Mt. Columbia

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 5/3/2026, By: John higgins
Info: Road completely clear up to TH. From there only minor snow patches to the second bridge crossing. After that some light postholing to around 10'800 then heavy postholing to treeline. First third of trail above treelined was fine and definitely snowy but easy. The second third was pretty covered to we just shot straight up which was great summiting but SUCKED to come down. Very doable just slippery and steep. Top third was super easy with minimal snow but still there for sure. Did route in trail runners with no gators or spikes so with experience anyones got it easy for the next few days. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 5/5/2026, By: Kcmartinez22
Info: Great conditions all the way. Mostly dry in trees barring minor snowy sections just before rock outcroppings that were slippery on the way down. The ridge leading up to 13298 holding knee deep (a little deeper on descent later in day) snow. Poles were helpful here. Remainder of ridge is mixture of embedded snow requiring boulder hopping to dry. Final summit block collected a good bit of snow in latest storm making it a little tedious to avoid the ankle sharks awaiting. Spikes helped here. Great spring training day! 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 3/30/2026, By: pcsongei
Info: Summited this morning in pretty good weather. Some good wind gusts on the ridge but nothing too crazy. I came across some snow patches on the ascent through treeline but somehow avoided all of them on the descent, even so they were short and could be avoided. I'd say below treeline was about 90% clear but that may change with the coming storms. I made it to the summit in trail runners and did not use spikes (although I did bring them). Snowshoes would have been overkill for the small amount of snow. Road is completely clear to the trailhead 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 3/30/2026, By: Summit Shepard
Info: Spring / Early Summer conditions: Road was almost completely clear to the summer trailhead for the standard route. I started at 6am and the first few miles are intermittent shallow snow and ground. However, once you get to around 10,800 it will be continuous snow until tree-line at just shy of 12K. This section is definitely the worst section for postholing in some deeper snow so make sure you start early while there is still a freeze....it's not bad on the way up until you hit the split for Harvard and Columbia. There wasn't really any trail trekked so I went up the Harvard trail a bit further thinking I could then cut over which I did....but had to trailblaze a bit through snow. Above tree-line is pretty clear with a few exceptions you can still get around most of the time.

Summitted around 10:45am with a little reprieve from the wind (gusty at times on the way up). Getting down was straightforward until getting back to the tree-line area where I tried to follow the standard route which was completely covered with snow. I ended up just plowing my way back through the woods where someone else had a similar sufferfest. Back on the main trail from 11,800 down to 11,000 you just need to accept you are going to posthole at times. Sticking to some of the snowshoe tracks helped but ultimately its going to happen. Below 10,800 was easy back to the trailhead. I finished around 2::15pm and clocked 13 miles, 4275' elevation gain. I had no floatation, no spikes/crampons and used one pole/gaiters.

Crazy to be able to get this done in March but that being said, it sounds like the southeast ridge would have been the better way to go. More warm weather and trekked a bit more and this route should have better conditions soon. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 3/26/2026, By: crdemler
Info: Road completely dry to lower trail head. Trail was dry until about 10,860', which is where snowpack ran until about 11,650'. Snowshoes helped on the way up, but it's possible to avoid most of the snow if you take a less direct/straight route uphill. Flotation was necessary on the descent due to warm temps softening the snow. Did not need floatation or traction above tree line. All snow on the ridge was easily avoidable or only spanned several feet and could be crossed without traction. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 3/14/2026, By: headsizeburrito
Info: Unsuccessful attempt. Road to TH dry except one or two trivial patches. Trail dry, snow starts not long after leaving it for the ridge. I put on snowshoes around 11k and there was a decent trench to follow with scattered other tracks. Don't remember exactly where I took snowshoes off again but around treeline. Once on the exposed ridge the wind was insane! Original forecast I saw was for sustained 20-30mph with 60mph gusts. Makes for a tough day but potentially doable. Once up there my $30 wind gauge of unknown accuracy was measuring consistent 70-80mph, showed 92mph at one point and then just said "HI" so who knows but I could lean 45* into the wind without falling and then was just getting straight blown over, unable to stand and crawling at times. Turned around at 12,400ft when progress was literally impossible. Beautiful day with great view, kind of a fun adventure except that one of the many times I got blown over I bashed my knee on a rock quite painfully. Was hoping to get one more winter summit done but still a memorable day! 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 3/10/2026, By: Jonathan Deffenbaugh
Info: Long day trenching up Mt Columbia but we got er done. Got a good trench in following the GPX route to timberline so enjoy. Needed snowshoes all the way from the trailhead to Pt 12,700’). From there snowshoes were not needed going up Pt 13,298’ and beyond however carried them just in case on the way to the top. There were some deep pockets of snow near the summit. Ended up summiting around sunset, long night descending due to insane winds near, Pt 13,298’, thankfully conditions improved the further we descended. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 2/15/2026, By: BearBurrito
Info: Attempted Columbia for Valentines with wife and dog! Storm on Friday brought in some fresh snow that dusted the entire route. We used micro spikes from 10-11k and snowshoed fresh tracks from 11k-12k. Tracks were hard to lay as snow was very soft with no ice layers. Was very tiring - so your welcome anyone who comes after us lol. 12-12.7k, deep snow was avoidable and we needed no foot gear.

We ended up stopping at 12,700ft peak as saw the remaining snow and worried about the doggo (also low on energy as have not hiked in couple of months).

By the time we turned around, the fresh snow between 9-10k and 12-13k feet was melting and the trail became visible. Definitely doable for someone with better conditioning. Absolutely b-e-a-utiful out there! 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 1/31/2026, By: MMAfightingClimber
Info: Did Mt. Columbia with Logan and Ethan. Wind was pretty brutal above treeline. We started out so hot and even went shirtless temporarily, by the time we got above treeline it was very windy and pretty cold and subsequently layered up.

There is a decent bit of snow between 10,500ft and 11,500ft. We put a good boot track through it though. Not much or mostly avoidable snow above and below that. Still no need for snowshoes. The road is pretty dry as well. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 1/3/2026, By: notidealbutfine
Info: Started from the Harvard Lakes TH at 7AM. Trail is dry for the first mile or so, then I switched to snowshoes for about a mile to get out of tree line. Snow is unstable but only about to the knee or so. Once out of tree line, there is virtually no snow whatsoever on the SE ridge so I ditched the snowshoes and went for the summit. Very odd to bag a calendar winter peak with trail runners instead of boots... it feels more like fall out there. 12.15 miles / 5,666' gain / 7 hours, 58 minutes 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 11/8/2025, By: bryanpeck3
Info: Very dry-about 200 feet of snow/ice for the whole trail. The ridge moderately blocked the wind. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 10/30/2025, By: Todd87
Info: Pretty cold for the whole route for me but got it knocked out. Snow patches until tree line then no snow until the top of the ridge and the remainder of the route. Route finding was a little difficult up top due to being covered in snow. I was the only person on Columbia, ran into one guy on my way down that was backpacking in to do Harvard the next day. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 10/14/2025, By: stickmann
Info: Sloppy conditions today. There is 4-6” of snow above 12.8k. The steep section before the saddle was hard to navigate with the snow. I’d guess the snow will stick around until at least the weekend with the cold this week. Ridge is wind scoured and only difficult to avoid trap doors in a few spots. Muddy and wet snow below treeline. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 10/9/2025, By: josephsiefers
Info: Trail completely dry but that will likely change in the coming days. Road in great shape - much better than when we came earlier in the year. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 10/7/2025, By: mtndude96
Info: Zero snow on route!