Mt. Shavano

Route: Angel of Shavano
Posted On: 5/2/2025, By: SageCanaday
Info: Started at Blanks Cabin trailhead at 7:45am. With yesterday's and this morning's cloud cover I knew the snow might take longer to soften up (I was also confident I could get up into the Angel within 2 hours...which I did). Objective was to climb and ski the "Left Wing" (Looker's Left) and then also tag Esprit Point (13,600' ridge on the left of the Angel) then ski down the left wing and body. Started in trail shoes for the hike and only started hitting patches of snow across the trail about 1.6 miles in. Drifts were solid and short-lived and I could walk over without slipping or sinking in (no traction or flotation)...then big patches of dry dirt (see pic 1). Water was flowing at the one "spring section". Didn't put the skis/skins on until I hit 11,700' and was already approaching the base of The Angel body (pic 2). There was actually another short rock band after this that I had to walk over still, but after that I was able to skin until the middle of the body. Snow was variable, with what seemed like a fresh inch or two on top of hard-packed and even icy sections. It was quite lumpy and uneven. I decided to bootpack from that point up into the wings split. Could do so without crampons or an axe, however if there wasn't a few inches of softer snow to kick into at this point, crampons would be a safer bet. Left my skis at the top of the Left Wing at 13,300' for a continual snow line that started at around 12,000'. Lookers "Right Wing" was looking very melted out and the Angels head was also disappearing quickly. I was short on time so I quickly summited the 13,600' "Espirt Point" on the ridge off to climber's left. Dropped in at around 11AM and was hoping the snow would be more consistently soft. Found it to be quite variable! Honestly I'd much rather ski this when it starts turning super soft and slushy so it's a bit more consistent (and of course corn is always the dream at this point in the year here!). Not sure how quickly it was going to warm up today with some patchy clouds though (usually it warms up faster at this time of year!). Was able to walk out without potholing much except for one step. We'll see what this weekend/next week's storms bring, but I think I might be hanging up the skis for the season on this line now. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 4/28/2025, By: butlerer
Info: Hiked the east slope to the summit. Bottom two miles are mostly bare dirt. Didn't need traction until about mile 2.5. We used micros to the summit. Kept the traction on over to Tabeguache. Saw 3 people splitboarding up the Angel. Needed floatation for about 1/2 mile on the way down, and we were still post-holing to mid-thigh with snowshoes on. Saw some big horn sheep around 12, 800'. Windy but manageable. Road was rocky in places, but manageable in a Subaru Crosstrek, and snow-free to the trailhead. 5 hours from car to summit of Shavano. 50 minutes from there to the summit on Tab. 4.5 hours from there back to the car. 12 miles, 5700'. 

Route: Angel of Shavano
Posted On: 4/23/2025, By: Omatt89
Info: Angel is in and fun to ride ! Clear day and not much wind. Frozen in the morning and even above 13k at 10am was bootable. Dropped around 1130 and snow was perfect just A little mushy. Some dark clouds around 2pm but nothing crazy.The left arm is the way to go right now and it gets you close to the ridge. Snow goes from 11k to around 13.4k ish. ? One small dirt patch to cross around 11,6k. Going up gets interesting where the snow starts around 10500k. Close by There is two wooden trail signs pointing the way, right after that is a stream. This is the last place to get water unless you brought a stove. After the stream , the standard trail takes you to the right and is easy to follow until you hit intermittent snow and deadfall. If you go straight to approach the angel more directly, there is also intermittent snow and deadfall. Pick your poison! 

Route: Angel of Shavano
Posted On: 4/15/2025, By: danny247
Info: Started at 6:30am, made the summit of Shav around 10:30am. Consolidated snow - kept skis on my pack and used only boots, though I should’ve put crampons on for the upper part of the Angel (I did keep my ice axe in hand). Consistent snow from around 10500 to 13300. Above, no good ski options - snow is patchy at best. I ditched my skis at 13300. Summited in just climbing boots, traversed over to the saddle with Tab (mostly on rock) where I put on crampons for the 100% snow cover up to Tab’s summit. Some great looking ski tracks coming down Tab. Traversed back over and climbed down to my skis. Good skiing to about 11600 - past that, the exit was heinous, with mostly full snow coverage but too many blowdowns to keep skis on. The snow was unsupportive and with no viable flotation, I was sinking for several miles where I didn’t step carefully. Fun day out but more hiking than actual skiing. Without a good dump (maybe coming this weekend?) the snow will continue to deteriorate and skiing won’t be great. 

Route: Angel of Shavano
Posted On: 4/15/2025, By: sean23
Info: Massive kudos to the masochistic skiers who sidestepped up to the couloir. You made the bushwhack so much easier. The angel itself is in good shape. There's snow to about 13.3k and some patches of snow at the summit. I started at 4:30 from the TH and used snowshoes only for the descent. Go and get it! 

