Mt. Belford

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 4/21/2026, By: eferesen
Info: There is some snow on the trail but is easily avoidable. No need for micro spikes or floatation. Later on in the day there will be snow melt and muddy section. All in all good. Did not need gaiters either. 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 4/18/2026, By: thechriz1995
Info: It had snowed a few inches overnight but the road to the trailhead was clear and had dried on the return trip to the highway. Trail conditions were good and snowshoes were not required to the Northwest Gully, traction devices you may find helpful. As for the Gully itself the snow was soft and stable, found more rocks underfoot the closer to the summit we got. Used crampons for accent/decent and an ice axe was not needed. Snow was melting fast on sun exposed areas. Only summited Belford, no Oxford. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 4/7/2026, By: rainbow_fist
Info: Belford Standard Route on 4/5/2026 - No Oxford. Snow along most of the trail going up but a lot had melted by the time we were coming down. Snow was very soft and powdery since it was fresh after the storms a few days ago and hadn’t gone through real freeze/thaw cycles. Was hoping to do the NW Gully approach but didn’t have enough consolidated snow for it

-Snow from TH up until ~13,600 then dry to summit
-Trail itself was packed down well. Can use trailrunners or boots
-Spikes were nice to have. There was one ~20 foot long section of boilerplate ice that the spikes made a difference with but could rock hop to avoid ice. Snow was too soft for any ice axe use/decent glissading
-TH bathrooms were closed
-Road to TH was clear and easily done in my 2WD CRV 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 3/30/2026, By: mattalbritton
Info: Some short snow patches below tree line, but the rest of the hike is free of snow, same including the ridge to Oxford. No traction or floatation needed. Windy and cold up top. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 3/1/2026, By: zSquirreL
Info: According to my amateur (key word) opinion, there's very little avalanche danger on this route at the moment. The steep parts of surrounding hills really don't have enough snow to slide. It's possible that some snow could slide off Missouri, which has more snow, but the danger of that didn't seem too bad either to me. As for hiking, there's a decent amount of snow before you get to the main ridge ascent, but nothing that my cruddy snowshoes couldn't handle. There's some spots on the ridge ascent where you have to go sideways over some softer snow at a decent downhill angle, which was a little scary for me, but I'm still a pretty amateur 14er-climber. It's probably not actually that bad. I got up Belford with almost no problems. My microspikes were useful in some places on the ridge, but there's enough dry ground up there that I probably damaged them a bit. I ended up noping out of the Oxford traverse - from Belford, the traverse looks pretty clear of snow, but the part of the decent to the saddle you can't see from Belford has too much powdery snow and not enough to stabilize yourself for my taste. It might be doable, but above my pay grade. I definitely wouldn't recommend it, in any case. That being said, I think it's supposed to snow on the 1st, so a lot of this (including avalanche danger) could change depending on how much snow falls and how cold it gets. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 2/18/2026, By: Jonathan Deffenbaugh
Info: Current conditions on Belford, based off the first wave of snow, huge difference compared to climbing it, Oxford, and Pecks Pk a week prior, trail still discernible, at the time only needed microspikes and trekking poles for stability, may want to consider adding snowshoes to your arsenal after this week’s coming snow showers. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 2/8/2026, By: paigemoney
Info: Mount Belford Northwest Ridge
Mount Oxford via Mount Belford
Out and back

From the trailhead to the first opening in the trees, there is spotty snow and ice, which posed no issues with traction on the way up. I slipped a few times on the way down, but did not put on spikes. The trail has consolidated snow in the first open area. Past the cabin, there was consolidated snow leading to the trail split.

On the Belford switchbacks, since the condition update about this area was written 2/1, there had either been a lot of wind-blown snow or some new accumulation. This morning, most steps from the start of the switchbacks were slick with some icy frost or snow.

Above 13,000 feet, we encountered multiple sections of hard-packed snow. Kicking steps provided little benefit, but our mountaineering boots provided enough traction to proceed without spikes. Around 13.6k’, there was a larger snowfield that a switchback traversed with hard, steep packed snow and ice. A small gully ran through the snowfield. While a slide was unlikely due to the amount of snow present, the consequences of a fall felt high. We bypassed the switchback and went directly up, doing our best to rock hop, before reconnecting with the remaining switchbacks. We made it to the summit of Belford without spikes.

Descending Belford going toward the saddle to Oxford, there was one section of sketchy snow around 13,900 feet. The snow was tracked out, making it seem like that was the correct route. Stay left of the rock rib here, a dry trail is visible. After descending the steep section into the saddle, it was mostly dry over to Oxford.

We put our spikes on when we resummited Belford and descended the same way, including avoiding the area we had bypassed in the morning. There were still areas of hard snow above 13,000 feet, so traction was helpful here. Below that, the snow was much softer on the way down, and some melting had occurred. The sun on the switchbacks made a significant difference.

We felt like there was no avalanche danger today on the route we chose.

