Culebra Peak

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 2/26/2018, By: Moogie737
Info: I was one of the three climbers alluded to in the previous report for the 24th. Snow depth at the HQ was 2"-3"; we wore snowshoes from HQ and the depth increased steadily as elevation increased. At 4 way we were trudging through 6"-8" and it was more or less at least that much up into the broad gully above the 4WD TH. From the ice-encrusted cairn we could see the saddle, false summit and a portion of the summit itself. In the saddle there was a voluminous amount of blown snow but it looked as though one could avoid it by hugging the southwest edge of the saddle. Climbing through the half-buried rocks and boulders would be time consuming if not aggravating. The snow was sugary when we broke through and sometimes as hard as tempered steel. We turned around at the cairn, our pre-determined turn-around point according to the clock. I'll put in some photos. Participants included the Utah team of Lana, Nancy and myself, augmented from 4 Way by Allen and Kim. I should add that the forecast winds were spot on: 25-35 mph with higher gusts. Sixteen degrees at the start of the climb at 6:25 a.m.. Still 16 degrees when we returned at 5:45 p.m. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 2/18/2018, By: bmcqueen
Info: Aside from today's crazy winds, Culebra is in pretty good shape. The road is pretty well packed to treeline, then a decent trench gets you to the ridge. Everything above there is pretty wind blown. I never put on my snowshoes or spikes today, though I was close on spikes a few times. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 2/5/2018, By: 81trucolors
Info: The road is actually driveable for another 1.5-2 miles but we were required to park at the ranch. 14 miles is a long day. No snowshoes required but microspikes were nice to have. .25 miles of postholing just past the 4WD parking lot. Very little snow after that. We went slightly left of the gully and found easier going on the windblown tundra instead of the hardpack snow. Extremely windy on the ridge. With windchill definitely below zero. Some minor glissade opportunities coming down. I usually can hike 31 R points per hour and but strong winds and generally being out of shape meant that I did 29.5 R points per hour. 11 hrs 10 mins for us, included about 20 mins at the top. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 1/28/2018, By: Buddyboy27
Info: Cielo Vista Ranch used snowmobiles to moderately pack route from HQ to 4wd lot. At least ankle deep for 1st 4.4 miles. Quarter mile section near 4wd area is hard crust over sugar, post hiking knee deep for those .25 miles. Above tree line, snow was much thinner and hard wind slab. Ascended straight up the gully that the creek at the 4wd lot leads to and experienced 4 or 5 small localized whoompfs. I don't think the gully is steep enough to slide, but not confidence instilling. -10 at summit and not too windy. ••• 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 1/24/2018, By: boredguy800
Info: After talking to Carlos about the low possibility of weather (or so we thought) we decided to head up the mountain. Started the hike at 0700 from the HQ building. Snow and wind Saturday night mostly covered the boot tracks from the hikers the day before, but the road was easy to follow however. About an hour into the hike we started getting snow. The higher we climbed, it seemed like the flakes got bigger and bigger. We turned around at approximately 4.6 miles and 12,000 ft. Visibility was less than 100 meters in most places and the snow was coming down ~6-8 inches per hour. Sections of the trail we had hike twenty minutes prior were completely snow covered and windblown. Snow depth is greater than ankle/shin deep for most, if not all of the lower section of the hike now. Not sure if snowshoes will be needed after the snow get some sun and freezes again, it was powder the whole way and a pain to trudge through. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 1/22/2018, By: Randy1983
Info: Perfect windy day. Started from the Ranch around 6:15am. Road was hard packed snow pretty much the whole way to the upper TH. Maybe 1 or 2 fairly icy spots on the ridge up to the false summit. The wind killed our pace and we made the summit around noon. We never needed traction(snow shoes or spikes) the entire trip. But they might have been helpful in a couple spots. Another hiker did make Red Mtn. but we decided to not attempt it with having a deadline for returning to the ranch. Made it back to the Ranch around 4-4:15pm. All in all fun trip with great views. Glad we missed the storm system. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 1/18/2018, By: globreal
Info: The snow storm on 1/15-16 completely missed this area as there was no new snow. We left HQ at 6:40 and taking the advice of these conditions reports did not take snowshoes. They were still not needed as there is a boot pack the whole way in shallow snow. We too took the left trench at the upper 4wd parking as this looked more compacted. The route worked great. Up on the ridge it is mostly windblown & dry. We reached the summit at 12:28pm with a sunny, windless, stellar day! We enjoyed 35min on the summit. The return went quick. Back to HQ in 3.5 hrs for a total RT of 9hrs:50min checking out at 4:26pm. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 1/14/2018, By: johnfegy
Info: Mirroring the reports from yesterday: Had to start from the HQ today...making a 14.5 mile round-trip without Red Mtn. Conditions were excellent and no one brought snowshoes (there were 8 today I believe). A couple of spots perhaps warranted micro-spikes, but nothing scary. I took the route to the left of the main drainage and others went right. Not sure which was faster, but I found the left route very straight forward as a clear path was already set, and I only post-holed maybe 5 or 6 times total. Glad I finally pulled the trigger on Culebra...and it was quite an experience to do as a Winter Ascent. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 1/13/2018, By: graberz
Info: Hiked the combo today. Minimal snow depth on road, but do have to start from HQ. Should be a decent foot trench up to the ridge on the left side of the creek which is the way most people went. You can save more time heading more to the right. The combo took us 11 hours. We decided to try and shortcut and traverse back to the Culbera saddle which was really slow going. I don't think any of the groups used snow shoes and I wouldn't recommend taking them at this time. We did use microspikes. Really nice day and enjoyed the experience at the ranch. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 1/14/2018, By: Rynoref73
Info: Conditions very similar to the last post. 10 people hiked on Saturday and no one took snow shoes...path leading up to upper trailhead is well grooved and easy to walk along. 6 of our party went left of the steam leading up to the ridge. Other 4 took the 'standard' route. Much more snow but more direct. We took the more direct approach on the descent and was able to glisade in a few areas and post hole 1-2' in other areas. Ridge was snow blown with a few small areas of deeper snow but nothing to tough. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 1/7/2018, By: BrentRichter
Info: Conditions on the mountain above the 4wd trailhead were the opposite of what was reported yesterday. Many inches of new & blown snow to contend with. Progress was about 1 hour & 20 minutes per mile starting at the 4wd trailhead for our reasonably fast group. Stay left of the creek & on the left of the drainage all the way to the ridge for the most solid & thinnest snow. We all started just after 6am & just barely got back to the ranch house by 5pm. On the ascent, we were to the 4wd trailhead in 2 to 2&1/2 hours & descended from their back to the ranch house in 1 to 1&1/2 hours (4.4 miles). 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 1/6/2018, By: Thevirtualsherpa
Info: Hiked Culebra today and conditions are almost early fall. Forced to park at check in but easily could have driven up an additional mile or so. Snow on road but melting quickly. There is a well established groove to hike in so you avoid breaking trail. Once at upper TH, best decision IMO, was to stay left as there was far less snow there. About 5-7 inches of snow in sections here, deeper depending on direction of slope. Ridge was dry and traction was the only thing needed (not 100% needed- made it up without them), no snowshoes. Beautiful day on the mountain! 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 7/9/2017, By: Amgdharper
Info: Summer conditions. Mountain is dry. Enjoy! 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 7/1/2017, By: jladderud
Info: Summer conditions. No traction required. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/24/2017, By: randalmartin
Info: There is still enough snow for a significant glissade down the northwest face off point 13,436. Bring your axe!