Mt. Princeton

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/9/2026, By: thechriz1995
Info: Parked at the upper TH near the towers, the road up was dry and clear again after the recent storm. Following the standard route the trail had quite a bit of snow on it while going along the north slopes of Tigger Peak, up to knee deep in spots with rocks underfoot. Once on the ridge the snow was thinner but still present all the way to the summit. It appeared I was the first to summit since the storm and I left a good set of postholes to follow, traction you may find helpful. Overall it was a tough climb through the snow but it was a beautiful day with minimal wind. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 4/28/2026, By: GrantC
Info: Started at towers at 7:45a, up by 12:15p, down around 3p. The snowfields were not short-lived anymore, almost the entire trail above treeline was picking your way through snow. Probably would’ve been fine without microspikes but we used them from treeline to summit back to treeline. Forecast was pretty accurate with it being very windy and chilly. If you pack lots of layers (especially something to keep your feet warm) it’s not bad just takes a little longer. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 4/26/2026, By: Rach4074
Info: The trail is in good condition. There is some short lived snowfields as mentioned traversing the slope but there were steps kicked into them so I did fine without microspikes. This was Saturday before the storm so there might be some fresh snow after that. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 4/25/2026, By: Edrizzle
Info: Almost full summer conditions. A couple of smaller snowfields still lingering but can mostly be avoided. Spikes were handy to have but you could probably get away without them. Great day 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 4/18/2026, By: ace21
Info: The 4x4 road is fully dry to the cell tower. Only snow encountered was in the gullies around 12500-12800’, glad to have microspikes with me as it’s steep. Forecast said -27 C windchill, but there was barely any wind the entire day. Saw 4 groups in total, I think 3 were able to summit. Overall very good conditions, the storms from this past week did not leave much snow 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 4/11/2026, By: Terrencewalsh
Info: Great first 14er of the season, especially this early in the year. The most recent peak conditions posts described Princeton as being in "summer conditions." It's surely closer to summer than winter conditions. The road was clear to the towers and beyond, but only a few more switchbacks. The trail was mostly clear of snow, but the big traverse still had a good amount of snow. After the big traverse, the switchbacks leading up to the ridge were also snowy, so I opted to traverse beyond the big snow patch and route-find up the most secure boulders I could find to the ridge. In practice: bring micro-spikes if you have them, and trekking poles for a little extra stability on the snowy bits. Consider this a great option for your first 14er of the season! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 3/30/2026, By: Stevengutes
Info: Summer conditions, no traction needed. Minor snow patches a couple miles off the road but they are well trenched and short. Those patches will be melted out quickly 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 3/24/2026, By: mb13
Info: Was able to get up to the 4wd trailhead (radiotowers) and started from there. Snow covering the remainder of the road going up but was melting fast on the way down. if you stay to the side of the snow you can avoid spikes for the most part. A few snowfields in the boulder field that spikes could help with or just careful steps as the spikes would be needed very minimally. overall pretty dry after the road minus the few snowfields amongst the boulders. Windy as usual but mostly summer conditions. Postholed a few times on the way down as the sun was shining and melting the snow and making it slushy/muddy 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 3/23/2026, By: jschmitz
Info: Started from the 2WD trailhead. Not sure my 2015 Outback could have made it up to the 4WD lot. Followed the summer trail. Was happy to have microspikes and poles for the 3 sections while traversing below Tigger. Seems like snow in those spots will hold for a couple weeks. Otherwise it seems like summer conditions. Wore trail runners, shorts and a sun hoody the whole time. Great option to avoid other routes more heavily wooded that will retain snow and likely involve lots of post holing for some time. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 3/21/2026, By: Dignus
Info: North side of Tigger no longer has avi risk; summer route is safe. A couple of short steep snowfields to cross necessitate careful kicksteps or donning spikes for all of a minute.
https://youtu.be/SmyzgOKi6EQ 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 2/28/2026, By: owen_farkas
Info: Hiked from the lower TH. The road is doable up to the radio towers if you have good 4WD and winter tires and it looks like somebody drove up there recently.

