Mt. Yale

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 1/27/2014, By: Kevin Baker
Info: There is a solid trench in from the previous weekend all the way to the ridge, making this a much easier day. We did not put on snowshoes until just below the ridge. The ridge itself can be kept at class 2+ with optional scrambling opportunities and was drier than expected. Microspikes/crampons are overkill for most people right now. This route is typically a huge day in winter with 5K‘ of vertical, but it is very reasonable right now. Message me if interested in pics. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 12/28/2013, By: SnowAlien
Info: Conditions update for Denny Creek route the day before tipped the scale for Avalanche Gulch route for our attempt. Were very pleased to discover a well established trench to the saddle, which our sizable group greatly enhanced. Many thanks to Jim/Yikes and whoever came before us for establishing a trench. Mellow terrain to the saddle, no snow instabilities encountered en route. Started late, departed TH @8 am, but made great time. The ridge is long, with many false summits. The group of three (out of about 10) ended up summitting for RT of 9.5 hrs. Go get it! 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 12/27/2013, By: coloradomojo
Info: Attempted Mt Yale from Denny Creek Today. Road was open to Denny Creek (getting lots on snowmobile use beyond the Denny Creek TH). Had called Chaffee County Sheriff dispatch to confirm the road was open to Denny Creek. Beautiful day just no joy as far as the summit. My son and I slept in our 4Runner and stared at 7:30AM (yeah I know it was late). Solid snowshoe trail to "Mt Yale->" signage. Beyond that there was a old evidence of snowshoe travel to ~11,200 ft. Beyond that we encountered thigh deep snowshoeing on steep terrain (no fun). Turned around at 11,600 ft when we saw no end to the misery and heard two close succession "whomping" indications while still well within in the trees. My suggestions: 1) use skis 2) start earlier 3) have more than two to break trail All in all, a truly wonderful day to be in the mountains. Colordaomojo 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 11/20/2013, By: WeatherMan
Info: Decided to give Yale (SW Slopes) a try between storms. They definitely got 12-18" from the storm of 11/16. Wave clouds in the AM correctly indicated that it would be windy above tree line. Nice snowshoe trench to 10,700. Two or three person boot pack to 11,300‘ and just my lonely single footprints to treeline. Avalanche danger below treeline seemed low due to warm temps and wet snowpack. Windy and scoured above treeline and no avalanche danger at all to the peak if you stay near standard route. Screaming winds along the summit ridge. Some light snow showers later in the day. Carried but didn‘t use flotation, microspikes, or ax. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 11/10/2013, By: 4 LO
Info: Trail is in great condition. There have been enough people hiking this trail since the last report that there is a clear and definite trail to follow the entire way. Snow is not deep in any area, but microspikes will definitely make this hike more enjoyable. Conditions were great, couldn‘t have asked for a better day! Much of the trail in the trees looked like photo 1. It does get a little thicker by maybe 2 inches more towards the treeline. Photo 2 is midway up between the treeline and the summit looking towards the Three Apostles Photo 3 is looking up towards the summit of Mount Yale Photo 4 is on the summit looking towards the direction i came from. The rocky area to the summit is light on snow and easy to do. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 11/7/2013, By: mrschaible
Info: Trail is in good shape and easily followable up to ~11,600‘. From there the trail gets confusing and hard to find. About ~100‘ after the fallen tree (easily recognizable) look for steps that are coming down from the mountain on the right side of the trail. We went straight (like everyone else) and lost the trail. We came down the mountain on the trail, hence the down mountain foot prints showing you the real trail. We just went straight up until we hit the trail using GPS. Above 11,600‘ you will want micro spikes. The snow is not deep, but it is slippery. Most of the snow was melting today. Once above 12,000‘, the trail is easily discernible. Snow shoes not required. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 10/26/2013, By: GeorgeB
Info: Nearly summer conditions with a dusting of snow. A bit of fresh snow on summit slopes and ridge, but it is tracked and packed. Doable in trail runners and short gaiters. Microspikes nice near treeline and summit ridge. Fast flowing, steripen‘able water 2.5 miles in from TH... could go really light. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 10/24/2013, By: BostonBD
Info: 11,500 to tree line the melting snow was slick. Maybe a 1/4 to 1/2 mile in length requires traction. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 10/7/2013, By: LizWeiss
Info: First time summiting Yale from this TH! There was a very light dusting of snow on the CO trail from Avalanche TH up to 11,900 feet (opening in the trail where you turn left and start to head up the ridge to Mt. Yale). The snow got a bit deeper at the split but we were able to follow footprints from other hikers towards the ridge. Not too much snow on the first part of the ridge but as we got farther along the ridge the snow got deeper. It was pretty difficult to follow the correct/safest route to the summit due to the snow covered cairns. After a decent amount of time spent route finding and figuring out which boulders and rocks would not slide out from beneath us, we made it to the top! We descended via Denny Creek trail since we felt it unsafe to descend on such loose terrain, and we hitched a ride back to Avalanche TH. Not much snow on the Denny Creek side, at least not enough to loose the trail or need traction of any kind. I think that if the temperatures remain warm and it doesn‘t snow again any time soon the snow on each side would be non-existent. As for the snow on the East Ridge, I‘m not too sure...Great and exciting day on the east ridge! 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 9/29/2013, By: lajohn
Info: Climbed the standard route today from Denny Creek. The snow is mostly all gone, there are a few patches around 13,000 ft. but the trail is in great shape! Looks like a lot of the surrounding peaks have more snow than Yale. Very windy up there today, probably gusting to 40 or 45 mph. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 7/3/2013, By: Corn
Info: Clear sky, no snow and water flowing down the creek... It was a great day! 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/19/2013, By: Stage3413
Info: Trail is dry all the way up the Southwest Slopes route! The very little snow we did find was easy to go around, and we never needed our spikes. Watch your decent though, lots of loose gravel below treeline makes it easy to slip. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 6/14/2013, By: desertdog
Info: We did the east ridge route. No snow most of the way. There was little snow at the "flat spot" at 13,500 but easily crossed. Pay attention to follow the carins, we got off route when we tried second guess them. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 6/3/2013, By: atilsley
Info: Climbed Yale via the East Ridge, descended the SW ridge. Route up to the east ridge was entirely clear of snow, and though the ridge itself is still holding some snow, you can get around it by scrambling over some of the rocky points, rather than trying to skirt around them. Had to cross snow a handful of times, and it was generally solid enough to walk on. The summit is completely covered in snow. Encountered a lot more snow descending the SW ridge, particularly below treeline. It was pretty well boot-packed, but still soft enough by the afternoon that there was more postholing than we were hoping for a June hike. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/31/2013, By: activecolorado
Info: Was up on Yale today via SW ridge. Trail is clear through the trees up until around 10,800. Then sporadic snow across the trail in places, but its avoidable. Just below treeline the snow is much more considerable, and it‘s easy to lose the trail from that point on. Snow still present pretty much the whole way up to the ridge. The ridge up to the summit is also still pretty snowy and icy in places, and the summit still holding snow. Took snow shoes and microspikes, but the snow was crunchy enough to kick steps with just boots. Thought about the microspikes, but didn‘t use them. Image1 - from treeline to ridge conditions. Image 2 - ridge top toward summit. Image 3 - in the trees nearing treeline (I think that‘s the crossing at 11,200).