Wetterhorn Peak

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 10/9/2025, By: goddibhk
Info: Climbed Wetterhorn last evening and into the night. Was hesitant to posting this cause most of this will probably be outdated rather quick but decided someone might find it useful. The entire route is snow free aside from some small and inconsequential patches right before gaining the ridge. Uncompahgre looked pretty dry as well. Pretty much anything to the south has quite a bit more snow though. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 10/4/2025, By: jjasks
Info: Still clear of snow as of Friday morning. Windy at the ridge to the top, but still a great climb overall. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 9/29/2025, By: taylorharris50
Info: Made it to the angled slab at 13,900 (pic 21). The slab was iced over. Unable to assess the final pitch. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 9/18/2025, By: Lofty312
Info: Bluebird day. Zero ice or snow on mountain. Began at the lower “2WD” Lot at 7am. Summited at 9:20am. This is the perfect mountain. No talus fields, steep scree sections, boulder fields, perfect distance, well maintained trail & a nice spicy scramble for the last 500ft give or take. However think this mountain should not be listed as difficult on the class 3 list as listed, however since it has class 3 &4 moves, maybe it deserves its current spot. N. Henson road up to the 2WD spots .7 miles before the 4WD lot & TH is sketchy, I barely scraped twice on the way up in the dark in my Honda CRV which has 7.3” clearance and a short wheel base. However I thought going down would be easier. Definitely not the case. The sun was in my eyes and there were way more puddles and new boulders compared to when driving up, bottomed out twice, got my car stuck in a puddle blinded by the sun as my car met a boulder at the end of the puddle. I could not reverse to get out l. Thought I was screwed. Put my car back into drive, let off of the accelerator, and by the feel and sound I thought my undercarriage and front wheels were going to be scattered all over the road. By some kind of miracle, I made the 5 1/2 hour drive back home even though the post climb euphoria was non existent as I was a nervous Nellie thinking my car was going to fall apart on the highway at any moment.

Do not attempt this road unless you have 8” clearance. Wheel base length and clearance are the biggest factors and the sun can be your worst enemy even with sunglasses on trying to pick lines. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 9/16/2025, By: JBK14er
Info: We summited Uncompahgre first, at about 7:45 AM, and then made it to the summit of Wetterhorn around 1 PM. There was no snow on Wetterhorn by the time we got up there. The class 3 section was all clear & dry the entire way, including the "angled slab" near the final push, and the final push itself. It was all nice and dry, and the rock was very grippy. Thank you to the people who posted just below us about the potential for snow & ice. We brought crampons just in case there was still some snow & "pucker factor," but it was all clear. Better to be safe than sorry! 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 9/14/2025, By: AurumSun13
Info: Comboed with Uncompahgre Peak first. Started at 3 got to Uncompahgre by 6:15am and then over to Wetterhorn by 10:15am. After the two snowstorms during the day, the peaks are now covered in around a half inch of snow under freeze-thaw conditions. Black ice from refrozen melt is extremely slippy. The class 3 sections of Wetterhorn in the snow definitely gave that "pucker-factor". I'd recommend microspikes & climbing gloves for the rest of the season. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 9/8/2025, By: notidealbutfine
Info: Started at 6am from the lower TH .7 miles below the 4WD TH. Made it there in my Honda Element (7.1" clearance) without much issue, just slow going. Virtually all the snow from Thursday/Friday is already gone at upper elevations. All the scrambling was dry and fun. Caught the run bug and was moving fast today. 8.77 miles / 3,507' gain / 3 hours, 19 minutes 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 8/31/2025, By: TheBuff66
Info: Hiked 8/30. The road to Capitol City is real easy, any car can do it. However I would caution against the Matterhorn 2wd trailhead. Crosstreks can make it, I saw a few there, but there are a few steep and watery sections that I wouldn't want to attempt in mine. I was fortunate to get shuttled up to the 4wd TH with CFI and that segment is absolutely for off-road capable vehicles only. The trail is easy going until the Class 3 portion. Solid rock and plenty of cairns, but as a first Class 3 for me the exposure got in my head. The downclimb was fine but going up sketched me out. Absolutely stunning views throughout the entire hike and a really fun route. If you're ready for it, send it! 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 8/18/2025, By: RRanger1996
Info: What a fun mountain! We had rain Friday night into Saturday morning, but no issues at all with wet rock.

Perfect intro to Class 3 for my hiking partner. Full summer conditions. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/29/2025, By: hortster
Info: Clear sailing. Only snow patch was in a steep section (20 feet or so) of slightly muddy dirt just before the yellow sediment approaching the saddle before the scrambling begins. I found a couple moves prior to the crux to be trickier than the crux but not as exposed. Fun section. 3.5 steady hours to summit with minimal breaks due to the well maintained trail and rather consistent slope.

Road Report: Even on the final 0.7 mile of high-clearance/4WD recommended 2 mile county road (NOT the mandatory 4WD, high clearance 0.7 mile to upper trailhead), it is absolutely critical to be strategic and pick good lines in many places (even with normal obstacles), but particularly in a less suitable vehicle. I re-con'd the trail the day before doing Wetterhorn Peak to know what I'd be getting into at 4 am.

Around 0.3 miles will need power for steep grade. Clearance not an issue yet but use a low gear. Around 0.6-0.7 miles was the one spot I just barely scraped bottom in both directions with 7 inch clearance in a new trailblazer (2WD). At 1.3 miles are the first large potholes with nearby obstructions (if filled with water, it's your best guess what line to take based on the visible obstructions). Between 1.5 and 1.7 miles there are 3 more pairs of large potholes, the worst being at 1.7 miles, though I actually maneuvered that one better than a couple of the others on the way down the second time due to different water fill-age. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/19/2025, By: dr_j
Info: Summer conditions, and the usual afternoon monsoon moisture (and showers in the morning). Lots of flowers in the basin and along the rocky section of the trail below the saddle. There is one last, very short snowfield just past the saddle, and the section before the final pitch is rather tricky to negotiate due to routefinding issues. The access road is pretty rough, even before the last junction, it's a lot worse than I remember it to be, so a high clearance vehicle is recommended. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/14/2025, By: JakeByk
Info: Full summer conditions. Yellow flowers poppin all over the trail.

Note...the road to the TH is a bit rougher than I remember. I sent it in my Forester back in 18' but I definitely (personally) wouldn't now. Shoutout to the homie who did the upper 4WD TH in his Chevy suburban... 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/6/2025, By: Rkwootten
Info: Full summer conditions - only patches of snow you can walk around rather than on, if you so choose. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 6/22/2025, By: 5ClimbingCooneys
Info: Wetterhorn is pretty much in full summer conditions and is 98% clear of snow. None of the existing snow presented any real problems and were not in dangerous locations. There are a few short, scattered fields on the way up the saddle, then one larger field just below the saddle. There's another on the way up along the ridge just a bit before the class 2 section. The last snow bank is just before the notch, before the 3rd class section. It's nice to have trekking poles, but you would probably be fine without as well, since none of those are in a place where if you slid, you'd do anything more than land in some dirt below. If anyone was wondering, the east face is pretty melted out. 

Route: East Face
Posted On: 5/17/2025, By: Jcinco
Info: Good ski conditions, although it’s getting a little bony. May not last too much longer for this short but sweet classic. Only a few sections of the trail are snow free down low.