Huron Peak

Route: North Ridge from Lulu Gulch
Posted On: 6/15/2020, By: cougar
Info: Practically summer aside from the overnight dusting of snow. Small snowfield below Browns. Did the whole ridge from Middle mtn, saw no one on the route until I joined the main route up Huron. 

Route: North Ridge from Lulu Gulch
Posted On: 6/15/2020, By: cougar
Info: Practically summer aside from the overnight dusting of snow, which made the talus very slippery between Browns Peak and Huron. Small snowfield or two below Browns. Did the whole ridge from Cross + Middle Mtn, saw no one on the route until I joined the main route up Huron. Extremely windy day. Road looks driveable in a Jeep or heavy duty stock truck to above treeline or close, but it's narrow and I didn't noticed pullouts or turnarounds until near the end. Above ~12,000 ft it's faded and more of a trail now. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/14/2020, By: elan-sturtz
Info: The water filled hole has become more shallow, only 1-2 inches. An Element and a Subaru made it up just fine. If you don't go past the hole, there is a huge parking area about 100 yards below it. Hiking from here only adds about 1/3 of a mile each way. The 4Runner that was mentioned as stuck in the previous report has since been removed, and the road is completely drivable. As for Huron itself, there are only two small flat, and slushy snow fields to cross, both of which are fine without any traction, although they are a bit postholey on the descent. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/13/2020, By: coopereitel
Info: We parked in between the 2wd and 4wd trailheads. It rained in the morning but at tree line we waited it out and it became a great day. In the flat part around 12,000 feet there were a couple of snow fields, nothing to worry about because they were small and a trail had developed through. Congrats to the couple who got hitched at the top! 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/11/2020, By: fmv093042
Info: Perfect day on the mountain. Only 2-3 snow patches to cross at this point from the small snow storm 3 days ago. No equipment needed for the small amount of snow. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/9/2020, By: ZodiiakClimber
Info: Weather didn't cooperate for us and we turned around at 12300 because of clouds covering the summit and ridge while it was snowing and windy. We couldn't see either. Trail is fully snow covered because of the storm last night but it's mostly a dusting a wind blown. Most places are under an inch with a few places 2-3 in. In the basin however the snow is very soft. There's no real way around it and post holing will cause you to step in a few inches of water underneath. So you just have to be careful. I didn't post hole but my friend did and went right into the water. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/10/2020, By: museumdork
Info: A very quiet day on stormy Huron: we saw only two parties on the trail, both descending, one of which had turned back due to wind and snow. Indeed, wind-effect snow built up to 8 or 9 inches on parts of the trail — it blew constantly at 30+ mph all the way to the summit. (Multiple layers, windbreaker, waterproof pants and boots, hat and gloves: good gear helped.) The snowfield had lots of post-hole evidence so a detour to the right (uphill?) was super helpful. Did not pop through to the water below. On the descent the sun broke through but it still snowed until we reached the car at the 2WD lot. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/7/2020, By: andrew85
Info: Outside of the three large lingering snowfields, pretty much summer conditions from trailhead to summit. I got there early enough that the snowfields were stable to cross without issue, but descending (around 9:30am) the first (westernmost) one had already become posthole city (I saw people postholing over a foot into running water beneath). Until those melt out and if you want to avoid any postholing at all, I'd shoot for a 8am summit or earlier. The summit ridge is holding some snow, but it's entirely avoidable. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/7/2020, By: AltitudeFarts
Info: Summer conditions. A few snowfield crossings in the flat part of the basin. Please try to stick to the summer trail as much as possible between the snowy parts. We observed most people making their own route across the basin which, when not on snow, results in damage to the soil and plants. Lots of trampled wildflowers :(

On our way down we passed 166 people and 21 dogs going up. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/6/2020, By: alexchambers33
Info: Trail was great all the way to the top with perfect conditions. No spikes are needed at this point. The snow in the basin has broken up into 3 snowfields to cross. When ascending, the first one was easy enough to cross at ~5:30 am, the 2nd snowfield was avoidable to hikers right. And the final one at the upper end of the basin was packed enough to walk on. When coming back down through the basin around 8am, the snow was just starting to get soft, yet was still walkable. The trail above the basin, gaining the shoulder had running water from the melt. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/5/2020, By: Dkotula
Info: All summer except for the giant snowfield in the basin. That thing sucks. You posthole to your knees, then there's a several inch deep pool of water underneath all of the snow that completely submerged my trail runners and socks. But, I still summited with soaked shoes and socks. The snowfield is melting, but I didn't see a way to completely avoid the snowfield at all. I found a better route on the way down than I did up, but it still wasn't fun. Bring good boots or an extra pair of socks.

The photo is of the basin from above. You can see people have created several trails through the snow. On the way up, I went through the main trail; I found that terrible. The trail furthest south made the most sense to me on the way down. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/3/2020, By: Mojokram17
Info: Trail is in great condition. Getting to the 4WD trailhead is a bit rough, ended up parking a short ways up so it added around 3 miles or so. Only problem with the route is the very large snow field. It was frozen in the morning, but after around 11am it becomes a slushy nightmare. Try to hike really early or wait a few weeks until it melts more. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/1/2020, By: dvivs11
Info: Summer conditions to the 4wd trailhead - fine in a Tacoma with Duratracs. Completely dry to the summit other than a wide section in the flat basin, but totally frozen this morning both on the way up and way down so not much post-holing if you stick to the well-beaten trail (headed down at around 8:30). 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/2/2020, By: PikaSteve
Info: Beautiful near-summer conditions. Trail 99% dry until basin at 12,300'. Basin snow shrinking rapidly: frozen and firm at 7am; soft but still supportive at 10am with minor postholing. After basin, there was 50 vertical feet of snowfield and 200 vertical feet of mixed water, mud and some ice before returning to dry trail all the way to the summit. Outstanding views if you beat the clouds to the summit.
Image 1: looking across basin at 12,300'
Image 2: looking down on basin
Image 3: dry trails to summit
Image 4: summit view: Apostles
Image 5: summit view: Elk Range
Image 6: summit view: La Plata southwest ridge 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/1/2020, By: lled
Info: Near summer conditions. Some postholing around 12500.

The 4WD road is totally clear.