Mt. Belford

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/24/2025, By: Tmo1983
Info: Hiked oxford/belford today. Great shape all around. Only one small snow patch I'll post a photo of it shortly. Thanks for everyone who keeps the trails in fine shape. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/24/2025, By: paigemoney
Info: Bell/Ox Northwest Ridge and down Elkhead Pass: Bell/Ox NW Ridge is in great shape. The log bridge pictured on the .com was icy when we crossed early yesterday morning. There’s one snowfield that’s well traversed just before the Belford summit. The boot prints are down to the ground, no post-holing. There’s a small section of snow left on the saddle going up to Oxford but I was able to avoid it completely. Elkhead pass is a lovely leisurely walk but is very wet right now. A lot of stream crossings and 2 snowfields. One is avoidable, the other is more challenging to go around and I did posthole a few times. Otherwise route is dry and as advertised! Enjoy! 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/22/2025, By: wabbajack
Info: Did Mt Belford and Mt Oxford together. Very windy above 13k elevation with not much relief. If you take the Missouri Gulch trail down, there a couple of ice fields that require diversions or glissading. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/19/2025, By: JROSKA
Info: There are two snowfields just short of Belford’s summit. The one closer to the summit can easily be bypassed but the other one must be crossed. Snow was supportive mid morning, but on the return trip after Oxford it was not. Just be mindful that if you cross this snowfield in the afternoon you’ll probably posthole a few times. Other than that it’s summer conditions. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/13/2025, By: ktcampbell22
Info: Summer conditions! Very minor snowfields at the tip top, so far mostly holding for the 10-20 feet they span. Saw probably 20 others. No spikes, wore trail runners and summer clothes. Great hike - more challenging than other "beginner" 14ers, but not crazy - just vertical. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/8/2025, By: caesarsalad
Info: 99% snow free to the ridge. Some patches from the ridge to the summit, but no need for flotation or traction as they’re easy to avoid or go over. Poles would have been nice for the descent as there’s some steep & slightly loose sections. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/4/2025, By: carmitz001
Info: Started at 3:15 pm since I woke up late. Mistakenly thought an afternoon/evening hike would work because of low temps and cloud cover. Dry until treeline, then frequent postholing between 11900 and 14000 feet. There's a lot of snow in Missouri Gulch that isn't avoidable without significant off-trail detours. The trails leading to and from Elkhead Pass are mostly covered by snow. The standard Belford trail, on the other hand, looked mostly snow free. The NW gully has continuous snow from the summit to the bottom. 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 5/29/2025, By: andibertolina
Info: Skied the NW gully today and tagged Oxford as well. The gully has plenty of snow but you have to hike 2.5 miles and 2000+ feet to get there. Not enough snow to ski from Belford over to Oxford 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 5/24/2025, By: jschmitz
Info: Some snow, was fine in trail runners, microspikes and trekking poles. Could get away without the spikes but they certainly added security. Did the traverse to Oxford as well. Did not feel that snow shoes were needed. 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 5/18/2025, By: Cthulhu 2008
Info: Didn't switch to skis until the trail crosses the gully (2.4 miles, 2,260'), so that's a long way to carry skis. But the gully has plenty of snow all the way to the jumble of rocks at the summit. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 4/15/2025, By: butlerer
Info: Made it about halfway and turned around after breaking trail through 6-36" of snow. Beautiful day. Don't follow our trench up the right side of the gully. We stuck to the far side by the trees on the way down and that's the right way to go. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 3/14/2025, By: tothestars
Info: Adam and I summited Belford and Oxford via Northwest ridge starting at noon. Second attempt this week, thankfully was successful in large part due to the trench some boarders made past the point I got to last Saturday. the trench I made last Saturday was blown away by winds and melting most likely but you could see the route through the meadow. The people who went out between then and our summits continued the trench to the woods and to the river, where they seemed to realize going through the river was a bad idea and turned back up the hill. We had to find a route from where the treeline thins out to the base of Bedford and stuck close to the mountain to avoid deeper post holing. This meant going through rocks and snowdrifts. The route up Belford has a lot of blown snow in it to the point that we just went straight up the side of the mountain gaining about 2k in 1. mile. The wind was very heavy and made for a cold, challenging day. Reached summit of Belford at 4:30, continued to Oxford, getting there in about 45 mins and turning about and getting back to Belford in 50 mins as a snow storm was blowing in. Watch read 10.5 miles/6,700ft of climbing. Finished in 9hrs total time/7:45 moving time. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 3/10/2025, By: tothestars
Info: Road to Missouri Gulch Trailhead was pretty good. Was the first car out since new snow. Did not summit due to avi danger/post holing. Was aiming for Oxford via Belford but underestimated the amount of snow over the past week and it appeared that no one had been up. Packed in a bit of a tench to the river crossing/meadow where I attempted to find a line up the meadow that wasn't waist deep post holing. The snow was cracking under my snowshoes indicating a weak snow layer (as forecasted). Avalanche visible on the South slope of the ridges to the north of the river. Tried to make a tench up in the treeline but postholing was too deep. Turned around 2 miles in due to late start (11am) and sketchy avalanche danger. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 12/30/2024, By: jacolc
Info: Mark and I walking down the trail on ridge and below at forest at night using only spikes. Afternoon snowshoe probably will be useful. We used snowshoe only on the way up and down of Missouri NW ridge 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 12/21/2024, By: randallson
Info: A good trench through the trees. Snowshoes were helpful after the creek crossing at 10,800' though probably not strictly required. I ditched snowshoes above treeline at 11,800'. The NW ridge is extremely wind scoured. I could follow the summer trail about 80% of the time.