Mt. Princeton

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/25/2024, By: Deb Harrison
Info: Drove a Ford Bronco about 1 mile past the towers to a nice camp spot at about 11,200. Not far beyond that (around 11,600) the road was impassable due to snow, (see photo) but you could turn around at this spot.

The trail was almost completely free of snow. There were a few small patches of snow that were not icy in the morning (no spikes needed). These spots were packed down and not too deep, so no post holing in the afternoon. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/27/2024, By: laforge296
Info: Mount Princeton had 3 or 4 snow crossings on 6/23. No spikes needed just use caution. I think the loose scree and gravel on the upper trail is more alarming. The talus rocks went on and on as did the road to the trail from the lower trailhead. It was a long day and I was moving slow on this one. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/20/2024, By: ProfetaP
Info: If you have a decent clearance vehicle, you can make it to the towers. I drove a Volvo xc40 and there was Subarus up there as well. Everyone stops at the towers, but you can drive farther down the road for more parking and camping. The route is pretty easy to follow, but a lot of social trails through the Boulder fields. However, you cant really get lost and they all lead to the same point. Most of the snow is melted, but you still have roughly 4 snow crossings that cant be avoided. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/16/2024, By: Humen13
Info: Only 3 snow crossings on trail at this point. Micro spikes would be nice before sunrise. Peak register is full. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/10/2024, By: Da Legit Master
Info: Small patches of snow on road starting just above 11,000'. Road becomes impassible to vehicles at 11,560'. After passing the radio tower area there are three more parking/ camping areas. First one on the right and then two more immediately after on the left. These spots will be the highest you can park for quite a while until more snow melts off the upper road.The route still has some very large and exposed snow crossings above treeline. If you expect the snow to be firm I'd definitely bring spikes or an ice axe or both. A fall could lead to a 1,000' + uncontrolled slide. The snow is far more consolidated than the current wet death snow on Yale. I would plan on bringing all the water you will need. I did see one small trickle of water below a snow patch at 12,580, but on a colder day I wouldn't count on it. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/7/2024, By: mmbakken
Info: Summited on Thursday 6/6 around 11am. Hiked the road up to the top and then went up Tigger Peak and onto the ridge up Princeton via the East Slopes. There were several snowfield crossing that are unavoidable. Micro spikes were good to have, skins stayed in the pack all day. Descended the right-most part of the East face of Princeton. Snow was very slushy and thick. The coverage was decent and I was able to ski off the summit with a little rock hopping near the ridge. It was super warm up there and I'm sure it will melt out considerably this week with the heat dome. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/1/2024, By: lakingme39
Info: Stellar day on Princeton. It was just me and one other hiker (surprising, given how great the weather was)parked at radio towers. There are a few spots open, maybe 1/10th of a mile up the road, but the majority of the road to the trail is still snow-covered. Typical spring conditions - hard, packed snow on the way up, and dealt with some soft snow on the way down. I reached the summit around 9 AM, and clouds rolled through, which I think saved me from post-holing most of the way down. I don't ski, but the couloir looked like it had a lot of life left. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/18/2024, By: Skimo95
Info: Princeton rode absolutely outstanding today. Probably my best turns of the season. Broke a couple small drifts to radio towers in slightly modified F150. 4Runner was up there too. I booted the whole way up tigger and to Princeton lmao. Traversed summit to lookers right couloir and it was a dream. Didnt really know where to exit on a split so I put a booter out of the basin a few hundred feet as well. Fuck yea 

Route: Tigger E ridge
Posted On: 3/7/2024, By: the_hare
Info: Decent bootpack trench already in up until switchback near Tigger gully at 10,580ft. Didnt look like anyone had been up higher than that since the last snow. Trenched from there up Tiggers forested lower East ridge from the towers bypassing the upper 4WD road switchbacks.

Large snow drifts on ridge proper, ended up skirting to the south side of the ridge to find supportive and stable sun-affected snow. Had to weave a bit thru the trees to link up patches of sun-exposed snowfields. I wish I started a bit earlier, the spring-like snow kept bunching up under my snowshoes every few steps :/

Tigger E ridge above treeline has some snowfields I had to wade through in between rockhopping. Not sure what the best path up the ridge is. Id suggest staying ridge proper from Tigger summit to Princeton especially at the horn/cliff features towards Princeton at 13,200, north side of ridge has some surprise snowfields that can get deep.

