Mt. Wilson

Route: East Face
Posted On: 4/10/2025, By: artemavovk
Info: Skinnable from trailhead, there's kind of a trench now. Lots of wet slide leftovers once you get out of the trees. The snow gets real inconsistent above 13k elevation, some bits are solid, some bits are soft due to recent slides. The way each aspect is facing is really affecting the snow quality. Last bit of scramble to the top still holding on to snow. Boxcar couloir to part requires some rock navigation. Below treeline the snow gets really postholey after noon. 

Route: East Face
Posted On: 2/12/2025, By: Dad Mike
Info: Climbed Pin Point from the Cross Mtn Trailhead to close the loop on the unranked, named points above 14k in winter. Pretty sure this one was added post-Lidar. The first 1.75 miles of hiking on the Cross Mtn Trail is solid and well-packed. I turned off the trail around 11k. In a perfect world, I would have been able to maintain that elevation all the way over to Slate Creek. I've now done this 6 times and don't think I ever got it right. This time the snow in the trees was kicking my ass so I bailed on staying level and went straight down to the creek. From 11.2k, I dropped down to 10.7k. I paid for that later. The snow in Slate Creek was rough at first...crust on top, sugar on bottom. Once I hit treeline, it was smooth sailing. The only issue I had with the east face was that the snow was ice hard in some spots and my crampons could use a tune-up. More snow on the traverse than I expected which made for more deliberate scrambling. There were 2 short wrap-around traverses that get your attention. Other than that, I stayed on the ridge the whole way. Pin Point from the east is a fun and airy class 3 climb. So cool to be sitting on that little summit looking at El Diente and Mt. Wilson. The winds that were called for were non-existent, so I stayed there for a little while and soaked it all in. On the way the way back down the east face, I had to down-climb most of it facing in on front points. Not fun, but felt necessary. Softening snow made for some strenuous snowshoeing near the creek and through the trees. Climbing back up those 500 feet in the trees SUCKED, but at least I had a track to follow. So much relief when I got to the Cross Mountain highway trail. Cruised down that thing and back to car just in time to listen to a terrible football game. 3:15a: TH 6:45a: Slate Creek 8:00a: Treeline 9:00a: Gladstone turn 10:30a: Wilson saddle 11:00a: West Wilson summit 11:30a: Pin Point summit 12:00p: started back 1:00p: Wilson saddle 3:15p: Slate Creek 5:15p: Eagles 10, Chiefs 0 Happy to be back in my element again. 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 10/5/2024, By: pmreyn2010
Info: Still summer conditions. Get after it while you still can! 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 9/29/2024, By: marcthomson
Info: Some muddy patches, but otherwise summer conditions 

Route: Mt. Wilson and El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 9/19/2024, By: AsTheDuke
Info: Occasional spots of snow/ice/verglas along the traverse, mostly on the steep/narrow sections near Mount Wilson. It's passable with care, but strongly advise experience in this type of terrain and conditions. The standard route has some patches of snow/mud, but is not a problem. 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 9/13/2024, By: Lucas Pattie
Info: The entire SW slopes route was dry. I didn't see a single other person on the mtn the entire day, only a few day hikers/campers on the lower trail on my way back. It was a bit windy up higher later on, especially at the top, where it was a little cold too. But overall, very nice conditions today for this route. 

Route: Mt. Wilson and El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 8/26/2024, By: corthanson
Info: Fall conditions are here, the snow line dropped down to ~13,500 during the storm on Sunday (8/25) afternoon, maybe 1/2 inch of snow accumulated on the peaks. The traverse (and all peaks in the group) were wet and socked in, but do-able with grippy shoes/gloves and solid preparation. Be wary of this week's forecasts, the rocks probably need a good day of sun to melt/dry out, and Mt. Wilson spent all weekend creating its own fog/clouds even though the surrounding area was sunny or partly cloudy. 

