Log In 

Ellingwood Point

Condition Updates  
Route: Blanca and Ellingwood
Posted On: 6/26/2021, By: coopereitel
Info: Summer conditions. A few snow patches down low that are avoidable/unproblematic. Traverse between two was great. Tad of snow in gully on traverse that is avoidable. I will put this same update for Ellingwood too. Splits: Start from lowest Blue Lakes: 4:40am Summit of Ellingwood: 6:15 Summit of Blanca (did traverse): 7:20 Back to camp: about 9:00 Back to car at 10,070': about 10:30 
9 1
Route: Southwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/21/2021, By: ButterDips12
Info: Summited Ellingwood Point via the SW Ridge and then traversed to Blanca Peak. Feel free to message me with any questions. 
4
Route: South Face
Posted On: 6/17/2021, By: BoldeRon
Info: Some snow crossings on excellent trail up to base of mountain. We were able to avoid all snow on upper face. We pretty much followed the route description, with photo 10 and it's description being the key to starting the climb up the face. We then followed a fairly solid rock rib with cairns just below a long thin snow patch that ended below the ridge. Traversed above the snow patch to the ridge. Summited about 11:00am with a 7:30 start at Lake Como. Clear weather until about 1pm when thunder heads formed and started acting up above the peak. 
2 1
Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek
Posted On: 6/14/2021, By: bangerth
Info: We didn't hike Ellingwood but Twin Peaks, but one gets a nice view of all of the couloirs from that route. Here's your picture of all of the couloirs you might want to take :-) 
1
Route: Blanca and Ellingwood
Posted On: 5/16/2021, By: b_esker
Info: Blanca/Ellingwood - pretty much dry to the lake. Recommend at least microspikes and an ice axe. Traverse to Ellingwood is dry for a little but then you'll have to do some snow crossing. Other members of the group had crampons and found those helpful. 
5
Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek
Posted On: 5/9/2021, By: eecummings_
Info: Ellingwood via south zapata falls/ the c2 couloir. No snow until 10,500. From there to the lake, snow shoes may be needed if you go late but otherwise crampons and an ice axe will get you to the summit just fine. I also recommend camping around 11200 or prepare for a brutal day. Looks like they may be getting more snow though and that'll fill in our boot pack 
3 4
Route: South Face
Posted On: 1/18/2021, By: angry
Info: Parked at ~8840ft. Opted for a late start as winds were expected to be nonexistent in the afternoon and this proved true. Booted to lake. Snowshoes from lake to ~13,600. Once we gained the ridge, stashed snowshoes and packs and booted to summit. Snow varied from a couple inches to knee deep. 
6 1
Route: South Face
Posted On: 1/13/2021, By: supranihilest
Info: We were able to drive to about 8,800-8,900 feet before the snow and ice on the road became tractionless. From there we booted all the way to Lake Como, then put on our snowshoes and wore them almost all the way to the summit of Ellingwood. Snow between Lake Como and the bottom of the south face is variable, anywhere from rock hard slab to waist deep punch crust. It was worse in the afternoon. There's some potential avalanche slopes en route to the south face, and the face itself is basically a gigantic avalanche slope. We found a reasonable gully and swam our way up it onto the face. From the bottom of the face all the way to the ridge the snow we encountered was about an inch of crust and then sugar to the ground. I wouldn't say it would never slide, but it does appear unlikely since there's no reactivity or propagation. It does suck super hard to climb though, and there's hundreds of feet of this trashy snow. Our snowshoes were more for traction and smashing a good hole in the crust to swim up than flotation, because there was no floating on this junk. As we neared the ridge we left our snowshoes behind and booted to the summit, which was a lot more pleasant staying on rock as much as possible. We did not use microspikes, crampons, or ice axe for the ascent, but did put spikes on for the ridge traverse to Blanca. Some form of traction would likely be useful if booting back down the face. 
