Mt. Eolus

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 8/25/2026, By: BillMiddlebrook
Info: Tough monsoon conditions for camping but the morning weather windows have been holding until after 10am. Great day on Eolus and North Eolus. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 8/10/2026, By: notidealbutfine
Info: I camped just below the turnoff to Twin Lakes for the second night on the evening of 8/4/26 and got started the following morning at 5:30AM. Luckily no porcupine encounters this night. The route up Eolus went pretty much as expected. The trail is in great condition all the way to the saddle between North Eolus and Eolus with a couple goats grazing high up. The catwalk on Eolus was fun and the climb itself was very enjoyable and easy to follow the zig zagging lines up the face with the amount of cairns around. You'd have to be blind to get lost on this one. From Eolus, I descended back to the saddle and made a quick romp up North Eolus which had nice grippy rock and an easy short scramble at class 3. Celebrated my 14er finisher totally alone on the summit, just the way I like it. A bit of a dud of a finisher since Jagged is tomorrow which kind of takes the spotlight on most of the trip out here. 6 more Centennials to go! From North Eolus, I descended back to Twin Lakes and hopped on over the pass between Glacier Point and South Twin Thumbs, which wasn't too chossy of a climb. The descent to South No Name lake was fairly straight forward as well. As the canyon walls got taller, I mostly just hiked on top of the creek, which required the occasional scramble but it certainly beat traversing the cliffs above. I made camp just below tree line which was already quite bushwhacky and had a cozy camp for Jagged tomorrow. 10.35 miles / 3,691' gain / 7 hours, 46 minutes 

Route: Chicago Basin Approach
Posted On: 7/19/2026, By: ColoNativeGal
Info: Summer conditions. Lots of routes up this mtn. If you want more straight up climbing stay climber's right and go up. If you want an easier way, stay more climber's left and follow the trail up the ramps. Lot's of cairns everywhere, makes it a bit confusing. Ledges are pretty cool, muddy and slick after rain though. Better dry. Interesting mtn. Cat walk was fun. 

Route: Chicago Basin Approach
Posted On: 7/20/2026, By: kaseypearce
Info: I was surprised that there was so little smoke from the wildfires during our weekend journey into Chicago basin last weekend.
As a visitor from Texas and hearing about the fires, I was expecting more smoke, but it was all clear and beautiful over the weekend (7/16-7/20). And I want to emphasize: BEAUTIFUL!
Eolus: no snow, rock was stable, catwalk was FUN, never felt like I was overly exposed, weather did turn gray though so I had to make it quick.
North Eolus: Easy stable jaunt up to the top from the notch between the two.
Sunlight: Very glad we went the next day when weather cleared out. Second half of the climb up to the saddle between Sunlight and Sunlight spire SUCKED. Very loose gravel, no lines, just totally random. Class 3/4 scrambles after that were fun but man I didn't trust my boots for the leap of faith especially a little wet from rain the night before. Highly recommend approach shoes for that move.
Windom: Stable rock up the ridge, but after the notch in the ridge I highly recommend a direct approach up to the top (continue along the crest rather than going around to the left as recommended on the standard route). There are cairns along the crest and all the moves were much more class 2 than some of the exposed more difficult moves we encountered going left. 

Route: Northeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/6/2026, By: 5ClimbingCooneys
Info: This is a horrible peak, but it's dry and clear of any snow that would affect the standard climb. It's a long rocky slog followed by a convoluted mess of wrong way spurs weaving across exposed, sandy ledges. There are false paths and cairns everywhere. Climbed it 20 years ago before it had to deteriorated to this level and it's sad to see how bad it's gotten. The catwalk is the only enjoyable portion of this route. If you have a fear of heights, stay away from this peak. Also, highly recommend climbing with the smallest pack possible. Do not even for a moment consider leaving or stashing your gear anywhere on this peak as the marmot army has overrun the peak and claimed it as their HQ in the region. 

Route: Chicago Basin Approach
Posted On: 6/25/2026, By: wmagnuson7
Info: Almost entirely summer conditions, but the area below the notch leading up to Eolus and North Eolus still holding a significant amount of snow, so microspikes or poles may be helpful. Otherwise, a gorgeous weekend in Chicago Basin! 

Route: Chicago Basin Approach
Posted On: 6/13/2026, By: Craig Barlow
Info: Started from Chicago Basin at 4:30am. Crossed 2 snowfields on the way to the Eolus / North Eolus saddle. Snow was still firm as it was 6am, but managed both very easily with trail runners and poles by utilizing previous bootprints. North Eolus summit at 6:35am, Eolus summit at 7:15am. One small snow patch ro cross at base of Eolus with very nice footprints through other. Snow softening on the way down by 8am was great for bootsking and no postholing.

Back to Twin Lakes at 8:35am, then started up Sunlight. Some low angle (almost flat) snowfields with postholing near the edges, still solid in the middles. One very minor snowfield to cross about 100' below the summit which has great footprints through it and this can also be avoided. Sunlight summit at 9:55am.

Large snowfield to cross in the bowl between Sunlight and Windom. Following previous footprints worked OK, but bad postholing otherwise now around 10:45am. A couple tiny snowfields just below Windom summit at 11:45am with good footprints through them.

