Mt. Columbia

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 9/26/2025, By: Cereal
Info: Dry, summer conditions 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 9/25/2025, By: Skitch
Info: Trail is completely dry up until 13,500 then patchy snow up to the summit ridgeline. Snow is mostly avoidable, some post holing the last 400m or so & the rocks up to the summit are slippery. No wind at the top and aspens are at full peak. As of 9/24 Columbia is still there for the taking - go get it! 5 hrs 20 min for us for exactly 12 miles. Wore trail runners and didn't use any traction. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 9/15/2025, By: drewskiclimbs
Info: 2" of snow up top. I planned on completing the H to C traverse but nixed the idea due to the slippery rocks -- had to descend Harvard and ascend Columbia via the standard route. It was mostly melted out by midday, will be gone quickly. Recent rains have made some lower sections of the trail a bit muddy, easily avoidable and likely gone soon. Strong, consistent wind made it chilly, some protection up top once the ridge was gained. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 8/3/2025, By: TheBuff66
Info: Hiked 8/3. The road to the TH is fine, you just have to be careful in a few spots. Garmin logged 12.1mi in 7hrs. Thanks to CFI, the majority of the trail is in great condition and easy to follow. You're only rock hopping and searching for cairns for about 0.6mi total (up and down), the rest is a clear path. I used trail runners instead of boots and they worked well for this 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 7/28/2025, By: ericwolf88
Info: Perfect weather day and full summer conditions. There was only a spot or two left in the parking lot at about 6:30 when I started. Reached summit at 10:15, back to car at 2:00. Only a little windy at the top. A little over 12 miles round trip. Route is easy until it isn’t. First 4 miles are a nice walk, then the last 2 are the serious climbing. Route is amazingly built all the way up until 13,200 (props to CFI), after which route finding becomes a little harder and then having to go over some boulders just before the summit. Road is rough in only a couple spots, which looked to force some 2WD people to not risk and and park behind some bumps in the road. Any 4WD with reasonable clearance can make it easily going slow in the rough spots. 

Route: Harvard and Columbia Traverse
Posted On: 7/14/2025, By: Paterclimber
Info: My friends and I received dual degrees from Harvard and Columbia today. The dog was even awarded dual doctorates.

As you make your way from one campus to the other, you'll still encounter a number of snowfields (see pictures of two examples). Several of them require crossing. Most of them are in the talus field below the connecting ridge. For the ones we crossed, we opted not to use the spikes we had with us and managed fine. One of the last snowfields, as you're approaching Columbia and nearing the end of the talus field, is steep.

Do read carefully the route description of the traverse found on this site. These schools are selective, and receiving dual admission on the same day is difficult. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 6/30/2025, By: ColoNativeGal
Info: Not much different/new from 6/25/25 conditions post. Small patches of snow at the top, avoidable and a couple have nice boot prints through them. No traction needed. The new CFI portion of the trail is amazing...thank you for your incredible work! Wildflowers are beautiful! 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 6/26/2025, By: brian4328937
Info: Pretty much no snow left. Small patches near the top but avoidable. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 6/23/2025, By: terribletigzy
Info: There is a little bit of snow to go around near 11,500 where the trail starts to really steepen up. Other than that, the route is snow free until you get to the ridge around 13,500 or so. The snow that remains above there is very minimal and easily avoidable. No spikes needed, summer conditions. Windy day up high. The ridge was relentlessly windy, but the summit was strangely calm. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 6/25/2025, By: jennincolorado
Info: There is a patch of snow closer to tree line that is easy to walk through. On Friday the 20th there were three snow fields to cross on the ridge up above 13,700. Two likely not to entirely melt out anytime soon. One is pretty flat, the others are a bit steeper. I keep seeing the term "easily avoidable" but this isn't entirely true. That depends on your comfort level and with the insane wind up there as of late, easily avoidable will be determined by the climber/hiker and how you feel navigating down/around on the ridge. I did not think these were easily avoidable, and I've done 30 14ers. People going over the snow "easily" at regular pace with or without spikes depending on your comfort level to reach the summit. If snow up top scares you, bring the spikes, they're not heavy! 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 6/2/2025, By: rmcpherson
Info: Started from the trailhead at 5:45 AM. No snow on route, or easily avoidable, until 13.5k feet. Around 13.6k feet the ridge steepens and there is consistent snow on the crest. We transitioned to microspikes and gaiters at this point and were able to ascend quickly on solid snow from there all the way to the summit. No more than 10-15 posthole steps on the entire route and snowshoes were not necessary. Summited at 10:45. No sign of any other people, either by our route or the standard route, on the ascent. We met two groups ascending the SE ridge on the descent. Back at the trailhead by 2:30 PM.

Beautiful route (I prefer it to the scree slog of the standard route) as long as the snow is in. With soft snow, this would be difficult as above about 13.6k the snow would be hard to avoid without dropping to the SW/W side of the ridge on the last mile before the summit and this side becomes steeper near the summit. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 5/25/2025, By: Kcmartinez22
Info: Great day on Columbia's SE ridge! Snow free all the way to tree line, and then mostly avoidable snow to above13k. Consistent snow from where the standard joins the ridge to the summit. No special gear or snowshoes needed. Poles may have been nice but we had huskies in tow. I put spikes on to go down and they were not necessary. A little awkward getting around the class 2 rocks on the ridge. Some postholing, especially on the steep slope leading up to 13,200 where it was waist deep. We clocked it at 5500 ft gain and 13.3 miles. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 5/23/2025, By: butlerer
Info: This trip had everything you could hope from a spring 14er--incredible views, fun and challenging terrain, ski/skating down on spikes, blue skies and sunshine, post holing into a (shallow) stream, summit ridge wind gusts, and a great, quiet day on the mountain.

Slopes were icy and wind blown in spots. Spikes were necessary, especially in the wind. Snow was expectedly soft on the way down and needed floatation for several miles. Opted out of the traverse as it looked too snowy/icy for my day. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 5/4/2025, By: kelseyycarol
Info: Perfect weather day for the southeast ridge! There were two moose, a mama and baby right on the trail, not even a half mile in. The trail was dry for the first mile and a half-ish then got a little patchy with snow. Tree-line and above was dry for the most part. Most of the snow was avoidable on the ridge, until right about where standard meets up, lots of snow still on the ridge to the summit. Didn’t need or use spikes or snowshoes all day.
We saw 3 others out there today, who I believe all went up standard then we saw them go down the couloir on boards. 

Route: Southwest Couloir
Posted On: 4/29/2025, By: Omatt89
Info: Warning, the trail is covered in lots of snow most of the way. As, in 400 feet from the TH, the snow starts. It is mostly continuous the rest of the way. A couple dry patches.

I would highly suggest going very early, or on a cloudy overcast day. The trail is pretty crazy right now. Definitely doable, mostly due to a solid boot pack leading the way, but you have to push it hard. I did not use traction or flotation on the way up or the way out. 70 percent chance of snow slowly rolled in and out around 11/12 and kept conditions firm so I could hike out. By 4 ish it looked like the storm really rolled in. Little wind. The couloir is pretty long and very steep at the top. The snow was crusty and fresh in places above 13000, around 11am conditions finally softened up a little in the middle of the couloir. A dirt patch to cross below the choke.

Adventure skiing in the avy runout area. Adventure hiking in the woods. Lots of snow, go early and or fast and or on a overcast day. Or the snow will take at least a month to melt down.