11 1
Route: Blanca and Ellingwood
Posted On: 10/14/2020, By: Piotr
Info: Totally dry. The path below ridge to Ellingwood from Blanca is very well marked with cairns. The only part that is class 3 is downclimb into White Gully. 
Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek
Posted On: 9/28/2020, By: ryans
Info: Just finished climbing Ellingwood and Blanca from South Zapata Creek. Even with the warm weather the upper half of C2 is still holding snow. As the previous post indicated C2 is getting no sunshine as well as the ridge leading to Ellingwood is snow free. We used micro spikes to gain the ridge. You could possibly gain the ridge without micro spikes if you hugged the rocks to your right but it would be risky and so much easier to climb C2 with snow and traction. See attached photo looking down C2. 
1
Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/21/2020, By: letourneau41
Info: No snow on the route after the turnoff from Blanca trail. 
Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek
Posted On: 9/24/2020, By: Gavinmac1
Info: C2 approach snow from halfway up to the top. At times it was 1.5 feet deep in areas and post holed most of the last 1/3. Best to stay closer to tight side of couloir for larger rocks to grab, and better handholds. Micro spikes are good choice, and an ice axe for descending would make it a lot easier. I only had spikes and slipped a lot at steepest part. No sun on couloir at anytime Of day, so snow from here on out. The rest of climb was free of snow to summit 
Route: South Face
Posted On: 9/14/2020, By: emily_m
Info: Snow above 12,800, significant above 13,100ish. Far less snow here than on Blanca (and thus far easier than Blanca), but itstill made navigating through the loose rocks more challenging. In late morning the snow was pretty soft and wet, I imagine it would be icy in the early morning. The sun hits it well, so I expect most of the route will melt out in the coming week if the weather remains sunny and warm. As long as repeated freeze-thaws don't produce a huge amount of ice, you could probably get by without microspikes, especially after 10am on a sunny day. Snow was annoying for figuring out which rocks were stable and large enough to stand on, but postholing wasn't much of a problem. It was also easy to follow previous climber's tracks. Cairns were very prominent. Forgot to take photos of this route, but added one from Blanca's ridge that shows the general snow condition on the mountain. Traverse to Blanca has a significant amount of snow (see images), but was easy to follow with well placed cairns. Microspikes were necessary, and having softer late morning snow was helpful. I needed to hold onto the rocks with each step to make sure I wouldn't slide, but overall felt safe on the route. There is more snow on the traverse than on Ellingwood's standard route, so expect it to stay snowy/icy for longer. Still not quite as much snow as on Blanca. I ended up going a little lower than the actual route when meeting up with the main Blanca trail below Blanca's ridge, as following the existing tracks was easier than postholing in 1-2 feet of snow. Still saved some elevation loss between the 2, and likely took a similar amount of time as descending the standard route entirely. 
3 5
Route: Blanca and Ellingwood
Posted On: 9/6/2020, By: tcphoto87
Info: Took the class 3 variant of the ridge crossing over to Ellingwood, route finding was a bit of a nightmare, especially on the way down after summiting. We started at 3:40am, summited Blanca at 7 and after spending awhile on the summit made it to Ellingwood around 9:30. Lots of loose rocks to watch out for too 
5 1
Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek
Posted On: 8/17/2020, By: sky_high
Info: As previous users noted, the approach for this route is massively better than the Como Lake Road and trail. Bugs aren't bad at all and there is water every mile or so up the trail to the lake. Only about 6 people camped up top even on a Saturday. As for the route, C2 is easy going up. The rest of the trail is roughly cairned but difficult to follow with very little footpath so expect to do lots of route-finding or pull a GPX profile. The upper slopes are solid enough but you can roll an ankle if you don't watch your footing. I was glad to have poles going up and gladder going down. The upper 3/4 of C2 is loose and slippery and makes for a very slow descent. If you're deciding between this and the standard route I would say this: the approach is easy, but the climb features more exposure and longer looser rubble than the standard route. If you can handle that, go for it. 
