Culebra Peak

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 5/21/2021, By: tortilla
Info: It snowed this week and there are now many downed trees over the road. The ranch isn't letting anyone drive up the road, that's unlikely to change this weekend. Expect to start at the ranch HQ. Expect a thin snow covering on the road starting around the flat area before fourway. The snow on the road gets deeper as you approach the upper TH. Some were sinking a bit in the morning, but I'm light enough that I was able to stay on top of the snow for the most part. I used spikes and poles. Postholing was plentiful on the descent (noon) from the large cairn until back on the road past the upper TH. Stashing a pair of shoes by the large cairn may not be a bad idea. Starting from the Ranch HQ I clocked just under 14 miles and 5k vert (only Culebra, no Red) 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 5/14/2021, By: sctbke
Info: Great hike today of both red mountain and culebra. Road is drivable (barely) all the way to the 4-way in a good 4wd vehicle. You still have to navigate a few snow drifts, but these should be better after they got run over a few times today. I plowed trough as many of them as I could on the way down! Road is well snow covered (2+ ft) starting about half a mile after the 4 way. 4 way is the last place to park or turn around currently. Lots of snow in the upper trailhead basin, but it was frozen solid almost into natural steps. Didn't use any traction on the way up. Once you gain the ridge, almost all snow can be avoided, including on the trip over to red mountain. Upper part of the hike is beautiful! The snow was solid so I ended up hiking on it as much as I could on the way up and down. I descended through the last snow field at noon, and it was still solid enough that I only post holed twice. Took snowshoes and crampons and didn't touch either, but this might be a different story if you descend later in the day. Accidentally left my favorite gloves about 100yd directly to the west of the massive cairn, below the ridge. If anyone finds them, tell them I miss them :) Saw some elk, turkeys, and some absolutely massive tracks in the snow from a bear. Expensive trip considering I was only on the ranch land for 6.5 hours, but at least they were super nice and still let us hike it! 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 5/9/2021, By: NatDog
Info: There is a surprisingly little amount of snow left on this route. As others have mentioned, the ranch is instructing hikers to park a few miles up the road from HQ - I measured 1.7 miles. The parking area is at 10,250'. There was snow on the hike up the road, but it was avoidable until above Four Way, near 11,400'. Snow was consistent from here until ~12,200', but was firm enough to boot over even with the later morning start. The upper ridge appeared to be and was indeed mostly dry, so we stashed the snowshoes at ~12,200'. There were some short snow crossings from here to the summit, namely on the east side of the ridge after turning at the cairn at 13,300', and on the north side of the ridge at 13,500'. Both of these were mostly avoidable by walking on rocks near the snow, but for the most part the snow was firm enough to walk over. On the descent, we put on our snowshoes at ~12,200. As expected, the snow back to the road was extremely slushy, but the descent back to Four Way went by quickly even with the postholing. The snow conditions were pretty good overall for early May, but the wind was a different story. Once above treeline, the wind started and did not cease the rest of the day. This made talus hopping interesting at times, but luckily the temps weren't too bad. My hiking partner and I, and another hiker decided against making an attempt on Red Mountain as the wind seemed even more intense on that saddle. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 5/3/2021, By: bailees395
Info: Completed this on Sunday, 5/2. Had to park right off the road about two miles from the HQ building. Road to the upper trailhead still has lots of snow and probably will not be melted all the way for at least a few weeks. Lots of snow still from treeline to the ridge line. Traction was not necessary in the early morning but on the descent, me and my hiking partner used crampons and couldn't have gotten down without them. Once on the ridge line, there was a little bit of snow but it was pretty thin and traction was not needed on the ridge line to the top of Culebra. Gorgeous views of the Sangre de Cristo range at the top. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 5/1/2021, By: dssmith15
Info: Culebra: hiked this am. 10.5 mile RT. 620ish am start to 4pm back at HQ. Pretty frustrating starting so late given snow conditions (I would think in the summer you'd have to book it with potential weather in afternoon). However they are letting people drive up about 2 miles from HQ so that cuts some time. Road above that is pretty dicey and will probably take a while to melt off. Ascent: The road was mostly snow then snow once you hit the official trailhead to about 12,600. We used microspikes for that. Pretty dry above that and able to avoid most snow. Didn't need traction from that point to summit and back. False summit: brutal. Knew it was coming but it still kicked our ass. First big hike of the season and all. Descent: pretty good scrambling through talus until that 12,600 point. Was able to glissade down that gully for a while which was too much fun. However, once you near treeline it is hip deep posthole city. Thankfully had snowshoes but even postholed in those a bit on the road. The descent on the road was terrible. Overall really enjoyed the mountain. Carlos and their team was nice and communicative. BUT: paying $150 to hike is asinine. Not a fan. It's absurd. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 4/22/2021, By: LoneLobo
