Mt. Belford

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. 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 11/19/2024, By: jrobie23
Info: Trail is well packed (by humans and elk/deer/moose) :)
Showshoes (obviously) recommended at this point. After breaking out of the trees, you'll want a map/gps in order to stay on trail. I ventured up to my left just to get some elevation. I'll bring gaia next time so I can stay on course. I'm assuming, if you stay on trail, you'll be able to get to the summit. There's not much snow up there right now. FWIW, I don't recommend following my route when I turned left. Ended up dodging rocks coming off the upper part of the gulley. I did see a ram though, so that was cool. 

Route: Southwest Slopes & Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 10/28/2024, By: George Kaplan
Info: Trail was mostly free of ice and snow until after first log bridge crossing. After that, mixture of thin snow, ice, and mud until after 3rd creek crossing along southwest slopes route. After junction with Missouri Mountain trail, snowdrifts got deeper on the way up to Elkhead Pass, but nothing deeper than about 12 inches and snow could be bypassed in many places. Valley south of Elkhead Pass looked much more snow-covered. Trail up to Belford covered in a few inches of snow/ice. Northwest Ridge trail snow-covered most of the way down. Microspikes and trekking poles were helpful, but no need for snowshoes. 

Route: Southwest & Northwest slopes
Posted On: 10/2/2024, By: Flips
Info: Summer conditions on the ground for both Oxford and Belford. I summited Oxford from the Southwest route via Elkhead Pass and after summiting Belford descended the switchbacks on the standard Northwest slopes. Everything is clear. No spikes needed. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 9/27/2024, By: mountainero
Info: Southwest slopes completely dry. Northwest ridge has some goopy mud/snow in places from 13.5k and up. no traction needed. Had to bail on oxford to escape some clouds, they opened up once i got into town. Might have more snow, might get muddier 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 9/18/2024, By: nathanolds146
Info: Trail is in good shape and easy to follow. I climbed during an afternoon snow storm which left a fair amount of snow on the peak. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 9/3/2024, By: mslattery
Info: Belford/Oxford trail was beautiful and straightforward. Want to note that from the first stream crossing through the cabin, there was a smell of decay which matched the section reported in recent mountain lion sightings. We didn't see anything but were happy to be in a bigger group going through that section in the dark. Took Missouri Gulch down for a more gradual descent and had a great day on this trail. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 8/28/2024, By: jasowel
Info: Route finding is super straight forward. Very windy and cold morning heading up. Weather cooperated so made the trek over to Oxford. Gaining that summit is pretty easy. But don't underestimate Belford coming back. That side is steep and slow. Much warmer with little wind on the ridge so make sure you layer. A lot of temperature changes.

Were reports of a mountain lion stalking this trail. Didn't see anything. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 8/22/2024, By: sky_high
Info: Trail is in good shape and dry. Water is flowing all the way to the creek crossing above treeline. No snow to speak of. We are definitely in regular afternoon thunderstorm time, so mind the weather and get below treeline before 1pm. Bugs aren't too bad at the cabin and above. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 8/4/2024, By: GrizzlyAdams
Info: On trail at 5:15 am with a summit of Mount Belford by 7:45 am at exactly 4 miles. No issues following the main trail and the ground is bone dry. Around 8 people were at the top and maybe another 10 on trail on the way up. Scooted over to Oxford with no issues and then returned taking the Elkhead Pass route to Missouri. Scree area near the top can be avoided by staying high on the trail. Crested the summit at 11 am and returned down Missouri Gulch (crossing one goat on the way) and closed out the day at 2 pm. Trails were relatively quiet. Plenty of water in the main valley for refilling. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 7/11/2024, By: John619
Info: Camped at about 11,600 feet the night before. Climbed up the Northwest ridge trail (steep and loose in parts) to the summit. My 68 year old legs weren't moving fast enough to do Oxford as clouds were starting to build. Came back down to Elkhead pass to the Missouri Gulch trail back to camp (For me the the decent route was much easier as it wasn't as steep or loose, although it was 2 miles longer. Packed up camp and headed back to the Missouri Gulch trailhead that afternoon.
If I were to do the Northwest ridge trail again I might use micro spikes as they could help on the very loose dirt sections.