1
Route: South Face
Posted On: 8/3/2020, By: PikaSteve
Info: Standard route is well cairned and easy to follow upwards from large cairn on Blanca Trail, to below the white mine tails, then angling up through cliffs and then straight up to the ridgeline. Keep looking back as you ascend to remember the standard route. On the way down, you will see cairns corresponding to ski routes, standard route, ridge traverse and lower traverse to Blanca. Beautiful streams, lakes and summit views. First photo is prior day view of South Face as seen from 12,900' saddle on Little Bear west ridge. 
6
Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek
Posted On: 7/30/2020, By: joeygoat9
Info: No snow the entire way (did C2). I agree with past conditions reports that dispute the RT distance of 11.6 miles - we didn't measure but thought it was likely closer to 13 or 14. Also this didn't feel like easy class 3 to me - the summit push felt like solid class 3. Not a big deal to me but I wouldn't do this as a first class 3 peak. This is a time consuming route with a lot of elevation gain but I think it is a worthy alternative to the Lake Como Road. It's a hot, steep hike up with a full pack, and coming down C2 isn't much fun, but this route still beats the Lake Como approach any day. Only saw 6 people Zapata falls to Zapata falls and 4 were just going to the lake, so odds are you'll have the route to yourself. 
1
Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek
Posted On: 7/12/2020, By: pbabeu
Info: Sign is missing at the junction of the Zapata Falls trail and the S. Zapata Lake Trail. Take the short (30 feet) spur trail to the right when you either reach the last bench seat on the access trail or shortly after that bench when you reach the large interpretive sign for Zapata Falls (#1). Trail is in good condition all the way to the S. Zapata Lake Basin with three easy stream crossings and a couple of downfalls that you can go under or around. As you get close (100 yards) to S. Zapata Lake, there will be another trail junction (#2) that allows you to go right/west-southwest up the grass shoulder and benches towards the upper Tarn (Not visible) and C3 Couloir Route or left/east around the north side of S. Zapata Lake and further east into the grassy Basin until you are below the C2 Couloir (#3). I have gone up and down both of these couloirs in the past week. C3 is completely clear of snow (#4) and C2 has a couple of small patches (20 feet) toward upper third & quarter that can be avoided and will not require use of mountaineering axe (#5). Both couloirs are at risk for rockfall and can be be challenging to gain good footing due to loose talus or bare gravel. The route from C3 is longer and requires elevation gain a drop & gain a few times in order to reach the top of C2 (#6). From the top of C2, the route to Ellingwood Point is straightforward. Return in reverse order. 
6 2
Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek
Posted On: 7/7/2020, By: 434stonemill
Info: Attempted to summit via C2 couloir . As viewed through binoculars from the base of the gully, I thought I could bypass the small snow pack still remaining in the upper portion of the couloir on the right hand side. Reached the bottom portion of the snow at roughly 12,850 ft and at 8:30 am. Sun had still not reached into the couloir. The snow pack was bulletproof ice. Without any crampons or ice ax, couldn't manage to climb up the snowpack. Was uncomfortable trying to get around the snow on the right so ended up bailing and descended back down. Not sure if climbable later in morning as it softened up. I figure about another week before the C2 couloir is snow free. 
2 1
Route: South Face
Posted On: 7/4/2020, By: sallenrogem87
Info: Though difficult to locate, there are cairns on the Ellingwood South Face trail. No snow on the trail the whole way. Any water crossings were completely manageable. We drove to 8200 feet and parked there. An intrepid Subaru driver might be able to make it another mile maybe. You can do this as a one-day hike, but it's long, 16.50 miles and 6k of elevation gain. Study the pictures that are on the route description, otherwise one can find oneself on loose terrain and Class 3 areas. Got a little off route on the way up and it was definitely Class 3. 

Return to the main Peak Conditions page