Took the winter route by bushwhacking directly up the ridge to Tigger peak. A good amount of snow exists here. After treeline the snow disappears and we rockhopped/scrambled to Tigger peak. This section holds some loose rock. The final pitch to the summit was 90% rocks but has some difficult to avoid snow drifts with fun trapdoors to test my ankle's durability. Summit was dry but extremely windy so we left within 2 minutes.

The summer route looks inviting but holds gullies full with snow of questionable stability, so go back over Tigger when coming down.

Flotation not needed. Ice axe might be helpful for parts but only microspikes were really necessary. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 1/31/2026, By: shaines90
Info: Summited solo today 1/31 from lower trailhead.

Snow and ice on the lower road is thin and non-continuous. There was a set of tire tracks that made it up about .75 miles beyond the lower trailhead but then apparently turned around there, but nothing else beyond that.

Once above the radio towers, snow got much more consistent and there were a few areas where it had been wind-drifted into a slope. No avalanche danger from these at this point as there just isn't enough snow down to actually slide.

Northeastern slopes of Tigger Peak have almost no snow on them at current, so the standard summer route is still open for business with zero avalanche danger. There is some patchy powder along with patches of consolidated crust at various points along the standard trail, but I did not feel the need to use microspikes or snowshoes at any point today.

Once on the ridge, encountered (once again) alternating patches of bulletproof crust and calf- to knee-deep sugar snow all the way to the summit. Be mindful of trap doors as you ascend the final 900'. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 1/20/2026, By: ColoNativeGal
Info: Not much different from last report really. You could hike in trail runners. There is some snow, but mostly packed down. There is some ice under the snow patches. We didn't use spikes going up (probably should have, we could have moved faster), but we did going down. I think there is more snow on the summit in the wind shelter than there is along the route. Had some cool frozen snowflakes on the north facing rocks at the summit. Beautiful bluebird day yesterday, we got lucky and only had 10-15 mph breeze here and there vs the forecasted 20-25mph. Windchill was in single digits versus the forecasted negative.

Road: same as last report, but I think the ice flows are becoming more impressive. Too bad they're not vertical. Two 4x4s made it to the radio towers, but possibly had issues in two spots doing down once the snow got softer based on the sticks and tire tracks we saw on the way out. We made it to 11K in a RZR with chains on the front tires. Above that are bullet proof snow drifts. Some of the ice flows and bullet drifts take care in navigating around/over. 

Route: Up standard, down over Tigger
Posted On: 1/11/2026, By: MMAfightingClimber
Info: I Parked pretty low on the road, but somehow someone got their vehicle to the towers. I thought it looked way too icy and didn’t want to have to force turn around in my truck—personally I wouldn’t try going to the towers. There are several stretches of dry road though.

Low snow, you can almost wear trail runners on Princeton right now. There is a decent amount of snow on the standard route and on the final summit push to Princeton. But you can avoid most of it. Spikes could help in several sections but I didn’t use them. Leave the snowshoes behind.

There is plenty of icy sections on the road that are very slippery to walk on—especially when you are on the final stretch of road before you switch to the trail.


Tigger Peak is really straightforward, a couple easy scrambles to avoid snow. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 1/5/2026, By: type3fun
Info: The East Slopes trail starting from the upper TH (at towers) is startlingly clear. As of 4 Jan, the ice and snow on the route were so minimal that no traction (spikes) were needed anywhere on the route. We carried spikes and snowshoes just in case (no regrets), but we never saw need to use them.

Gorgeous conditions all the way up with a gnarly wind whipping on top!

Regarding the road up to the towers: there are a few icy spots below that sharp switchback at the CT turn-off. Beyond the turn, there is a long stretch of mixed ice, snow, and dirt until the right hand turn up the south-facing canyon where it clears almost completely. The final switchback is icy, and the towers area has some deeper snow that made the turn-around fun.

We were stoked to not see another vehicle or person on the road or trail the entire day.