Mt. Oxford

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 9/26/2025, By: medleyjosh
Info: the hike to belford is mostly clear, with a few muddy spots. The hike from belford to oxford is likewise mostly clear with a few muddy spots and maybe 20 linear feet of trail is covered with a foot of snow (with trail broken through it). Very easy to walk through today. 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 9/20/2025, By: blessed13
Info: No need for Yaktracks........barely any snow....only 1 inch or two deep in maybe 3 spots for maybe 20 ft of trail. Very windy and cold on tops, but great weather other wise. 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 8/10/2025, By: Punchy_Blonde
Info: Started early around 4am. Arrived in parking lot about 1am. We took the last spot. Prepare for lots of switchbacks and water. Wind on the saddle between Belford and Oxford, colder temps so pack layers. No snow yet. No ice. A lot of areas on the trail are a slog---saddle especially. Descended slow asf down the back route(Missouri Gulch past Missouri Mtn) nice change of pace. Logged 13.16 miles. 2wd road was rough in some spots but fine. Met a guy on Belford peak who wanted a picture with a mascot head on. Go get em bud 😅 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 7/28/2025, By: hsfedina
Info: The trail across was in great shape. It was a blue sky day but windy at times on the peak and the saddle. 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 7/13/2025, By: CDubFTW
Info: Summer conditions 100%! Bring your trekking poles and save your knees, because those staircases are brutal. Also get here early, because cars were packed in the lot and trailing down the road by noon. Started at 3:20 am, summit Belford 6:35, break and traverse, summit of Oxford 7:45, long break and traverse, summit of Belford (again) 9:15, trailhead at 12:00 pm. Saw like 50 people and a few dogs on the trail today. It was also hot out! Hope this helps. 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 7/4/2025, By: kmyi
Info: Great summer conditions. Wildflowers are beautiful! 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 6/30/2025, By: notidealbutfine
Info: Summer conditions! No snow remotely near any of these ridgelines. Added on Missouri East Ridge on the way down as well: happy to find a little class 4 in the Sawatch. Nice way to link up these three. Sunny and no wind today. 14.72 miles / 6,470' gain / 8 hours, 26 minutes 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 6/24/2025, By: skippyville
Info: Climbed Oxford via Belford on 6-24. All snowfields except one very minor one, which is quite flat and all of 20 steps, are clear. It should present no issues for even the most cautious hiker. Two more general notes: 1. I found the route very exposed to the dominant continental divide Westerly winds so plan for windy, cool conditions up high, especially near the Belford summit and most of the traverse over to Oxford. 2. As of right now, the creek crossing just before the Belford switchbacks begin is flowing nicely for water fills. 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 6/19/2025, By: JROSKA
Info: On the traverse from Belford to Oxford, the snowfields mentioned in the 6/8 report descending Belford are gone. But the other one, about halfway up towards Oxford from the saddle, still exists. There is a nice boot track up the middle of it. Probably not worth the extra weight of traction but it was a bit slippery, especially later in the day. Other than that it’s summer conditions. 

Route: Pine Creek/East Ridge loop
Posted On: 6/12/2025, By: carmitz001
Info: Ascended Oxford's steep southwest slopes (Nolan's 14 route) after an 8.5-mile hike from Pine Creek TH. Summited at 7:45 pm, then descended the east ridge past Waverly Mountain to the Colorado Trail. This was a sufferfest: 21 miles and 6,000 feet of elevation gain, with periods of rain, hail, and darkness. The Pine Creek trail was beautiful. The steep SW ascent had lots of slippery dirt and scree, as well as some fun talus hopping. No snow until the summit block. The east ridge descent was 3 miles of hopping down talus and a bumpy mixture of tundra and rock, then some awful bushwhacking to find the Colorado Trail at 11.7k. Some patches of soft, unconsolidated snow as well. Difficult route at night. 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 6/10/2025, By: ckaplan5
Info: Dry up to about 12,5, where patchy snow begins. Gully is in but in rough shape. Only went halfway until about 0630 before jumping over to the NW Ridge. The ridge between Belford and Oxford is melting, so expect slippery mud. Wildflowers are starting to come in down in the approach valley. 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 6/10/2025, By: butlerer
Info: Most of the route is snow-free or you can avoid the snow with small detours. The exception being in the section from the junction of Missouri Gulch/Elkhead Pass up to Elkhead Pass. There's patches of snow there are unavoidable and were soft and punchy by 930- 10 am. The snow there wasn't awful--mostly less than knee deep.

The trail from Elkhead Pass to Oxford was mostly dry and the snow that's there is largely packed down and easy to navigate. 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 6/8/2025, By: caesarsalad
Info: Descent from Belford to the saddle had the most annoying snow, but the non-negotiable snow patches were heavily packed down with steps. No need for flotation. If you’re there super early, you might want traction but we didn’t need the microspikes we brought: the sun gets on it quick, by 8:30am it was soft enough for solid steps.

Saddle to the top of Oxford is almost entirely snow free. One patch about halfway up is pretty spicy: steep and practically bulletproof at 9am. A much easier route is to go lookers left around it (see photo) on stable rocks. 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 5/24/2025, By: jschmitz
Info: Pretty soft snow in between Belford and Oxford but was manageable in trail runners and microspikes. Did not feel the need for snow shoes at any point. 

Route: Via Mt. Belford
Posted On: 3/14/2025, By: tothestars
Info: Adam and I summited Belford and Oxford via Northwest ridge starting at noon. Second attempt this week, thankfully was successful in large part due to the trench some boarders made past the point I got to last Saturday. the trench I made last Saturday was blown away by winds and melting most likely but you could see the route through the meadow. The people who went out between then and our summits continued the trench to the woods and to the river, where they seemed to realize going through the river was a bad idea and turned back up the hill. We had to find a route from where the treeline thins out to the base of Bedford and stuck close to the mountain to avoid deeper post holing. This meant going through rocks and snowdrifts. The route up Belford has a lot of blown snow in it to the point that we just went straight up the side of the mountain gaining about 2k in 1. mile. The wind was very heavy and made for a cold, challenging day. Reached summit of Belford at 4:30, continued to Oxford, getting there in about 45 mins and turning about and getting back to Belford in 50 mins as a snow storm was blowing in. Watch read 10.5 miles/6,700ft of climbing. Finished in 9hrs total time/7:45 moving time. (photos just of the route between Belford and Oxford)