Mt. Yale

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 3/2/2025, By: MattHamma
Info: Summited 2/28 with Andrew K. Started at 5am, finished around 4pm for ~11 hours. Beautiful bluebird day with no wind. Used snowshoes up to the top of the summit ridge at ~13.9k. Switched to crampons + axe from there, as there was no track and it was a nice mix of snow, ice, and rock. Switched back to snowshoes at ~13k --- lots of melt between start to finish, and a fair bit of postholing getting back down to the fork at 1.3 miles, so snowshoes were nice to have. Lots of melt on the way down above the treeline, left spots completely exposed on the trail that had snow previously. Fairly slowgoing as we had to put in track above ~12.5k and the melt on the way down. Helluva day 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 2/24/2025, By: shaines90
Info: Summited with Brad (Mountain Ninja,) Justin (Justiner,) and Mick (Mpaskiewicz) on Sunday 2/23. Lower sections of the trail were snow-covered and packed down early in the day but had melted down significantly later on, with a mix of dry sections and a layer of exposed ice in other sections by the time we got back. We started postholing above about 10k, switched to snowshoes around 10,500 and wore them to the low point before Yale's main east ridge begins; on the way back, we put snowshoes back on at the end of the ridge before descending to the pass and wore them back to about 10k. The ridge itself was largely wind-scoured, but a number of snow drifts along the ridge necessitated some route choices, sometimes a minor bit of scrambling. Never put on microspikes but could definitely see them being helpful in some sections. We put in a pretty stable trench for most of the trail, but definitely still recommend snowshoes for the portion of the trail that overlaps the CT. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 12/9/2024, By: Joshua5858
Info: Anyone interested in climbing Mt. Yale together this Thursday? I'm joshua warren, and you can find me on Facebook or alltrails. I'm 18 years old and I've climbed roughly 18 14ers (most of which are winter climbs). I have experience with avy conditions and class 4 climbing ( not needed. Just tryna prove that I know what I'm doing lol). Getting tired of these solo winter hikes. If you are interested, shoot me a text and we can meet or carpool to denny creek. If not, Im also looking for someone to check off a few summer class 3 and 4s. 719-487-8829 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 10/27/2024, By: Kbennett
Info: Excellent day to summit. Partial sun & light winds during the morning hours, full sun by late morning. Trail below tree line is dry, though some snowy/icy patches remain in shaded spots (minimal). Some snow on upper slopes & on ridge to summit, totally manageable in standard hiking gear. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 10/28/2024, By: natecall50
Info: Beautiful day on Mt Yale. A little bit windy at the summit but nothing crazy. A couple of icy spots below treeline but spikes are not needed yet. That may change this week though. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 10/10/2024, By: johpaw14
Info: Great fall conditions, no snow. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 9/22/2024, By: Lfrost
Info: Winter conditions. Got about 9 snow overnight. Most snow near base is quickly melting but can get super sketchy closer to summit with all the snow. Highly recommend spikes. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 9/14/2024, By: marcusmartin
Info: Trailhead packed. Busy. Perfect Saturday in September. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 9/12/2024, By: Clay5981
Info: Great day on the peak! Amazing work from CFI to maintain the trail. About a dozen people on the trail, but plenty of spots in the parking lot. Windy (~30 mph) going up above tree line. About 6 hours from car to car. Great day! 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 8/4/2024, By: langecorya
Info: Got to the trailhead at 9pm the night before and the parking lot was about 3/4 full. Started hiking at 4:30 with a few groups in front. Coming down at 8:30am we passed LOTS of groups. If you like hiking without a lot of other people, leave early! Summer conditions with no snow/ice on the trailhead. Slightly hazy and smokey to the east. Beautiful views to the west like every other Sawatch 14er. This peak had a very steady incline the entire way up with few flat areas. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 7/20/2024, By: ryanlamonica
Info: Trail is in great shape. Summer conditions. There are still about 4-5 small snow patches along the ridge portion of the route, but all are easily avoidable without detouring off route. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 7/12/2024, By: ajklaus5
Info: Trail is 100% snow-free. Easy to get through water crossings with dry feet. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 7/5/2024, By: surfergirl
Info: Tiny lil snow patches above 13k, melting quickly. Beautiful route with some very approachable route finding. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 7/1/2024, By: Tegerton1
Info: Beautiful trail, easy to follow, scramble was quick, fun, and not too arduous, even for my brother's dog's first 14er. Started at 6:15 AM, pretty busy trailhead, but still plenty of parking. We hit summit a little before 10:00, absolutely no snow left on trail, Denny's Creek is running pretty high, but the crossing were all easy. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/24/2024, By: akohn33
Info: Very nearly summer conditions! One snow field that was easily passable without traction, but everything else was dry. Plenty of parking at 7:15 a.m. on a Sunday.