Route: Angel of Shavano
Posted On: 4/14/2025, By: chadahooche_
Info: Faced issues with a large drift on Blank's Cabin Road but found Road 250 to be in good condition for reaching the trailhead. This is CRITICAL to making it to the TH! Started at 4:30 AM, flotation was used at 10,800 feet, then bootpacked up the Angel as it was still icy early in the morning. Lots of postholing. Summited Shav and made my way over and back to Tab. Walked snowboard down several hundred feet to ski the middle line of Angel which was great after getting through all the sharks. Descended at 12:15pm on splitboard. Full video of what this looked like and conditions here ➡️ https://youtu.be/Nk1CcpC0Ip8 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 4/4/2025, By: Will_E
Info: Started from the Angel of Shavano campground, didn't put snowshoes on until shortly after heading up the standard route. Easy trenching to start that slowly got harder as I got higher, pretty normal for Shavano. Left snow shoes at treeline and went straight up the ridge, lots of snow on the ridge today, fair amount of trap doors that banged me up a bit on the way down. No traction used today. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 3/25/2025, By: masonzastrow
Info: Followed east slopes route (more or less) until the angel, then turned and climbed the north wing. Snow in the morning was very stable for the first couple of miles, put on snowshoes probably around 10,5. Texture was good with snowshoes until 11,3. From there to treeline the snow had a thin crust and was sugary below, making for a rather unpleasant climb. Ditched and cached snowshoes at 12,4. Climbed the angel's north wing (which was sun cupped and bulletproof) in just microspikes with an axe. Infrequent snow from the wing to the summit, not a problem. Took the standard route down the saddle with espirit, crossing the angel. Descending, snow was very wet above 11,3 which was much preferable to the conditions in the morning. I would've been uncomfortable with the angel and the gully crossing at 12.2 without an axe. It really feels like May right now. 

Route: East ridge through trees & Angel on the way back
Posted On: 3/12/2025, By: tothestars
Info: Did Shavano and Tabeguache from Angel of Shavano Trailhead. Was aiming for Angel of Shavano on the way up but didn't bring snow shoes (mistake) and so climbed through the trees and the 13k peaks on the East ridge of Shavano on the way up to avoid the gully's deep snow. Summited Shavano around 2:45 then summited Mt. Tabeguache at 3:45. On the descent took Angel of Shavano route back and had to literally crawl through parts of the forest before getting to the trench as it was so much postholing you could not move forward - part of this is due to so many trees being down there are many deep pockets you can sink into. Recommend snow shoes or take east ridge... even the east ridge kind of sucks through the trees if you don't have snow shoes up to about 12k. Warmer and less wind than forecast called for. Windy on certain aspects, especially the pass between Shavano and Tab. Rock hopping was easy without too much snow up Shavano. Bring spikes... the Angel is very icy. 10hr day /8hrs moving. 6,700ft climbing the route I took with 14.8miles total. The tree route on east side is a bit long. 

Route: Angel of Shavano
Posted On: 3/9/2025, By: Ingerfied
Info: Beautiful day out, but did not summit. Tried to drive to the Mount Shavano TH but a large snow bank 2.4 mi from the trailhead. Turned around and went to Angel of Shavano TH (which didn't actually get me any closer). Very light/easy snow until you leave Colorado Trail. Didn't put on snowshoes until 1.5 mi past the junction. There is a trench that leads up East Slope but turned around at 11,500'. 

Route: Esprit Pt
Posted On: 3/3/2025, By: the_hare
Info: Summited Shavano from Angel of Shavano TH via a route up Esprit Point that I haven't seen tried before and it worked very well. Incredibly, thanks to the aspect of the ridge below treeline & likely recent warm temps I didn't need any flotation or traction all day. Several well-trod game trails up the lower ridge of Esprit below treeline made for easy access to the windblown upper ridge. Spotted the resident bighorn sheep herd grazing on the Shavano trail. Didn't go for Tab, considering another off-trail route for this one as well. Will post pic of the Angel & Tab for those interested & write up TR for this route later also. 7.5mi 5400ft gain RT 

Route: Angel of Shavano
Posted On: 2/28/2025, By: coflosmo
Info: A few inches of unexpected snowfall on Wednesday night made my first 14er ski descent a little gnarlier than expected. Left car at 6:59am, summited at 2:33pm, started skiing at 3:30pm, back to car at 6:45pm. Broke trail the whole way and followed the new trail up the east ridge direct. I stayed on the ridge the whole time, gained the false summit and saw that Shav’s summit was clearly unskiable. Ran up to grab the summit, said fuck no to Tab, ran down and started my ski descent below the false summit around 13.5k with semi-continuous skiing to the Colorado Trail. Can’t believe no one was up there with me, impeccable day and super soft, borderline deep, turns on the angel. Lost my avy probe below treeline, would be beyond grateful if someone located it for me. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 1/30/2025, By: jacolc
Info: Trail is hard packed about half way to Blanks TH. After that, trail was visible to 11350, but required flotation. Above I lived the trail and start trenching (sometimes knee deep) on East Ridge of Shavano until tree line. After my recent trip to San Luis Pk, I did not recovery completely so now mowing slowly. Between peaks used only micro spikes. Also barely was able to descent with spikes via Angel. For upper and middle section of Angel crampons will be safer option. For lower Angel snowshoe required. GPX at Library 

Route: Angel of Shavano
Posted On: 12/19/2024, By: bigfoot1
Info: Started from Angel of Shavano, and trail is medium/hard packed to the fence. Put snowshoes on then and there are some patchy bits until the treeline. Thanks again to will who broke out the trail earlier! I followed the mostly dry ridge up to shavano, and went down over Esprit and the east/southeast ridge(?) and broke out a shortcut that meets back up with the colorado trail where all those scraggly bushes are at around 9450 ft. Looks like there are only a couple wind slabs hanging over the standard route, but they seem to be pretty solid. Now I won't go out and tell people the standard route is 100% safe, but I was tempted to descend that way. Ridge over to Tabegauche is still a bit snowy so I left it for another day. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 12/7/2024, By: Will_E
Info: Fantastic day on Shavano, weather was nearly perfect. I started at the Angel of Shavano Campground, there was a good trench the first mile or so, after that I was in snowshoes breaking trail all the way to treeline. I'll call the trenching a little tougher than average, especially the second half of treeline where it gets a bit steeper. From treeline the snow across the standard route was pretty rigid so I went straight up to the ridge crest, which was a bit more windblown, it worked well, I didn't need any traction today.