Re-ascending Tigger didnt feel like a big deal. Descending the rocky east ridge and snowfields was tedious but offered some fun class 2+/3 moves.

This was a 14er in two ways, 14 hr day from car to car x.x 

Route: Winter route direct from towers
Posted On: 2/5/2024, By: the_hare
Info: Did not summit. Made it to 11,400ft just before the first switchback while going west up the shallow ridge proper from the comm towers. Road up to towers has great bootpack, spikes/snowshoes useful at times in looser snow. Decent trench from towers to where ridge starts inclining thanks to efforts from a pair yesterday.

No trace of the last trench from there on. The ridge up from the towers bypassing the switchbacks/ avy chute has some decent sized drifts. The heavy SWE snow from the last storm made trenching among the drifts feel more unstable than usual especially near rollover-like features. The snow quality was quickly decompensating with the warm temps as well. I tried hopping from bare spot to bare spot among the evergreens but turned back just before the first switchback. I couldnt see any bare spots and the area ahead seemed significantly drifted and steep. Didnt feel comfortable continuing further alone.

On the way down I moved just below south of ridge proper to find lighter snow and dirt patches. Snow melting fast on the way down, some long bare dirt/mud spots in the road now. Wouldnt recommend trying to drive up, underlying ice in spots + larger drifted snow/mud 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 1/28/2024, By: nohandz
Info: I left the trailhead about 7 AM, the road was snow, packed to the radio towers and snowshoes or spikes were not necessary, but I did not feel like carrying the snowshoes. I would say if you are skilled driver, have a high clearance vehicle with four-wheel-drive, low, some tire chains, or a winch or a buddy, and you could drive up to the towers right now.

From the radio towers, the snowshoes were pretty necessary as the snow was deeper and people have been postholing. Poles were quite helpful and heel lifters on the snowshoes for about 1/2 mi.

I did not go up and over Tigger peak as avalanche. Danger has come down and there is not much snow on the face as you can see from my photos. However, enough has gathered between the rocks that it eventually made progress very slow, and I turned around about 11:45 AM at 12,200 feet. Back to car by 2pm.

Except for 20 or 30 minutes of wind, it was still and very warm today. 48 Fahrenheit back at the car and it feels like 65. Snow was getting slushy. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 1/21/2024, By: JQDivide
Info: No report: just a photo of the route. It is dry. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 12/31/2023, By: Steep Slabs
Info: Started at the 2wd parking lot. Trekking poles and micro spikes were key. No need for snow shoes but gaiters were helpful in spots. I was able to follow the trail most of the way but there were some spots where route finding was surprisingly tricky due to snow cover. In some spots along the slopes, the trail was narrow, slippery and steep. There were some areas of trap door snow. The weather was great, minimal wind and very light snow at the summit. My GPS recorded 14 miles, it took 9 hours. This was difficult but more fun and easier than Yale's Southwest Slopes last week which required a large show shoe section through a forest of unbroken trail. It was a fun way to end the year. 

Route: Tigger up, Slopes Down
Posted On: 12/22/2023, By: artemavovk
Info: Snowshoes not strictly needed; spikes help on some slippery rocks; standard route is safe, except for some trapdoor sections. Snow-loaded gullies look sketch but snow is not solid so you can just punch through to avoid slipping 

Route: via Tigger
Posted On: 11/13/2023, By: swilson753
Info: We attempted Princeton via the winter route over Tigger. We were able to get a Jeep Gladiator up to the campsites at 11k, then walked the rest of the road. Someone else had been up the road in a vehicle before us but we didn't see any footprints. The road is probably doable by any 4wd with good snow tires for now, but that could change with any new snow or freeze-thaw cycles.

Above 11k, road had 1-3" of snow on north/shady aspects and was drifted up to 6" deep on some of the switchbacks. Once on the ridge to Tigger, there's horrendous trapdoor snow between the boulders. We had to probe every step to avoid falling in holes. Everything was completely unconsolidated, which is to be expected for this time of year. It was so slow going that we decided to turn around at the top of Tigger rather than make it a 10-12 hour day. We took traction but didn't use it - everything was powder on rock. Save this one for when there's more snow or it's more consolidated unless you're looking for a sufferfest.