Kit Carson Peak

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 5/17/2026, By: rocks512
Info: Avenue still has snow, viewed from Columbia Point, picture attached. 

Route: Outward Bound Couloir
Posted On: 3/24/2026, By: slawrence2011
Info: Did not summit. Inconsequential snow or dry to Willow Lake Park around 9K. Then totally dry until almost 11k. Then mostly cohesionless postholey snow from around 11k to Willow Lake. Didn't seem worth skiing to me, but the postholing was rough, especially on the way back. The final push to the bench above the switchbacks before gaining willow lake was firm snow in the morning, and requires good route finding since afternoon tracks go everywhere. Dry above willow lake until clearing the falls, then patchy snow in the upper basin, managed to ski it with taking off skis 5+ times and rock navigation. Outward bound couloir is fully in, with mostly flat snow. Very firm, even at noon when I dropped in. My skis chattered so much I side slipped about 1/4 to 1/3 of it. Top 20 ft is sun affected, so scary topping out with crampons and axe going straight to rocks without purchase. Side stepped that, very steep. The upper bowl looked totally dry, so I elected not to summit with lateness. Also, Kirk Couloir looked thin, and from the top, the Cole Couloir looked very sun affected, soft, and unflat snow. Finally corned up on the apron, but barely. Started at 2:30, top of OB Couloir at noon (13,6K), bottom of couloir at 1, bottom of navigable snow around 3 (12K), TH at 7:45. Seemed like late May-June Sangres conditions in the upper basin sadly. 

Route: Coles Couloir
Posted On: 1/3/2026, By: astranko
Info: Judd, Max, and I summited KC today via Coles. The approach is pretty sloppy with ice, dead fall, and a lot of faceted, unsupportive snow. Coles was relatively easy to ascend, all things considered. 1-2" of fresh snow and a coating of hoarfrost on everything above ~12k made for an interesting experience. Sluffs were pouring down the couloir for most of the ascent and descent. We ascended up to ~13.4k and broke off to the left to meet with part of the avenue and ascend to the summit ridge. Approaching the ridge, there was some hollow snow mounds we did our best to avoid. The ridge was full value, though short, with some corniced spots and some snow covered scrambling to overcome lumps on the ridge. The return was plunge stepping down the couloir.

The couloir itself was very stable. Some very hard snow, some soft, but no cohesion laterally within layers nor between them. Some of the upper mountain had thin plates (3-5") that were poorly bonded to slabby rock underneath that caused some more trouble. No signs of any large avalanche activity. There were lots of places where a poorly timed sluff avalanche or plate delamination could have sent you into a bad fall. The route is by no means "avalanche free", just lower risk than other times.

The avenue was loaded pretty heavily, so we didn't traverse to Challenger.

Pretty close to 12hrs car to car. To be honest, with how low the snow is everywhere I expected this to be more relaxed. We all found that the day was full value, with all the usual complexity and difficulty that winter provides. 

Route: Via Challenger Point
Posted On: 1/12/2026, By: jacolc
Info: The approach to my bivi below lake was icy (30%), dry (30%) and snowy at upper part. Just below 11200' at last big bend, steep hard snow required micro spikes or crampons. Soon i start using snowshoe. Summit day was cloudy, visibility sometimes few hundred feet. About 13300 start using crampons and enter Pencil Couloir left of standard route to Challenger. Kit Carson Avenue was full of snow, sometimes hard, but safe. The crux for me was shortcut from KCA to ridge: 300 vert feet of bulletproof snow and clean slabs (AL2,M1, class 3 at summer byBB from LoJ). After Kit Carson I potholing to pass with Colombia Pt and take north facing Outward Bound Couloir. Snow here was mostly hard allowing me glissaded only short section. At the base of couloir I start using snowshoe all the way to camp, except short section around lake. 

Route: Cole's Couloir
Posted On: 11/20/2025, By: 14er101
Info: Summited via. Coles for sunset. Spanish Creek approach was dry and took me 2.5 hours. Entered couloir around 12,600 and used crampons to the summit and back, a mix of snow and rock. Conditions are changing with the storm, but I wanted to post some pics of stuff pre-storm. 

Route: Via Challenger Point
Posted On: 11/16/2025, By: 14er101
Info: The approach is doable without any traction. Used crampons from about 12600ft onwards, and was glad to have them. Avenue has snow, but there is a bootpack across it. 

Route: Via Challenger Point
Posted On: 10/2/2025, By: CraigE
Info: Great fall conditions. There were snow patches near the notch below Challenger’s ridge, and also on the first section of the Kit Carson avenue. But it was mostly avoidable. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/28/2025, By: MaryinColorado
Info: Did not climb, but in case anyone would find these pics helpful I figured I'd share. Obviously, we're in a time where conditions will start changing quickly, though. 

Route: Via Challenger Point
Posted On: 9/27/2025, By: 14er101
Info: Left from TH at 6pm, top of Kit Carson a bit before 11pm, back at car 3am.

