Mt. Wilson

Route: Mt. Wilson and El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 6/14/2021, By: NatDog
Info: Traverse was mostly dry. There were 4 or 5 short snow crossings along the way. We used ice axes, but there were frozen postholes that made them relatively easy to cross without difficulty. The only difficult snow crossing was just below the final gully that leads to Mt. Wilson's summit ridge. The summit ridge was dry. The descent of the SW Slopes was snow covered until near the turnoff for the El Diente trail. By the time we descended in the late morning, the snow had softened enough to make glissading down through much of the upper basin safe and easy. 

Route: East Face
Posted On: 6/6/2021, By: KalenJones
Info: Left TH at 4am, 39º, clear skies. Traverse into Slate Creek had some unavoidable and soft drifts, but stayed reasonably dry w/o gaiters. Transitioned to snow at 11,800', 8:30am. Very firm in the bottom of the drainage, but as soon as I was in the sun it was significantly softer; to the arch kicking steps in Boxcar, and ankle high in the upper couloir. Began descent at 10:40, good consistency for plunge stepping and glisading (regular E face route). Somewhat surprisingly little sign of recent snow movement, given what I've seen in the neighborhood the last week. Mama bear and two cubs in the meadows about 10 min. after leaving Slate Creek; I let them know of my presence from a long ways off, and they ran. Saw either one of them, or another bear, about 30 minutes later. Part way through the return traverse I grew weary of the downfall and drifts, and took a chance on a direct route back to the trail, which by virtue of having a little more open forest, proved to be easier. A little more distance and elevation, but a net gain. 

Route: East Face
Posted On: 5/23/2021, By: supranihilest
Info: I did not climb Mount Wilson today, but got a couple pictures of Wilson's east face from nearby Gladstone Peak. Wilson's east face looks eminently climbable right now. Be aware of wet slides in the next few days. 

Route: East Face
Posted On: 5/9/2021, By: Coloradokid_
Info: Didn't need snowshoes the first 1.5 miles, after making the turnoff from the cross mountain trail I wore snowshoes to the top of the first head wall around 12.2k. From there I wore crampons all the way to the summit. Snow conditions were great up high. 

Route: East Face
Posted On: 4/14/2021, By: rangercarl
Info: 40ft of dry rock to the summit. boxcar couloir was in good shape for skiing. Snow coverage from lizard head pass was continuous. 

Route: East Face
Posted On: 4/10/2021, By: ClimberSkierDave64
Info: We climbed and skied the East Face yesterday. We started at 4:30 AM and got to the top a little bit before 2:00 PM. It took us a lot longer than expected, especially the route finding through the forest. We made the same mistake as the last people who skied it by staying to high in the forest and having to descend a steep hill on skins down to the creek. The snow was hard as a rock on the way up but we were still able to skin all the way to 13,100 ft. except for a little boot packing on the first headwall. There were multiple good sized wet slides from the previous week on south facing aspects, especially on the slope to the right that you cross under around 11.5k. Above 13.1k, we broke trail bootpacking up the face, since the bootpack from the last group had blown over and wasn't visible for the most part. The snow was pretty much the same hard, icy and chalky wind crusted snow mixed with powder covered with a suncrust on the right side of the face and couloir. The snow was about perfect for bootpacking all the way up, with ankle deep snow for the most part, although some places had harder or deeper and softer snow. Crampons and Ice Axe were both necessary, especially on the harder snow in the left side of the couloir. The final class 3 pitch is completely dry except for some ice and a 30 foot snow pitch right below the summit. I did it in ski boots but my friend transitioned to trailrunners. Trailrunners were fine except for the final 30 foot snow pitch where ski boots were better and an Ice Axe was necessary. The first 1,000 ft. of the ski descent was pretty bad skiing. It was icy, chalky snow mixed with suncrust. Below that, the snow slowly transitioned to corn and the final two headwalls had some fun corn skiing back to treeline. The snow never got soft enough the whole day for wet slides with temperatures in the high 20s or low 30s above treeline. Boxcar looks in and some people have skied it recently it seems. We chose not to because of the icy conditions. The skin back up through the forest and back to the Cross Mountain trail was horrible and took longer than expected. We followed the GPX but it seemed to get too low and get into some steeper hills to traverse. I would go higher and stay on the flatter benches in the terrain like we did in the morning. Overall, it was a fun, challenging day that was tiring and long (13 hrs) with the long slog out. 

Route: East Face
Posted On: 4/4/2021, By: artemavovk
Info: Did not summit - got to 13800 but too late in the day. Weather is too warm, so you have to be up there before noon to be safe. Early day snow is strong and plentiful. There's a week+ old ski track that I tried to follow but coming down to the creeks was rough (so now you get my meandering tracks too). Waist high snow if you ever misstep - snowshoes won't save you in the afternoon. On the actual slopes the snowpack is stable early in the day, but south/east facing slopes have lots of slides and I saw some start after 1pm. North facing slopes are a bit safer, so I hugged those. Once past the headwalls (12k+) there's a tonne of slides and it was so late in the day that the final couloir did not look safe and booting up was not a good option - waist deep snow again. Does make for a great ski down though. 