Route: Mt. Wilson and El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 8/20/2024, By: climbingyogi
Info: Completed the El Diente - Mt. Wilson traverse on Saturday, 8/17 from Kilpacker Basin. I was surprised at how many parties were out that day (although maybe I shouldn't have been, given the previous weekends' rainfest). I thought the trail was really easy to follow up El Diente and the traverse took us about 2 hours. I was a little nervous about this traverse because I'd heard about all of the loose rock - but I found almost all of the rock during the scrambling sections felt pretty solid. Think I only initially touched one loose hand hold all day. The SW slopes coming off Mt. Wilson were pretty easy too. I'm not actually sure why this is listed as class 3 instead of class 2, because I don't recall any scrambling on the descent. The whole day took us 11 hours car to car, but we probably could've done it in 10 hours. PSA/request: Please don't smoke cigarettes on peaks where others can't escape your secondhand smoke (for example: on a class 4 traverse). Bring a vape pen or something if you absolutely need to and be considerate of others. K, thanks. 

Route: Navajo Lake Approach
Posted On: 7/29/2024, By: Dbearie
Info: Did all three from Navajo Lake. Everything was very dry and the trail finding was straight forward. While on the traverse I found some poles about a hundred feet down scattered throughout a gully. I was the first one up and it didn't look like they were stashed so i decided to pick them up (less litter the better). The couloir was on the Navajo lake side so i'm assuming it wasn't apart of the recent accident. I left them at the trail junction when I went for Wilson Peak and they still hadn't been claimed. If these are yours or you dropped them in the winter let me know, looks like a his and hers set, marmots definitely got to em. 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 7/29/2024, By: mspin99
Info: For those looking to do both El Diente and Mt. Wilson the same day and not doing the "Great Traverse," found a lower traverse with a couple I ran into at 13,100' that saves a few hundred feet from going down to the turn-off. I haven't seen much on this 'lower traverse' outside of mention of it by WildWanderer on one of her trip reports (I think she was going the other way though if I remember correctly). Either way, probably easiest to accomplish from El Diente to Mt Wilson. Once you are below the cliffs with the black water marks, just follow the path of least resistance at around 13,100' until you get to a loose scree gully that is no more than 15-20 feet. Once you get down that, the Mt. Wilson route and some cairns are right in front of you. As for current conditions, no snow issues on either route. Mt. Wilson snowfields are totally avoidable. Just check every handhold and foot placement on these peaks (particularly Mt. Wilson) -- everything is loose. 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 7/18/2024, By: dmckeever
Info: Got on the peak by 9:00 am. What snow there was was avoidable though still quite hard. No traction necessary. Enjoy! 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 7/15/2024, By: Abowser7
Info: Summited Wilson on 7/13. Massive snowfields from about 13,000 to 13,800. I brought crampons and had no issue. I think spikes are absolutely necessary at the minimum. No snow on any class 3 sections. Lots of loose rock on the scree field. Started at 4:15, summited at 10:00, back to the car at 3:00. 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 7/7/2024, By: TSTEIN
Info: Attempted Mt. Wilson via Kilpacker. Did not take any traction with me. Snow was slick ice in the early morning. I tried avoiding the snow/ice by taking some rough/sketchy routes but it kept getting worse the higher I got, I had to turn back. Might have been manageable with micro-spikes, but crampons would be even better. After I turned back, the sun came out and softened up the snow making it much more manageable. Might have been able to navigate the snow later in the day? 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 7/4/2024, By: sfreytag
Info: Lots of snow on this route in contrast with El Diente. Before ice on snow melts crampons and axe are definitely required. Later in the day microspikes are fine but that axe would still be handy for the endless gliassade opportunities. You can rock hop a bunch but there are still steep crossings you'd have to navigate. If you wanted you could have a continuous snow climb from 13k to 13.8k. Seems preferable over dealing with the loose rocks that move with every step. 

Route: Woods Lake Approach
Posted On: 6/24/2024, By: ashleyhardick1012
Info: Some of the snow in the steep gullies increased the risk factor without an ice axe which made for doing some higher class moves you wouldnt usually do without the snow. Id give this route a few more weeks for the snow to melt.