There is nowhere on the route to wear snowshoes.

There were no mountain lion sightings today, but there were very obvious cat tracks under the first bridge near the parking lot.

Note: I took some photos looking over at Missouri. I couldn’t tell exactly where the trail is, but there are certainly loaded slopes in the area of the standard route. 

Route: Up Pecks to Bel/Ox down waverly
Posted On: 2/7/2026, By: MMAfightingClimber
Info: Mt. Belford, Mt. Oxford, Pecks Peak, Waverly Mtn, today with Arthur and Devin (ArthurSpiderman, Geckser).

We went up Missouri Gulch for pecks over to Bel/Ox and down waverly via the CDT trail. Fairly deep and soft snow from treeline off of waverly to about 11,000ft.

Geckser brought snowshoes but me and Arthur did not. They didn’t really help much. The only time they could be beneficial is on the way down waverly. But there is a decent trench in there now. The slope up pecks is dry. To belford was also mostly dry. Some minor snow coming off Belford and dry getting up to Oxford and Waverly.

A nice day for a loop in the sawatch! 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 1/5/2026, By: jbealer
Info: hiked Belford and oxford yesterday. conditions remain the same. i booted up bel, over to ox and back to bel. put spikes on half way down bel due to snow being slick and losing light, kept them on till the car. if you were wondering yes the winds were as bad yesterday as stated. my tracks on the bel switch backs were covered by the time i made it back down that way.

ran into 2 other people who did Missouri and tried to go over to emerald/Iowa but bailed, they came up elk head pass and did trigger a slide on that side, so there is enough snow in some places to still slide even though its showing green right now. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 12/30/2025, By: EthanBeltramo
Info: Climbed all three Missouri, Oxford, and Belford in one long day. Monday 12-29. 8:30 am start and finished 11 hours later in the dark. Spikes were nice to have but left snowshoes in the car. The whole approach is shallow and boot packed.
Missouri was our first peak of the day. From there we went south to Iowa before gaining the east ridge to Elkhead pass. From Elkhead up to Belford is dry. The standard route up Belford is dry and packed down. We were able to easily follow the summer trail in the dark after sunset on Belfords summit. From Belford to Oxford is very dry. No need for floatation or an axe on Belford/ Oxford until more snow falls. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 12/22/2025, By: shapovalovm
Info: TL;DR: ridiculously dry, no floatation needed, any car can make it to the TH.

Went as a group of 4: 3 went for Missouri (successfully) and I went for BelOx. No need for snowshoes or probably even spikes although I used them on the way back just to be faster. Overall that day 4 people did Missouri, 1 did Belford and I did Belford and Oxford.

Abysmal winds near Belford summit. On the way back had to crawl 5 last yards to the summit and wait for maybe 30 sec until the gust is gone. I expected the saddle to be the windiest part and even though it was windy it was not horrible.

TH to creek crossing - maybe an inch of snow, very dry.
Creek crossing to Belford-Missouri intersection - a bit deeper, maybe up to a foot. We did not use snowshoes, but I think 1 person that day did, at least I saw some marks.
Ridge up Belford - very dry; the trail itself has a couple of inches of packed snow/ice, but mostly avoidable.
Belford-Oxford traverse - some avoidable snow going down Belford, completely dry otherwise.

You can drive to the trailhead in a 2WD sedan. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 11/9/2025, By: elliebeauchamp
Info: Extremely windy at both summits (Oxford and Belford), not too much snow we didn’t use our spikes but they might’ve made us quicker on the descent. Strava said 11 miles & 5,901 ft elevation gain including both summits. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 10/25/2025, By: scfauth
Info: Clear to about 9800, then spotty snow up to 10K. Above 10K consistent snow 1-4 inches. Above 12K up to 12 inches is frequent and there are quite a few drifts over knee high in some places on the trail. Route finding on elkhead pass above 12500 was challenging. The majority of the trail has been broken now with the few groups that were out there today so maneuvering on the route should be much easier. Be careful crossing the streams- make sure you are stepping on something solid under the snow and not the ice shelf which will give way. Highly recommend traction, gaiters and poles. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 10/20/2025, By: swilson753
Info: Plan A was Iowa/Emerald. We encountered some rather treacherous creek crossings in upper Missouri Gulch that were half ice, half deep water at 8am, so we decided to switch to Belford.

This part of the Sawatch got a lot of snow in the last storm. We put on spikes at 12.3k and left them on until the summit. Snow was up to 12" deep in some wind drifts. Other parts of the trail above 13k were dry. Just about everything north facing in the area had consistent snow at 12.5k and above. The Tenmile/Mosquito ranges looked bone dry on the drive up. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 10/8/2025, By: Browndw22
Info: Did Belford & Oxford. Both trails are in great condition and easy to follow. Some patches of snow/ice as you get towards the peak. I felt comfortable enough with just trekking poles and didn’t feel the need to put microspikes on. Very cold and windy towards the summit, glad I packed lots of layers and gloves.