Huron Peak

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/10/2026, By: Augie
Info: Some snow below tree line got very packed in and icy as day went on. solid amount of snow on ridge up to top traction recommended. only post holed once or twice on the way down on the face. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 4/24/2026, By: ssuter
Info: Four wheel drive is advisable from Wingate to the trailhead as there were several areas with snow pack on the road. Once on the trail there were a lot spots with snow pack and ice on the trail so spikes would have been beneficial today. Above tree line the trail was better as far as the ice was concerned. There is a large flat area on the was up that was covered completely in snow, but luckily didn't have to post hole our way through as the snow was hard and crusted over. The last mile had snow covering the trail in many areas so finding the trail was challenging at times but doable. Had a great time and didn't see another soul all day. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 4/5/2026, By: agane
Info: Incredible day. Perfect weather and the summit to myself. Hike from the 2WD parking lot to the trailhead was easy. Don't recommend driving higher right now. From the trailhead to the basin, it was nearly non-stop postholing, then about half postholing and half rock hoping from the basin to the summit. Got a later start and was slow (summit at noon), so it was slushy and muddy on the way down, but nothing unmanageable. Ran into a group of 3 that had to turn around early, so the first .75 miles is practically trenched out, then the path to the basin is my postholes, and a few paths above from folks using the other approach. Snow is melting quick! 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 3/24/2026, By: Summit Shepard
Info: Spring / early summer conditions up there. I parked at the 2wd trailhead (after trying to go a bit further and sliding back down a block of ice shortly up the 4wd road). Started at 6:45am where everything was still plenty hard from a good freeze. Once I got to the 4wd trailhead there was almost continuous snow through the trees up to tree-line. Again it was pretty early so not too much post-holing.

Above tree line was easy to avoid any snow until the crossing in the cirque. Didn't feel there was much avalanche danger and once across the snowfield it was pretty easy to avoid snow up to the top walking along the edge of the trail. Summit was dead quiet, no wind, and very sunny. Coming down the sun warmed up snow so it was crunchy and in the trees was mashed potatoes.....some post holing but not too deep with exception to a few sections. Used one pole, gaiters, and no spikes...back to the car at 2:15pm. My watch gave me 12.6 miles while my alltrails app gave me 11.7 miles. Longer day than anticipated but crazy to see these conditions in march. 

Route: North Ridge from Lulu Gulch
Posted On: 2/2/2026, By: Jonathan Deffenbaugh
Info: Was able to drive near where the 4WD splits off by Winfield in a Tesla Model Y of all vehicles! Soloed the North Ridge from Lulu Gulch, retrenched and good to go! Snowshoes were nice to have from the upper 4WD trailhead to Lulu Gulch. Microspikes recommended for traction on the upper ridge lines. Ended climbing up between Middle Mtn and Pt 13,462’ to avoid going up the switchbacks up Middle Mtn to save time, then tagged Browns Peak en route to climbing up Huron Peak. Traverse was straightforward and was able to connect to the standard route easily. Caught the sunset from Pt 13,462’ then tagged Middle Mtn on the way down, taking the switchbacks down. Winter sunsets from Huron Peak area are unreal, one of a kind, plus the moon glow on the mountains afterwards was spectacular! Also saw 3 people coming down via the standard NW slopes route, so that route should have a trench in there before the next storm arrives. 

Route: North Ridge from Lulu Gulch
Posted On: 1/23/2026, By: hobbes7714
Info: I parked just a few hundred feet beyond the parking lot at Winfield. The road to Winfield had one icy spot my car with moderate snow tires and AWD slipped a bit on but that was it.

On the way up, via Lulu Gulch, I used my spikes on multiple ice-flows across the road; but as soon as I turned off to Lulu there was no need for traction. I took the trail/road all the way up to the west ridge of Middle Mountain. The trail had a good pack to the switchbacks on that ridge and after that I walked the side of the old mining grade as best I could. The road itself was full of snow but the slopes were mostly clear.