Minimal snow, all avoidable, no need for traction. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/14/2025, By: ryansappleid
Info: A strong hail storm dropped snow and ice onto the crestones last night (9/13/25). I attempted anyways. Trail from Willow Creek TH to the Lake was fine, no snow. Once I continued above the lake and through the willows to the end of the valley, I was encountering a significant amount of snow, at least 1”. Trail finding was impossible. The next part, up to the couloir and across to the ridge was treacherous. It was slippery and getting steeper.

At this point I encountered two seperate groups who had bailed on their attempt to summit due to poor conditions on the north ridge.

The ridge had snow and ice and as it was melting it was making the entire rock wet. I moved upwards a few moves on the ridge but realized that I would need to fully commit as I wouldn’t be able to downclimb this icy mess. I wasn’t ready to do that as nobody had been up there today and the conditions further up was unknown.

All in all, 0/3 groups summitted via North Ridge today, but I believe a few groups made it up the standard route. I would recommend this over the North Ridge at this time. Spikes are likely needed. 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 9/15/2025, By: R7777777
Info: Hiked in on Saturday, Sept 13 and camped just below Willow Lake (most campsites are near 37.99322, -105.61349). It hailed and snowed that night, leaving significant accumulation that made climbing very difficult without spikes. I was able to reach about 13k on Challenger before turning back due to icy, slippery conditions, and many others were also turning around. With proper traction, the route was still doable, but expect the ascent and descent to take significantly more time. Not sure how much has melted since then, but conditions may remain challenging. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/3/2025, By: daway8
Info: Went up North Ridge the day after the last report and the route was already totally dried out - no snow or ice in sight except down below the saddle between KC and Challenger (nowhere near the North Ridge or standard routes - and even that was covered in enough dirt that it looks like it was maybe leftover from last winter). This route is a sheer delight - I literally laughed out loud for joy at some portions where I intentionally targeted the hardest lines and think I probably milked it for a little class 5. Delightfully robust exposure and epic views! 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/2/2025, By: evanc
Info: Willows were dense and covered in dew on the approach after breaking from the trail. Wearing pants was a good choice. Grassy ledges on the north ridge held small amounts of snow and ice that crunched under foot and wasn’t too slippery. Rocks were clear until above 13,800’ ish, where rocks that stayed in shade all day held some snow and were covered in black ice. Mainly found this on the exit ramp around 13,900’. Western side of the Kit Carson Avenue held snow and black ice too, mostly around the saddle between Challenger and Kit Carson.

Descent from Challenger to the lake took about an hour and a half and was not fun - very steep with loose rocks and scree.

North ridge ascent was awesome and took about 2.5 hours from the bottom of the boulder field to the summit. Rock quality on the ridge was great and most moves were class 3. Class 4 moves were here and there, but class 5 exposure persisted for the whole ridge - any fall would be fatal without a miracle. There were two good rest spots at the notches. No rockfall once on the ridge, but always a good idea to wear a helmet and check rocks before putting weight on them - there were a few loose rocks that we avoided.

OnX tracked 14.3 mi and 6,150’ vert trailhead to trailhead. Took 11.5 hours. 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 9/3/2025, By: ScottHendrick
Info: Camped at the trailhead just south of the outhouse, there was a nice flat roomy space there. Left at 5:15 AM and were in darkness for a couple miles. The first five miles are beautiful, up to Willow Lake, many stream crossings and waterfalls. The climb up Challenger is very difficult and steep with a poorly-defined trail and much loose dirt and talus. It was quite a relief to gain the saddle before turning onto the ridge. Challenger Point summit at 11:35, then quickly off to Kit Carson. The Avenue had ice and snow on it during the morning and looked ominous, but was nearly dry when we arrived there. It was pretty warm all day with few clouds.

The Avenue is much easier to climb than it appears from a distance. After the downclimb on the other side, we used the first gully to reach the Kit Carson summit. It had nice grippy rock and was pretty fun to climb. I used my nice new climbing gloves for additional traction. We summitted at 1pm and hustled down just in case any weather was approaching. The climb back up 95% of Challenger was hard on the tired legs! Descending Challenger was awful, as bad as descending Sneffels - awful loose and slippery conditions. Of the 44 fourteeners I've done, Challenger is in my bottom 5 of "worst climbs". We all liked Kit Carson though. I hope the CFI will work on this trail sometime in the future!

We returned to the car at 7:45 pm, so that was a difficult 14.5 hour day. 

Route: Via Challenger Point
Posted On: 8/10/2025, By: mijoflynn
Info: Did Challenger and Kit Carson as a dayhike with parsaGh. 12 hours TH to TH, and wow, did it feel like it by the end of the hike out. Beautiful day: few clouds, minimal smoke on the peaks (though you could see it hanging over the western horizon), and best of all, no mosquitos anywhere on the route. The Challenger gully sucks both up and down no matter what you do, but in the Kit Carson gully, I agree with previous CRs that staying on the solid class 3 rock to climber’s far left was preferable to the loose stuff in the middle.