Culebra Peak

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/7/2025, By: dakotasmama
Info: It was really windy and overcast on this day so the snow fields stayed firmer than they probably would on a sunny day but you can avoid most of them if you want. Definitely take your spikes for the ones you can’t and for more sure footing once it starts to get steep past the rock formation. Basin is starting to get pretty squishy in spots. I had just done Eolus/NE the weekend prior so it seemed like a breeze. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 5/31/2025, By: ColoNativeGal
Info: Subaruable to 4wd TH. Patches of snow slightly frozen in the morning that you can mostly navigate around after creek crossing up to the ridge, definitely post holing in the afternoon coming down if you also do Red. Some ice in the morning, and running water in the afternoon as well. After the ridge you have to navigate snow in some spots, which I found easier than talus hopping. Pretty firm in morning, slightly mushy which opens trap doors and some post holing after 12 noon. Had spikes, did not use. Gaiters are very helpful as are waterproof shoes. Some wildflowers are starting to pop. Marmots out in the afternoon below the ridge. Also made it over to Red. See report for those conditions, but basically the same. Several people glissaded down below the cairn. 2 skiers enjoyed the gully. We navigated around the snow up to the cairn, and then used the snow vs talus to the summit. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 5/19/2025, By: BillMiddlebrook
Info: Same conditions as the report posted yesterday but I've included more photos. We were able to ski the entire peak with the exception of about 25 feet along the summit pitch. Also, the snow from the false summit (13,900' to ~13,700') was getting thin and we had to work to make a continuous line. It won't be long before this pitch is no longer skiable. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 5/18/2025, By: b_moar
Info: Started a little before 7:00AM. The upper trailhead and four way is once again accessible so it was a short day for us. The snowpack was solid the entire way to the top with only microspikes. Some other hikers had skis and snowshoes but we made it up without postholing. The ridge was quick to ascend and the route up is obvious with previous tracks standing out. We even did a little glissading on our way down! I can imagine this shallow snow won’t last much longer with the temperatures trending up. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 5/12/2025, By: Roughrider23
Info: Great day in the alpine. The snowpack was solid all the way up. Saw snowshoers and skis w/ skins going up the ridge no problem. Trail was closed by ranch owners some distance before even the Fourway trailhead due to snow. Starting elevation was 10900’ and round distance I travelled 8 miles. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 5/4/2025, By: Caedmonn
Info: Was able to drive all the way to the 4wd trail head in a stock f150 with duratrac wranglers. Started skinning right at the TH got up to the cairn and stashed the skis. Hiked up to the summit and back to skis, skiid down the whole northwest slope straight back to the truck. Great day! 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 4/28/2025, By: kciamaic1
Info: Was able to start at 4way TH. Road is mostly dry except for the last 0.2miles. Took skis to top of snow gully between Punta Serpiente and the cairn at 13,3000. The ridge climb was WINDY but the sun was out and it was warm enough. Summit was surprisingly calm (ish). Couldn't find summit marker....somewhere under the snow. The North face still looks VERY skiable! The winds kept the snow very firm, so my ski down the Punta Serpiente SW face was awful - but it still save 1000+ft of hiking downhill. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 4/25/2025, By: CraigE
Info: I climbed Culebra with a friend today. We were the only two people on the mountain. The ranch staff let us drive up to Four Way. There was still snow starting halfway up the road between Four Way and the summer trailhead that would be hard to get past in most vehicles. There was still quite a bit of unavoidable snow up the first slope from the summer trailhead. It was firm in the morning, and we ascended in microspikes with no problem. The upper route had plenty of snow but most was avoidable if you wanted. We kept microspikes on most of the way up so we could take more straightforward lines. On the way back down, the snow was sloppier. Mostly supportive even without snowshoes, but we postholed a bit especially down near the summer trailhead. The wind was a nuisance on most of the upper route, but not too bad. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 4/20/2025, By: notidealbutfine
Info: Started at Fourmile Trailhead. Wore ski boots with micro spikes the majority of the day with a small exception just below tree line which we skinned for about a mile. Dropped packs and skis at the cairn at ~13,300' and booted the rest of the ridge. Not enough continuous snow to ski from the summit of either Culebra or Red. Skied the face just southwest of Punta Serpiente down to the road. Pretty good snow up high made for a fun descent. 11.94 miles / 4,829' gain / 8 Hours, 27 Minutes 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 4/14/2025, By: tbedient
Info: Started at 630. Mostly crusted snow on the road which we hiked in boots. At treeline it's all snow but didn't need flotation. There are three sections at treeline. The first ridge you could zig zag to avoid snow and stay mostly on grass, no real trail. From the ridge its mixed snow and rock on the second section to the false summit. Then the third section to the true summit also just in boots on mixed snow and rock. On the way down terrible wind sustained with 80 mph gusts. Harsh to say the least so pay attention to wind reports. We knew it would be windy but was not fun. The snow got soft in the sun and the last section above treeline was post holing and hard for a bit. Then mostly able to stay up on the snow without flotation back to the car. Round trip from as high as you can go in a car on open road was 11 miles. Got back at 3 pm. There is very little snow pack in this area overall and unless there is new snow it is warm and melting fast and mostly should be able to hike up and back without flotation. Not sure how you could even think about skinning or skiing this as any snow is hard crust and not continuous. Also camped at the gate which isn't fancy but actually was ok. Brough some folding chairs (you'll want these) and enjoyed a nice sunset. You just park at the North Gate and they allow you to jump the gate and have a well signed camping area. Carlos was there and helpful and nice. Happy climbing. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 4/11/2025, By: tbonesaredelicious