I did Middle, Cross, UN 13471 and Browns on the traverse over to Huron. The majority was blown clear, or close enough as to not be a substantial issue. The contour under the high point between Browns and Huron had a little more complexity with snow and trapdoor rocks but was not very bad.

I took the standard route down Huron and it was almost completely packed in. A couple deep steps here and there, but even the majority of the bowl below Huron had a packed in causeway.

I used traction on the descent off of Huron, but that was it (other than the aforementioned, few hundred yards on the road right at the beginning). No flotation used or needed. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 1/20/2026, By: shapovalovm
Info: Pretty much the same as the last report, posting for posterity.

TL;DR: as easy as it gets in winter

Used spikes all day other than 12400-12000 on the way back. That's that flat section. I left my snowshoes there and on the way back since they were already not attached to my pack, getting them on to cross some deeper snow was a no-brainer. You can definitely manage without snowshoes there, though, which is what I did on the way up because I was too lazy to stop and put the snowshoes on.

Otherwise, the switchbacks are well packed through the entire trail.

Road: Drove to the trailhead in Honda Accord with no issues at all. The "worst" spot is parking with maybe a couple of inches of snow on the ground which are not an issue if you have good tires. Once you turn left at Winfield, there's one large lot on the left and there's a couple of large pull offs maybe .15 miles ahead. I parked at that first lot on the left as it has a little less snow. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 1/17/2026, By: headsizeburrito
Info: Successful summit, not much different from the last two reports.

Easy drive to Winfield, 390 mostly dry until the last third, then light snow and no issues in an Outback with winter tires. A vehicle tried to drive to the 4WD TH and made it some distance before turning around, packing a nice trench to walk in. Looks like the bit of Lulu Gulch trench I saw was still in good shape. Good easy to follow trench from the 4WD TH to treeline. I tried to navigate the meadow section without putting my snowshoes on, some areas are supportive, other places you'll go knee deep, I wore my snowshoes for the return leg on that section. Upper section to the summit is straightforward, you can mostly find and stay on the trail. I wore spikes all day when I wasn't using snowshoes and would recommend them.

Only one on the mountain today which was a little surprising, conditions were good and now is a good opportunity to summit! 

Route: North Ridge from Lulu Gulch
Posted On: 1/12/2026, By: wintersage
Info: Took the North Ridge from Lulu Gulch up, borrowing Stephen’s trench up to 12k. From there we took the rock ribs up the headwall along the northeast aspect of Browns to gain the ridge connecting to Brown’s Peak.

The ridge to the summit of Huron was just a slippery, powdery, trapdoor rock hop. Descending the ridge a bit to get into the deeper snow helped a bit but you still had to be careful of trapdoors.

We took the standard route (NW slopes) for our descent and it was considerably better. The entire route is well packed, and snowshoes were only really needed for the infamous plateau section — optionally for the rest of the route. Definitely recommend taking the standard route up unless you have sketchy avy conditions necessitating the Lulu Gulch approach. Microspikes were useful on both routes. 

Route: North Ridge from Lulu Gulch
Posted On: 1/12/2026, By: paigemoney
Info: There is a decent-sized lot on the left just past the Winfield turnoff with a large pull-off on the right slightly beyond that; capable AWD/4WD access (Subaru-able). We took the North Ridge via Lulu Gulch both up and down, and Stephen put in a fantastic trench on Saturday that made travel below treeline a breeze. We took a different gully than the group ahead of us—two gullies to the left—and after chatting with them, it sounded like ours was a bit more manageable, with less rock and slightly less steep terrain. We regretfully left our snowshoes on the ridge at Brown’s Peak; the North Ridge of Huron is no joke, with mixed climbing on rock and snow, frequent trapdoors, and very slow travel. Because our snowshoes were on the opposite side, we ended up returning via the ridge using the same gully to descend. One thing to note: it’s tempting to bypass Brown’s Peak and contour around it, but this puts you into steep, risky snow—summiting Brown’s is the safer option. We used microspikes and/or snowshoes all day. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 1/5/2026, By: the_hare
Info: Not much to add to previous condition report besides a few more pics. Road near summer conditions with a thin glaze of packed/melted snow closer to Winfield. Took advantage of a decent pull-off area 30 yards or so past the 2WD trailhead at Winfield but not worth driving up much further than that.

