to gain the ridge rather than following the standard trail up the final switchback which was snowed in. Dry from the start of the final scramble to the summit. Crampons, snowshoes, and ice axe all came in handy along the way. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 2/3/2026, By: BrendoRuns
Info: *Did not summit* Got a late start up Nellie Creek Road which is covered in snow and ice. Snowshoes helpful after 2 miles, put in a decent trench up to 12,000 feet where i turned around 2.5 miles from the summit because the sun was setting. Never postholed past my knees, summit should be climbable until next snowfall. Skis not recommended. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 1/18/2026, By: kyrawhitworth
Info: Hard to believe this is a conditions report for mid Jan. We could not get far up the road due to some impressive ice flows (tire tracks went all the way up to about halfway to the TH however for those with balls bigger than their tires). Road is a mix of dirt, packed snow, and ice until the tire tracks stop at 10,500 where it’s all skinnable snow but still very bootable. We had to boot up a section where the initial switchbacks are and then skinned on low tide wind affected snow to 13K. We booted from there and used crampons on the upper face switchbacks. Class 2 section (look for the rock schlong and you won’t go wrong) and above to the summit were essentially dry. Once back at our skis we were able to ski all the way down (minus one short booting section) to where the tire tracks started at 10,500. One could ski further down but you’d end up transitioning a few times due to dirt and ice. The basin itself skied better than expected despite low coverage and sastrugi. A couple cruising up behind us booted the entire way so it can be done right now! On Gaia I clocked 15.5 miles and 4900ft in 12hrs 20 mins. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 12/31/2025, By: HikerBox
Info: Shin to calf deep snow off and on above 10500' on Nellie Creek Road until treeline. Crusty above but recommend snowshoes to avoid random post holing. I did not bring them and decided to climb the completely dry SW face of UN13110 instead. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 11/11/2025, By: thbl4268
Info: It felt like September out there! Barely any snow until the last mile, which is when I threw on my spikes so I could move more quickly...otherwise you could honestly get by without them until the next snowfall. Summit was completely dry although the wind made it quite brisk, but I made it out easily with my windproof hiking pants, women's thermal leggings, cold gear Under Armor turtleneck, my Melanzana, and a light puffy for the last mile. I had the trail completely to myself until I ran into two guys heading up when I was roughly 2 miles from my car on my descent. Blue skies and high spirts! 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 11/9/2025, By: Delprincipe_mike
Info: Mostly dry except for some packed snow on the south ridge switchbacks. Traction helpful but not necessary. Beautiful November day. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 10/19/2025, By: katarinaa452
Info: Started just after 5:30 AM under clear, starry skies. Cold but calm early on. No snow until around 12,600 ft, then mostly consistent coverage up to the summit. Snow depth averages 4–6 inches, with occasional postholing up to a foot in spots from wind-blown drifts.

Didn’t feel the need to put on spikes until about 13,300 ft, where the trail starts climbing the switchbacks—definitely helpful from there on and for the descent. Gaiters were a good call with all the postholing. The snow isn’t compact yet and was constantly shifting from 30–45 mph gusts throughout the morning.

Trail was dry again near the crux (13,800–13,900 ft), then snowy to the top. On the way down, everything below 12,600 ft was getting muddy with the warmer temps—likely to freeze overnight.

Beautiful day out there despite the wind—winter conditions are starting to show up on Uncompahgre! 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 10/4/2025, By: jjasks
Info: Clear as of Thursday. Decided to make this a sunset hike and a good 14er for such a climb. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 9/22/2025, By: Geof3
Info: All good for a fall ascent! Road is clear, streams are flowing but not bad. Easy drive for a Jeep or other 4wd vehicle. Peak conditions were clear, no trail issues. A fun morning out! 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 9/19/2025, By: mheaney551
Info: Climbed early morning on September 18th. The snow mentioned by some previous hikers is mostly gone again. Some slippery iced over rocks in a few spots and a few muddy/slippery spots as the temperatures warm up. I brought micro spikes but did not use them. The road is definitely better than the Lake Como road used to get to the Blanca Peak TH, but still a bit challenging in parts. I have a 2006 Honda CR-V (8.1 inch clearance) with decent all terrain tires. I was a bit nervous on a few of the worse sections, but made it up and back to the TH without bottoming out. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 9/16/2025, By: JBK14er
Info: There's snow on the ground beginning around 13,000' and all most of the way to the summit. The class 2 rock section was mostly free of snow, and we didn't slip at all. The "final push" to the summit is almost totally covered in snow, but it was frozen when we summited at 7:45 AM. On the way down, some of the snow and frozen dirt had gotten soft, and slick/ muddy. We brought crampons, but did not have to use them on the ascent or descent. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 9/14/2025, By: AurumSun13
Info: After the two snowstorms during the day, the peak is now covered in snow under freeze-thaw conditions. Black ice from refrozen melt is extremely slippy. I'd recommend microspikes for the rest of the season. Also you could wait for more powder to blanket the peak which is easier to climb up/down.