In summary, you don't really need any traction if you are experienced, imo.

Continued to Jupiter after Windom. The snow up the north face was horrific and I was swimming up to my waist in soft snow. Finally got to a rock rib which saved me and was Class 2. A couple final short steep snowfields before getting to the summit ridge were actually pretty firm and I used the pick of my axe (didn't have crampons) but my trail runners were able to just get enough purchase. No snow on summit ridge or on descent towards Columbine Pass trail. 

Route: Chicago Basin Approach
Posted On: 6/8/2026, By: owen_farkas
Info: This is for the whole Eolus group, just didnt want to post seperately.
Approach: I hiked in from Purgatory. There are a substantial amount of downed trees and muddy areas on the trail leading to Chi Basin. No snow on approach. Twin Lakes is frozen and there is substantial snow from then on.
Windom: This peak is currently a (easy) snow climb to the ridge. The ridge on is mostly dry but there are a few portions where snow blocks the main route.
Sunlight: The least snow of the 4. Some snow travel is required to access the South face but past then you can avoid snow to the ridge. The class 4 move (not summit) has snow on it making it awkward. Summit area is totally dry.
Eolus: Trail is snow covered beginning at around 13000'. From here, up the ramp, and to the bottom of the notch is an easy/moderate snow climb. Fun glissading down in the afternoon, though. Catwalk and ledges are dry, but there is 1 unavoidable snow drift between these 2 sections. No traction needed, but it will make your shoes wet. N Eolus ridge is dry
I summitted all 4 with microspikes & ice axe. I would recommend crampons for Eolus.
One of my (blue) hiking poles got stolen by marmots at twin lakes. I could't find it up there. Sorry that I left a trace! :( 

Route: Chicago Basin Approach
Posted On: 5/26/2026, By: slawrence2011
Info: See my sunlight post for overall context of the trip. Basin below is melted trail until about 1K below couloir. Couloir unfortunately has taken a beating from the sun, especially near the bottom. Very sloppy down there with rocks getting exposed. Unfortunately, I wouldn't rely on this remaining skiable for long. In it's current state though, managed to ski all of it except the top choke, which stayed shady and wind slabby, and I side stepped. Also, had to do a couple side steps near the bottom due to runnels forming. Note that you can't really see this until you start climbing one of the other peaks, it looks horribly out from lower twin lakes. Summit scramble is dry. 

Route: Chicago Basin Approach
Posted On: 5/14/2026, By: ericahlstedt
Info: The trail to to chicago basin and up to twin lakes is pretty much dry and snow free. There is continuous snow at and after twin lakes.

We hiked up the standard trail just a short way before skinning to the base of the NE couloir. At the top of the couloir its a 3rd class scramble to the summit along the South ridge. 

Route: Chicago Basin Approach
Posted On: 10/3/2025, By: aprb
Info: The South Ridge on N. Eolus was dry. Some snow on the catwalk, but easily avoidable. After the catwalk, muddy on the Eolus ledges. The weekend before, it snowed 2" according to the NOAA forecast; This condition update was 2 bluebird days after the first snow. Sunlight looked dry. Windom looked like it held some snow. 

Route: Chicago Basin Approach
Posted On: 7/24/2025, By: usfgal
Info: No snow on this route or N. Eolus, but the trail and rock were both wet from all the recent rain. It was okay, but be careful past the catwalk on Eolus- the rock seemed slick there. 

Route: Chicago Basin Approach
Posted On: 7/15/2025, By: climbingyogi
Info: Very small amount of snow below the green chute leading up to the notch. Pretty easy to get around though.

Definitely try to stay on the 'ledges' as much as possible (and follow the cairns) through the east face leading up to the summit. Found myself making some class 4/5 moves a couple times because I didn't take the time to look for the easiest path. Really enjoyed this one! 

Route: Chicago Basin Approach
Posted On: 7/2/2025, By: kylefwip
Info: Some small snow patches going up near the ramp and the notch, did not need ice axe or microspikes though. Scramble up to peak is clear. Earlier start is good to avoid post holing but not necessary weather dependent. Started around 5 am near Twin lakes trail fork in Chicago basin, did Eolus and N Eolus and was down by 1020, but moved pretty fast. 

Route: Chicago Basin Approach
Posted On: 7/3/2025, By: LSchmidt75
Info: Attempted to summit Mt. Eolus on Day 2 of a Chicago Basin trip after summiting Sunlight and Windom the day before. The approach is relatively clear with some small snow fields that were either navigable or can be circumvented. We carried microspikes and ice axes and didn't need either. The final approach to the saddle between Mt. Eolus and North Eolus was a little tricky taking the snow fields into account. We summitted North Eolus around 8:15 after leaving Chicago Basin at 4:15. The ridgeline on Eolus is clear but felt too spicy and exposed for our tired legs so we said "not today, Satan" - we'll be back another time. We met several groups that summitted Eolus successfully and it is very doable on the right day if you're comfortable with Class III scrambling and exposure, but the route-finding tricky - would leave yourself a good two hours to make it from the saddle to the summit and back. The route up Eolus is easier to see if you summit North Eolus first.