El Diente Peak

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 5/28/2025, By: jfm3
Info: I climbed "South Wilson" on May 25 and got a look at the south side of El Diente. There is snow well down into Kilpacker Basin and the south route up El Diente looks to have continuous snow to the ridge. 

Route: Rock of Ages Approach
Posted On: 5/10/2025, By: FrankP
Info: Tried for El Diente on Weds. Road was snowed over starting 2 miles below Rock of Ages Trailhead. Patchy, punchy, post holing. We got to the trailhead and aborted- realizing we were smoked from the previous days mission. Coverage down there looks good, but I'd wait until the road is melted out a little more. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 10/6/2024, By: leesnj
Info: Snow patches on the North side (past the ridge) but the South side completely dry. The cairns are difficult to find/non existent in places further down the South side approach (Photos 2-10). Highly recommend microspikes for the top (Photos 21-24) and a good study of the approach to prevent going too far off route. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 9/29/2024, By: marcthomson
Info: Dry on the south side of the ridge, with some snow on the north side. We found spikes to be very helpful past the notch. We did this section shortly after sunrise and found the snow to be pretty solid at this time. We were able to summit, but had to be extremely careful in the last sections north of the ridge. We tried out the "low traverse" other reports have mentioned and found it straightforward. We contoured from approx 13300' on the El Diente trail to approx 13100' on the Mt. Wilson trail. 

Route: North Buttress
Posted On: 9/30/2024, By: two lunches
Info: it probably goes without saying that north-facing aspects continue to be snowy after the storm a couple of weeks ago. although it appears to be fairly innocuous from the basin, the upper sections of this route are hazardous at the moment. the first four "sections" are dry, but where the description indicates "Here the route begins to get interesting." is an understatement in late september. above The Hump, the snow turns from faint/inconsequential to dangerous/inconvenient. climbers comfortable with class 3-4 scrambling over snow and ice will have no problem. everyone else should donate a few extra quarters to the swear jar in advance of this climb, or the safer/saner option would be to consider the Kilpacker approach instead. after summiting, we descended the south slopes and returned to Navajo Basin from the 10,2 cutoff. despite the additional 1000' of gain to return to our campsite at Navajo, this is a stunningly beautiful detour around the west side of the El D/Mt W massif. can't wait to repeat this route in summer conditions, but wouldn't go back right now 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 9/23/2024, By: Andy_Lyon
Info: Some snow, ice and mud in the last 1/2 mile/200 feet to the summit, making me wish for traction devices. More moisture was moving in this past weekend. Tread carefully and plan accordingly. 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 9/19/2024, By: AsTheDuke
Info: Snow/ice on the north facing section along the standard route just before the summit of El Diente. I didn't take this section and instead went east ridge direct, which went at exposed Class 3, but this way isn't for everyone. I saw footprints in the snow/ice so I imagine it likely still goes with some care, and imagine microspikes would be a good idea. 

Route: Mt. Wilson and El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 9/8/2024, By: stonebaez
Info: Trail was in good condition, there was a minor amount of frost on the rocks for a small portion of the traverse in the morning. I'll provide my splits here because I had over-estimated my time when relaying plans. 3hr 40min from Kilpacker Basin TH to El Diente Summit > 5 minutes on summit > 1hr 15min for traverse to Mt Wilson > 10 minutes on summit > 2hr 15min from summit to trailhead. 4:20 AM to 11:45 AM. I think most people are in the 10-12 hour range though, so that would be my advice for most. 

