Huron Peak

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/23/2021, By: HikerBox
Info: You can drive about a mile above the winfield town site in a 4x4. There are some drifts that have been smashed through to get there and a few huge drifts blocking passage after that. Parking for 6 to 8 vehicles right before the impassable drift.

Lots of rotten snow drifts in the trees from about 11,200 to treeline. Very little snow in the NW face. Attempted skiing it but not enough snow and no sun to warm things up so we bailed at 12k. A couple of people summited without snowshoes. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/15/2021, By: jmctigue
Info: Ascended the North Ridge via Lulu Gulch. Not much to add to previous reports. I wore snowshoes at lower elevations, but the switchbacks to Middle Mountain are bone dry. Didn't require traction along the ridge to Huron via the various peaks. This is a really nice hike.

I decided to descend the Southwest Slopes and catch some views of the Apostles. I should have read the route description first, but luckily I had the GPS track downloaded. Descending the ridge to the saddle just involved some boulder hopping. I was able to glissade some short sections down to around 12,400ft. From here it began to get interesting, starting with lots of postholing and bashing through willows. Eventually I reached the tree line and things became much more difficult. There are downed trees everywhere and I was postholing up to my thighs - with snowshoes on. It was worth roughly following the GPS track to simplify the terrain I had to go through, but it's not easy to plot a route through the trees and snow. Eventually I reached the valley floor. The walk out was straightforward and the views were spectacular.

Ended up around 16.5 miles. Saw noone on the mountain. 

Route: North Ridge from Lulu Gulch
Posted On: 5/9/2021, By: VeraUndertow
Info: From Browns Pk the traverse over to meet up with the standard NW slopes route was dry and I didn't use traction at all, just talus which is mostly stable. The wind was whipping across the ridge but otherwise was great weather for being up high, not so great for corn production so my ski down on the NW slopes from ~13,500 was less than ideal but was still pretty fun. If you take the NW slopes route you will want floatation and/or traction depending on the overnight freeze and daytime weather. I was able to ski down to around 11,5 before the snow was patchy and poorly frozen from the night before so I then got to posthole ski out. The east face of Huron looks pretty nice right now if anyone's trying to get after it. There is a huge cornice right off the summit as well 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 3/20/2021, By: angry
Info: Squeezed in one last snowflake. Parked at ~9600. Deep snow pockets beyond that, you will get stuck trying to go further. Snowshoed from car to ~13,000, stashed em and booted rest of way. No prior tracks. Did not use traction. Noted wet slide activity on neighboring peaks. Snow was surprisingly supportive on descent despite extremely warm temps. ~20 miles rt. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 3/12/2021, By: malawi
Info: Was able to drive within a mile of Missouri Gulch th in my Subaru Crosstrek. Boot hiked the road, but put snow shoes on a mile before Winfield, then kept them on to 12000. Not much sign of tracks after 10500, and I was sometimes in hip deep snow. The last ridge is fairly dry, so I was able to move faster. Windy summit. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 2/28/2021, By: RobLowe
Info: 22.9 miles RT. 390... hardpacked 5.5 miles to Winfield by snowmobile activity. Winfield to summer TH - there's a single track worth the weight of three folks. Above summer TH - soft knee to chest deep snow where the switchbacks usually are. Once you reach 12,000' travel becomes quicker. 10,600' to 12,000' is slow with the depth of the snow and quality (or lack of quality) Used flotation from Winfield to 12,500'. Nice meeting you out there, Randy1983! 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 2/1/2021, By: randallson
Info: I packed in Saturday night. I camped a bit past the summer trailhead. I pre-trenched to about 11,800' Saturday evening. Evidence of an old trench could be found and helped significantly but fizzled out about 11,500'. The snow is fairly continuous but shallow above treeline and I kept snowshoes on until about 13,100'. Then booted the rest of the way to the summit. Microspikes were helpful for the descent. A solid trench made for a rapid descent. Walking the 6 miles from Winfield back to the car was mindless and went by quickly. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 11/6/2020, By: WildWanderer
Info: I wore microspikes hiking the 4WD road to the upper trailhead, as the road was covered in ice. Microspikes were also helpful the last 50 or so feet to the summit. Otherwise, snow is packed down and trail is easy to follow. Conditions are likely to change after this weekend's storm, so mostly posting these pictures for people who want to attempt a summit tomorrow morning. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 11/2/2020, By: syrupgravy
Info: Low-calf deep snow drifts and places, but melted out in others and a solid pack was in place on 10/31. I'm guessing it will continue to melt out even better this week. We found microspikes only really necessary for the final rocky portion and didn't do much slipping on the switchbacks. It was very windy, so goggles were helpful. 

Route: North Ridge from Lulu Gulch
Posted On: 10/18/2020, By: jerseybrian
Info: Route completely dry up to the final section that links to the standard route. There is a little ice in a few sections that's completely avoidable. Brought spikes but not needed. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 10/20/2020, By: charvey515
Info: Road to the 4WD trailhead was snow free. Summer conditions up to the final 300' where some ice hard packed ice was covering the trail. Careful foot placement mitigated the ice. Up and down in 4 hours with a 30 minute break at the top. Winds were sustained at about 15mph with some 25mph gusts. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 10/9/2020, By: Beas
Info: Route is dry up to the final 300', where the freeze-thaw cycle has caused ice to cover parts of the trail. Spikes would help in this section, but careful foot placement was enough for me. The photo shows footprints off to the left, but the trail meanders near the ridge on the right side. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 9/27/2020, By: Stephaniejo37
Info: Some snow and ice on the ridge and up the rocky portion below the peak. Did it without micro spikes but was wishing I had them, especially on the way down. Poles were really handy. Very windy from the ridge to the top of the peak but once on the peak it was much nicer. Glad I had gloves, a hat and a jacket. The peak was free of snow/ice. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 9/27/2020, By: ReenerCO
Info: My daughter left her hiking pole behind on our way down today, somewhere between the tarn and tree line. If anyone happens to see it and pick it up, hopefully I can find a way to get it from you. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 10/4/2020, By: SaraReardon-9
Info: Route starts getting muddy around 10:00am during last 2 miles. Bring good spikes for the summit push, people were slipping around on steep terrain without them.