Route: East Face
Posted On: 1/28/2021, By: Wentzl
Info: Access from the Cross Mountain trailhead. I didn't get near the summit, but at least a trench from snowshoeing up to treeline. Not sure if it was the best line, as I ended up further east than I was aiming for, but not too bad. Three hours up, 90 minutes down. Difficult to describe where to turn off the Cross Mt. Trail and head for Slate Creek. But nice country to hike through and trail up to treeline if you can find it! Lots of whomping and settling of the snow, even on wide flat areas. 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 11/23/2020, By: ScreeSurfer
Info: I used Snowshoes from trailhead all the way to the waterfall area just above treeline. Mix of rock hopping and firm snow up to the summit from there. Carried crampons but never needed to use them. Did a hybrid traverse to go over to El Diente along the south flanks of the ridge, staying low towards Mt Wilson, and then finally reaching the ridge proper west of all the difficulties (organ pipes). The north side of the El Diente summit area is holding thigh deep snow, fairly heavy which holds you safely rather than fluffy slippery snow. Descended down tractionable snow pretty directly to the south to regain standard trail at bottom of basin. 

Route: Mt. Wilson and El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 10/1/2020, By: MartyTheOneManParty
Info: Climbed the traverse from El Diente -> Mt. Wilson last Sunday, 9/27. The route was dry except for two spots: -the final stretch on the North side of El D (south slopes route photos #19-24, see attached photo) -the steep downclimb after the crux on the traverse (traverse route photo #28) Microspikes were helpful here but not necessary 

Route: Mt. Wilson and El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 9/18/2020, By: zootloopz
Info: The south side of the traverse is basically snow free - patchy snow but mostly avoidable. The north side is clogged with up to ~36" of snow. This is split literally perfectly along the traverse ridge. Went up from kilpacker on the south slope routes - Diente is great up until the last 0.25 miles when you turn onto the north side of the peak - where there is some legitimate snow/ice - but it is doable with microspikes. The traverse is definitely far from perfect - the crux wall from Photo 22 is perfectly fine, but there is patchy snow on the narrows which takes a bit longer to navigate, and there is a second crux to the route with the snow - Photo 26 with the steep downclimb on the north side of the traverse - it is very steep and covered with fresh untouched snow - we went off route to the right at this point on a narrow ledge which connects back to the gully leading up to Mt. Wilson. Be prepared to choose multiple times between going off route a bit to stay on the south side or choosing snow travel. Microspikes and poles required. The descent from Wilson south slopes is also completely snow covered down to 13k. Overall time: 11.5 hours. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 9/11/2020, By: heathbromley
Info: There is anywhere from 12 - 24” of corn snow from the falls to the summit. It's very weak and for the most part did not support weight, so watch out for the boulders below the surface. Watch your step! Class 3 features were very slippery and hard to find holds. Route finding was made difficult by the snow, but not impossible. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 9/19/2020, By: Pak Pagosa
Info: The 14er.com route description from the Kilpacker Trailhead is spot on. Once you reach talus, know that the roundtrip on it will be roughly 10 kms, so make sure you're physically up for it. Upon reaching Mt. Wilson's base at the back of Kilpacker Basin, pay close attention to the route description photos, particularly as it relates to your descent. And also be mindful of climbers doing the traverse from El Diente along the connecting ridge. There were a few the day of my climb, but I arrived at the summit well before they did and coordinated my descent with their ascent in order to mitigate the rockfall hazard for me. Absolutely wear a helmet. 

Route: North Slopes
Posted On: 8/16/2020, By: Danger_D
Info: Trail in great condition all the way, except maybe a tiny bit of mud in Upper Navajo basin. A few general updates: 1)Don't start your traverse too soon after the green buttress. Go left(ish) up the gully to the shoulder mentioned in the route description. Hike up even further to the right of the (current) snow patch following cairns. I started my traverse too soon at ended up some loose garbage. The cairned route doens't 100% match up with the 14ers.com gpx. See pic 2) The camping spots in the basin fill up fast on the weekend. You can always find a spot, but if you don't get up there earlier on friday you might have to hunt (or be close to others) 3) The exposure on the 4th glass summit pitch ain't no joke. Its not that hard, but oh boy 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 8/16/2020, By: HikesInGeologicTime
Info: Almost all remaining snow avoidable; one or two steps on a level crossing required unless you're long-legged, an Olympic jumper, or willing to talus-hop a questionably worthwhile distance up and around. Lots of rockslide potential from above your head as well as below your feet on this one, so don't forget to bring and wear your helmet!