Route: Mt. Wilson and El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 8/20/2024, By: climbingyogi
Info: Completed the El Diente - Mt. Wilson traverse on Saturday, 8/17 from Kilpacker Basin. I was surprised at how many parties were out that day (although maybe I shouldn't have been, given the previous weekends' rainfest). I thought the trail was really easy to follow up El Diente and the traverse took us about 2 hours. I was a little nervous about this traverse because I'd heard about all of the loose rock - but I found almost all of the rock during the scrambling sections felt pretty solid. Think I only initially touched one loose hand hold all day. The SW slopes coming off Mt. Wilson were pretty easy too. I'm not actually sure why this is listed as class 3 instead of class 2, because I don't recall any scrambling on the descent. The whole day took us 11 hours car to car, but we probably could've done it in 10 hours. PSA/request: Please don't smoke cigarettes on peaks where others can't escape your secondhand smoke (for example: on a class 4 traverse). Bring a vape pen or something if you absolutely need to and be considerate of others. K, thanks. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 8/24/2024, By: medunham
Info: Lured by Roach's description of a West Ridge route, and with reports posted here in 2019 by Wentzl, we tried the West Ridge of El Diente last weekend. This since the "standard" Kilpacker route is one of the worst moving rock death chutes around, and heavily trafficked to boot. Well, the West Ridge is not a desirable access, due to a feature not mentioned in any prior reports. Perhaps rock fall has caused this, but we are mystified why no info on a 30' high wall of crumbling red conglomerate appears, half way along the ridge. With several missing capstones on the ridge back, it has 5th class climbing up and down these gaps, and with 150' or more of exposure on either side. So nogo for us without pro and since we hold to 4th class ascents. Here's some additional info from our exploration, re ascending the South side of the ridge from Kilpacker Basin trail by departing uphill on grass just as the trail leaves the forest. This route works great to avoid the talus slopes of the Navajo ascents described by Wentzl and Prinner, but half way up slope to 13080', it changes to flat plate talus that moves as soon as touched. Not too dangerous except perhaps for an ankle bruise, but annoying as hell and tiring too as you slip back often. So, no relief for those seeking a better route here, and not sure why that was not reported earlier. Photo Notes: 1) Overall sunset view of West Ridge, showing red conglomerate knob prominent at midpoint of ridge. Note eroded columns showing South, which continue across the ridge and must be climbed. 2) Closer view of red knob directly in front of us, but not revealing the eroded gap in the ridge at end of the grey foreground. Sorry we left without better pix of it! 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 8/21/2024, By: tiffts16
Info: Did a trial run from the Kilpacker Basin Trailhead and with the weather looking nice, started at 3pm. Everything through to near-treeline was a very nice trail with rolling up and downs. The crossing for Kilpacker creek was a bit spicy with a small log that wasn't the most stable but it was still doable. The creek is almost low enough to jump across though. Was able to reach the summit by 6pm and were the only ones up there after seeing the last group descending about 0.75 miles before the El Diente/Mt. Wilson split. Route finding on the way down was much more difficult than the way up but made it back to treeline about dusk and it was nearly completely dark from the Creek back to the trailhead, so glad we had headlamps. Back to the trailhead at 9:15pm. Time up: 3 hours, 30 minutes at summit, Time down: 2:45. 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 8/19/2024, By: lauradaughtry
Info: I wanted to warn everyone of a mountain lion that my party of 4 and I spotted on the trail about a mile into our trek from Kilpacker, around 5am. We ran into another couple later that day on the trail that said a mountain lion had been stalking their camp the day before. It makes sense because of the number of sheep you will see near the trailhead. Be REALLY careful, and go with a group if you can. We got El Diente but didn't risk going after Mount Wilson because we wanted to be sure we made it back to camp with a good amount of daylight left. Other than that, pure summer conditions and a long day await! 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 7/29/2024, By: mspin99
Info: For those looking to do both El Diente and Mt. Wilson the same day and not doing the "Great Traverse," found a lower traverse with a couple I ran into at 13,100' that saves a few hundred feet from going down to the turn-off. I haven't seen much on this 'lower traverse' outside of mention of it by WildWanderer on one of her trip reports (I think she was going the other way though if I remember correctly). Either way, probably easiest to accomplish from El Diente to Mt Wilson. Once you are below the cliffs with the black water marks, just follow the path of least resistance at around 13,100' until you get to a loose scree gully that is no more than 15-20 feet. Once you get down that, the Mt. Wilson route and some cairns are right in front of you. As for current conditions, no snow issues on either route. Mt. Wilson snowfields are totally avoidable. Just check every handhold and foot placement on these peaks (particularly Mt. Wilson) -- everything is loose. 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 7/22/2024, By: Istoodupthere
Info: Good but overgrown trail in spots to treeline. Trail runners and pants got soaked in the morning. Slog of talus traversing and loose rock up to the ridge. Some slippery frosted talus below the ridge. Above the red rock rib the route finding was tough but there are multiple ways you can go. At the top of the grey gully there was a move that felt like class 4. Otherwise everything manageable class 3. About 10 other people out there taking advantage of the great forecast. No mosquitos. The little bit of snow left is all avoidable 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 7/12/2024, By: Lucas Pattie
Info: There was no snow of real consequence on the south slopes route. Mainly just a few sizable snow banks just above the El Diente/Mt. Wilson route junction, which can mostly be avoided.