Ellingwood Point

Route: North Ridge via South Zapata Creek
Posted On: 7/11/2021, By: KRAZY
Info: C2 is mostly clear of snow. There was a snow field in the middle of the couloir that was easy to bypass on the right. Then, in the right gully at the top there was another section about 12 feet long that was holding snow. We were able to bypass to the right on the way up. I opted for traction on the way down, but Trail Girl was able to get by without using hers. I'll try to add photos. 

Route: C2 Couloir via South Zapata Lake
Posted On: 7/6/2021, By: little_castaldo
Info: This was a great route (highly recommend over Como Lake!) - we backpacked in July 3rd and only saw a handful of people. We found a great camping spot in treeline with great creek access at ~11,425ft with a large firepit (you can't miss it). We summited Ellingwood (twice) and Blanca on July 4th via the C2 couloir. The couloir was the roughest part of the route, just because it was half soft snow and half completely melted out. We used microspikes and our ice axes (we had brought crampons, but didn't use them - too soft of snow). Only saw one person on the route until we reached Ellingwood.

There's another great camping spot at ~11,750ft in treeline (it was occupied Saturday night). Other than those two spots, most of the camping was above treeline. We had the entire valley to ourselves Sunday night as all day hikers and the other two backpackers had hiked out.

A fair amount of mosquitoes.

OH MARMOTS GOLORE. One of them almost chewed all the way through our water filter tube as we napped 15ft away for an hour. Had we not been able to patch it, our trip could have been cut short. We hung up everything in the trees from the moment on. Left only sleeping bag and pad in the tent for summit day and they left the tent alone. 

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 

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. 

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. 

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 :-) 

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. 

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 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.