Info: Hiked the standard route on Saturday during a snow storm, along with a fellow named Jon who was an excellent snow-hiking companion. (We were the only hikers that day, and each of us was glad we didn't have to break trail in snow alone.) The snowfall was mild when we started by 6:30 AM; road had hard-packed snow. I donned my snowshoes around mile 3. After Four Way (~3.5mi) flotation was not optional. From the 4WD trailhead we ascended straight up the standard route, carefully finding thinner snow-covered areas within rocks as the snowfall got heavier. By the time we topped out on the ridge and reached the mega-cairn, snowfall was very heavy and visibility was maybe 1000-1500 ft, but there was no wind. We stashed the snowshoes around 13,450'. Jon used microspikes (which I'm sure helped); I only had crampons and chose not to use them. Traction wasn't a big issue; it was just awkward to find good footings in the snow-filled gaps between the rocks. We summited around 12:45 and didn't linger. The hike down proved tedious and arduous (even after re-donning our snowshoes), since by the time we were ascending up to the mega-cairn, the snow had already accumulated at least 8". Too bad we didn't bring skis; the conditions for descent were a skier's dream. By the time we got down to the 4WD trailhead, fresh snow depth was around 10"-12" deep and remained that way until roughly 2 miles from CVR HQ. Needless to say, we wore the snowshoes the entire hike out. That hike from 4WD down was forgettable except for a few momentary breaks in the clouds with glorious sunlight shining through the still-falling snow and illuminating the serene winter-scape in the valleys around us, beguiling our harsh hiking conditions. We made it back to CVR HQ at 5:40 PM. We had both wanted a more exciting, non-summer Culebra experience, and boy did we get our money's worth. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 4/12/2021, By: Kimberlyann00
Info: We hiked/skied Culebra on April 10. We put skins on about 1.4 miles from ranch HQ and skied back to about the same spot, although the snow on the road is melting fast. There is still plenty of snowpack in the bowl, but the snow is very windblown and icy. There are a few snow patches to cross on your way from the cairn to the summit; traction would have been helpful, but not necessary. The descent from the 4WD trailhead to HQ requires some sort of floatation - we post-holed multiple times on skis. Also, please respect the ranch's policies. They mentioned they've had some issues recently and I'd like to see access remain open. Happy climbing! 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 4/4/2021, By: Anima
Info: The first mile of road after HQ is melting out quickly and won't be skiable soon. Plenty of snow from mile 1 to 13k. Pretty dry from 13k to the summit. Never used traction. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 4/5/2021, By: sailingstar22
Info: The road from HQ is melting fast, though still skiable to within 100 yards of HQ. We put on skis about 3/4 of a mile from starting at the HQ, otherwise, coverage is solid to the top of the ridge. I will caution that the west face is very wind-affected, slippery, and frozen in the morning. Only patches of snow from the ridge/large cairn to the summit. We ditched skis at the ridge, but there are lines possible from the summit and the false summit. We had one drop from the summit and bootpack back up to the ridge, one drop from the false summit, four drop from the large carin to the East, and three drop down the west face. Five of us managed the Carneros Creek exit - took about 2 hours longer than the standard route. The skiing was decent, but the climb up the final ridge to meet up with the four-way road held rotten snow that we miserably post-holed waist deep through on skis (only about 200-300 vertical feet though). Started at 6:30am, summit a little before 12, 40 mins on the summit, dropped from the ridge around 2:30/3, back at car at 6:30pm. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 3/22/2021, By: mcgrawt9
Info: Mostly hard pack from top to bottom in the morning. Ditched skis around the ridge corner from Punta serpiente at 13,200 and I dont think my ski boots sunk in more than 4 inches at any point up to culebra peak. Heavy winds all morning/afternoon from treeline and up. Snow was variable on the ski down, pretty even mix of slab/soft powder. More sustrugi on the south side than north side. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 3/22/2021, By: macg91
Info: NW slopes are pretty well filled in thanks to the previous weekend's storm. No flotation or traction needed once on the ridge. High winds the entire ridge to summit. Snow above tree line is wind packed but soft enough to make decent turns. Skied from around 13.2k back to HQ. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 3/7/2021, By: CaptainSuburbia
Info: Snowmobile packed to four way. Reestablish trench to base of Northwest slopes. Snowshoes were necessary here and helpful going up bowl to big cairn. No traction needed to summit. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 2/22/2021, By: weakenedwarrior
Info: The ranch staff packed down the road from HQ to Four Way the day before with a snowmobile. There was a dusting of fresh snow overnight but nothing too crazy. After Four Way and to the ridge, we followed in ScreeSurfer's footsteps. Thanks for breaking trail John. We got on the ridge right from the summer trailhead instead of ascending the Northwest slopes as we were concerned with the potential for avalanches. Once on the ridge, the wind was unrelenting. The gusts never got too wild but the consistent wind really sucked all the energy out of us, on top of bringing a windchill between -10 and -20 according to the forecast. Cold! Some of us are reporting some frostnip the next day. We could see the valley and the surrounding peaks fairly well through the day but the summit of Culebra was in the clouds most of the time. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 2/1/2021, By: jsommer
Info: The ranch does a great job packing down the trail up until 4 way. We trenched in a trail but pack flotation, skinned until about halfway up the peak after that ski boots were sufficient, I recommend spikes and possibly snowshoes on the ridge. Our group had the whole mountain to ourselves. It was a great winter summit but was a very long day, around 14 miles of breaking trail with only a 12 hour window to get from car to car. Was it worth the $150 fee? I'm not sure but I have no regrets, the untouched terrain was amazing and something you don't see too often. I also have nothing but great things to say about the ranch and their employees 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 1/9/2021, By: Sarah14
Info: Per prior winter ascent trips, Carlos and crew have a snow mobile track set to 4Way from the main headquarters. We were thankful to the large group last weekend that set a trench past 4Way. Snowshoes helpful in some areas after the 4wd TH.