Info: Shoutout to Bill for resetting my password! To Carlos at the ranch, and to Mrs tios in San Luis for having delicious food. Started hiking about 7:45, Carlos said 1.7 from the headquarters. Hiking boots until base of main northwest gully around 12,000 ft. Only a few gaps in snow until that point, but many more by end of day. Continuous snow in the gully was intermittently winter like and crust. I was on track to skin straight up left side to top but stopped a few hundred feet short to assist another skier who’d taken a 30-40’ slide with her partner. She was rattled so I kicked some steps in to get her off the slope. I’m 5’11 and 180? And firmer sections took a few good kicks to make something nice. Generally soft by the time i skied it at ~4:20, but wind kept it pretty firm overall. Put skis on for that part of descent on top of ridge ~ 13300’. Kept my skis on until 100 yards from parking area, which is not advisable or even possible for much longer. Low 60’s at my car at 5:15 at ~ 10250’. Brought my skis to the top to look at north couloirs, and they’re in decent shape with consolidated powder. Pushed a couple big rocks off to see if anything would go from last weekends storm, without results. More than a handful of wind slabs had released on northeast to northwest? aspects above ~13000’ from that event, generally 10-20” looked like, but don’t recall seeing anything in the north couloirs themselves. Basically dry over to red mountain. Wasn’t sure what to expect from the property, but it’s beautiful and seems very untouched ~13.4 miles, 6800’, 9.5 hours 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 3/9/2025, By: katielyons
Info: Wintery conditions on Culebra from the recent snowfall. The route was snow-covered from nearly Ranch HQ to the summit, but not more than a few inches (6-10) deep from around 13.2k to the top. From around 10.5k to treeline, the snow was somewhat deep and flotation was very helpful (I don't know that we would've been able to complete this route without it). Snow conditions were everything from powder, to windboard, to punchy/crusty. We were able to keep skis on from the big cairn almost back to the ranch (wouldn't recommend this if you don't want to scratch up your skis though). 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 3/2/2025, By: madmattd
Info: Spring conditions on this warm day, and anyone that's been in the Sangres recently know the range is pretty dry - similar here. There were only 2 of us signed up for this day. After a quick chat, Carlos offered us a lift up the road as far as he felt comfortable driving (the road was dry as far as he could see, and he seemed curious to see how it was), which ended up being 1.4mi to 9900' - mixed thin snow, ice, dirt (sticky mud in the afternoon) to there. Above there to 4-Way is well-packed by snowmobiles - both spikes and snowshoes worked fine in the morning with an overnight freeze, snowshoes needed in the afternoon due to soft, slushy snow. 4-Way to the 4WD TH is snowmobile-packed, but a little softer than below, snowshoes worked best both ways. Initial packed path for a little while above the TH until tracks disappeared due to minor drifting, but generally wind-packed snow with a few softer spots until ~13k - snowshoes worked great for traction and occasional flotation, and it stayed fairly firm even on our descent. Except for just above the trees, I'd say never more than ~1' of snow. It's a little thin from there to the ridge, but we stuck with snowshoes until the saddle on the ridge. From the saddle to the false summit we stuck to the rocks and thin snow in boots, and it's dry from the false summit to the true summit. Safe to leave the snowshoes at the saddle right now. Despite the head-start, we passed on Red - but it looked like a fairly dry run over, definitely didn't look like snowshoes would be of any use. Clear skies, temps in the mid-30s on the summit, and we never had more than 5mph of wind, and generally no wind. Great day out, and a great way to check this one off for both of us! If anyone here goes up next week (or after), I want to know how my impromptu snowman at the cairn just above the 4WD TH is faring! 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 2/3/2025, By: sean23
Info: Mason and I climbed Culebra from the HQ yesterday morning. Carlos had packed down the road from the HQ to fourway. We booted up it without issue. From Fourway to the base of the ridge, we found up to thigh-deep unconsolidated snow and put in a decent trench. The recent storm seems to have destroyed any existing trench. We encountered horrific winds on the ridge but managed to tag the summit and get down. There was a third climber on the mountain who skied from the ridge base to HQ. There was continuous snow coverage to make it feasible, but the bottom of the trail is melting and likely will be mud in another day or two 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 2/3/2025, By: jacolc
Info: My 2 cents about making reservations. If you successfully went through reservation process and pay, you DO NOT have either email or massage confirmation. I make mistake and start process again. This was probably the reason, Carlos computer show him: order failed. Even I have massage from my bank about recent payment. Fortunately I call Carlos before my drive to ranch and he allowed me to enter the ranch next morning. Without this phone agreement, I probably will be not allowed to enter the ranch.