9/14/2025 Route: Northwest Slopes Posted On: 9/15/2025, By: TheseThousandHills Info: Microspikes helpful above 13,500. Suspect snow will melt off in next day or two. |
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8/29/2025 Route: Northwest Slopes Posted On: 8/30/2025, By: sallexan Info: Low clouds from summit to 13,600. Once in them raining. |
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7/21/2025 Route: Northwest Slopes Posted On: 7/21/2025, By: outerbanksdad Info: I usually kick things off around 2:00-3:00 am to avoid the crowds, dodge the weather, and catch the sunrise. I arrived at the 4wd trailhead by 2:30, but I was completely wiped out and thought I’d take a quick 30-minute nap. That 30 minutes turned into 5:20 am. Anyway, I took off at a quick pace because I was anxious that the weather might roll in early and ruin the views. I ended up reaching the summit right at 7:20, and even though it was overcast, with the trail conditions and the scenery, this is definitely my favorite 14er so far. The flowers were blooming beautifully, and the views were incredible. I managed to complete the round trip in 3 hours and 52 minutes. Now, the road was a different story. While the road itself wasn’t terrible, it had some serious washboarding that slowed me down. Super cool hike! |
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7/8/2025 Route: Northwest Slopes Posted On: 7/8/2025, By: hoffman83 Info: Summer conditions, road sucks, but you can do it with most 4wd or AWD. Just be careful about ground clearance. |
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7/5/2025 Route: North Ridge from Lulu Gulch Posted On: 7/6/2025, By: swilson753 Info: Went up this Route and down the standard. Route is in summer conditions. No snow left. The 4WD road up to Lulu Gulch is now gated (probably has been for a few years, judging by the fence) with a sign stating "Closed to public motorized use. Access to private property by permit only." There's parking for 2-3 cars by the gate if everyone plays nice. |
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6/28/2025 Route: Northwest Slopes Posted On: 6/29/2025, By: AndrewJCraigie Info: No snow - flowers popping. |
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6/28/2025 Route: Northwest Slopes Posted On: 6/29/2025, By: eclarksltmn Info: No snow en route |
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6/15/2025 Route: Northwest Slopes Posted On: 6/16/2025, By: JakeByk Info: All snow avoidable except a 20 foot section before the ramp up to the slope. No gear needed. The Apostles are still very snowy, the Refridgerator still goes all the way up, though no idea what snow stability is like. Hope Pass also looks snowy still from a distance. |
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6/14/2025 Route: North Ridge from Lulu Gulch Posted On: 6/14/2025, By: fsun71 Info: Route is completely clear of snow with the exception of two short (~100 foot) snowfields. One is located just below the summit of Browns Peak - the other is located just below the summit of Huron. No gaiters or microspikes needed. |
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6/13/2025 Route: Northwest Slopes Posted On: 6/14/2025, By: giovanniclean Info: Trail is clear and in good condition up to the basin below the ridge. Need to cross a decent snow field to before the climb up to the ridge. From there, its clear up to the ridge. There is another small snowfield before the final pitch to the summit, but its mostly avoidable. No traction needed. |
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6/10/2025 Route: Northwest Slopes Posted On: 6/10/2025, By: burnhamc Info: You’ll probably get your feet wet crossing the snowfield and possibly the water crossing near the start, but otherwise great conditions. Marmots and pika abound. |
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6/9/2025 Route: West/East slopes loop Posted On: 6/10/2025, By: carmitz001 Info: Started at 4WD trailhead at 2 pm, ascended standard route, descended east slopes and looped back to trailhead via Clohesy Lake Road and CR 390. Standard trail was dry until the basin snowfield at 12.3k, which was soft, wet and unpleasant. Lots of runoff on the upper slopes. Some snow in the upper 500 feet that was either avoidable or easy to walk across. Descended the southeast ridge 300 feet to find a good gully for glissading into the east basin. Slid down 900 feet in soft, continuous snow. The basin had lots of huge talus and some snow. The lower 1000 feet in the trees wasn't as bad as previously reported -- it's steep with some deadfall, but very manageable on the descent, with minimal snow. Clear Creek was running too high to cross normally along CR 381, so I bushwhacked east to find a sketchy log crossing. Adventurous day! |
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6/8/2025 Route: Northwest Slopes Posted On: 6/9/2025, By: ColoNativeGal Info: Made it to 4wd TH in stock F150 no issues. Dry until the snowfield in the basin. The trench was soft, so we skirted the trench going up and the snow was firm (around 7:30-8am). Then some ice hiking up to the saddle, but avoidable with care. Small patches of snow here and there, easy to navigate around if you're comfortable, if not it might be more tricky for you. Once on the ridge, snow on and off through the talus, mostly avoidable, but to gain the summit block you need to be on the snow (for now). For those not comfortable on snow, spikes and poles might be helpful. It was still solid and slick in some spots at 9:30am. We put spikes on to come down so we could get down faster and stayed mostly on the snow. On the saddle we took spikes off. Back down to the snow field in the basin it was solid in some spots and soft in others. Followed the trench this time to avoid new post holes. The last few steps before dry land was an ice bath. No avoiding the post holing and we got soaked even with waterproof shoes. That was at 11:30am. So be prepared, I'm sure it was worse as the day went on. If you want dry feet, bring extra socks and or start and end earlier. I imagine this will continue to be an issue until that field melts which will take some time, but with the warmer/drier temps this week it might go fast - hard to say. |
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6/7/2025 Route: Northwest Slopes Posted On: 6/7/2025, By: notidealbutfine Info: I was able to drive to the end of the 4WD road in my AWD Honda CRV (6.8'' clearance) without too much of a problem, just slow going. Trail is dry to ~12,200', crosses a 300' snow patch, then virtually snowless the rest of the way. I used mountaineering boots, but you could get away with trail runners at this point. Spikes were helpful, but no need for snowshoes on this one. Beautifully clear day! 6.45 miles / 3,343' gain / 3 hours, 29 minutes |
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6/5/2025 Route: Northwest Slopes Posted On: 6/5/2025, By: truekyle Info: The peak is about 80% summer conditions. There is a football field snow crossing that is absolutely horrible and micro spikes will be helpful for another 2 weeks. Icy on the way up, muddy on the way down. If you don't pick up your dog poop bags... you are a terrible person. Found 5 of them. Do better. |