Last storm seemed to have put down 1-2in of fresh, warming quickly. Well-established boottrack down the 4WD road, up the switchbacks in the forest, and on above treeline to the wind-drifted shallow basin at 12,300ft. This deep snow plain is the main obstacle of the route as the crust is only randomly supportive and the wind will cover tracks over the span of even a few hours. We followed two different sets of posthole tracks from earlier hikers across the basin and neither was better or worse--I'd just aim straight for the apparent dry grassy headwall on the other side. Tall gaiters very useful, I don't think snowshoes would be worth hauling up bc of unsupportive snow regardless.

After this there's another well-established boottrack following the summer trail up to the summit. There's a couple more early posthole sections but mostly the trail has shallow wind-drifted snow with dry stretches. More options to ascend off-trail on snowy grass slopes & rocks too. My heftier Hillsound trail crampon microspikes were helpful for dealing with the more slippery snow and steeper areas. Wind didn't seem too bad up here given the forecast.

Shout out to previous parties over the weeks who set in the boot track. Saw some recent tracks from after the last storm going up towards Lulu as well, upper ridge through the 13ers looked pretty windblown. Have to say this is I think the most beautiful winter 14er I've done, exquisite snowy basin views all around with a pleasant lush forest on approach. Hands got cold taking so many pictures! 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 1/3/2026, By: RyanOlsonDDS
Info: The road to Winfield is passenger car accessible (4wd or awd would make it more comfortable though). There are a few ice flows over the 4wd road shortly past Winfield so for most intents and purposes the 4wd road is out. The trail to treeline is in great shape, generally snowy but no traction/flotation needed. Some annoying postholing past that but snowshoes didn’t make it much more efficient. The last 1000’ or so is kinda slick with sugar over rocks/grass and the summer route is sometimes hard to follow. Probably stick to spikes or whatever you prefer (I used crampons but that was overkill, it was just what I had). 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 12/30/2025, By: jonnamaas37
Info: Beautiful day today! Appreciate the people over the last week who have set some nice trenches in some of the deeper drifts. Started at 6 AM from the 2wd lot. Have a lifted Jeep, but the 4wd road looks gnarly. Didn’t use spikes or snowshoes on the way up. Some areas of deep snow, but good tracks going through. Spikes very helpful coming down, never used snowshoes. Back to my vehicle a little before 2, so about 8 hours. The wind was winding up top, so only hung out for a quick snack. 

Route: Lulu 13ers to Huron
Posted On: 12/23/2025, By: CaptainSuburbia
Info: Made it to Winfield easy in a 2wd sedan. Someone made it all the way to 4wd trailhead. I think it was a lifted Jeep I saw driving around. I didn't use snowshoes or traction to summit. Ridges were mostly dry or very thin coverage. Saw 3 others and I believe they all summitted. Used microspikes to descend standard. It's packed down pretty good now. I appreciate all that made that happen. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 12/22/2025, By: madmattd
Info: 4 forum members rang in the start of "winter" on Huron with a leisurely 8:30 start (solstice at 8:03) from the start of the 4WD road. The 4WD road is ice- and snow-covered, no one has driven past the ice flows in the early/usual spots. Loose powder to treeline, generally a few inches deep, little consolidation even by the end of the day. Above treeline to the bowl is a mix of bare trail and a few inches of loose powder. Not nearly enough snow on the slopes in the area to be concerned about avy risk on the standard route, so we stuck to that. Through the bowl to the start of the climb is loose and deeper snow, 2 of us snowshoed and 2 of us booted, we all postholed (up to ~2' deep), but there's now a reasonable semblance of a trench through here. Back to generally a few inches of snow along the trail the rest of the way to the summit (plenty of bare stretches too), bare boots and/or spikes worked fine. The surrounding peaks all looked to be similarly quite dry.

One group of 3 booted up Lulu Gulch and descended standard as well, they reported some postholing up Lulu but it didn't sound too bad.