El Diente Peak

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 8/3/2019, By: agkotecki
Info: Quite a bit of snow up until the red rock rib. Clear after that. Recommend spikes or an ice axe. 

Route: Mt. Wilson + El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 7/29/2019, By: Misi197
Info: Did Diente and Wilson via the traverse on Sunday, 7/28 via Kilpacker. Did not use traction to summit Diente. There is now a solid option of large, blocky rock to by-pass the snowfield should you want that option. The north side of Diente is still a bit tricky, but increasingly becoming mud, not the mashed potato snow from previous reports. The traverse is 100% clear of snow. (pics 3, 4 and 6) Any thought of leaving the axe and traction goes away at that point however. Upper Kilpacker Basin is still very full of snow, offering long glissades down (pics 1 and 2). If you were to choose to go for Mt. Wilson first (or only), you'll want to start very early. Folks coming up that route at 10:00-10:30 were facing some slushy conditions. Conditions aside...what a beautiful part of the state!! Kilpacker is such a beautiful spot. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 7/26/2019, By: sflohr
Info: Summited El Diente on 7/20/2019. Once up in the basin there was still quite a bit of snow - some parties were getting creative and climbing whatever rock they could find to avoid it but in our case crampons and axe were extremely helpful when ascending to the red rock rib from the Mt. Wilson/El Diente split (and more fun too). Once we reached the gray gully that leads to the organ pipes, it was all dry scrambling on rock until reaching the notch and the north side of the summit ridge. This section had what I would consider to be a pretty sketchy mashed potatoes snow pack obscuring the standard route, but I'm sure with the warm July weather this has receded since. Still, be prepared to improvise or deal with snow should the need arise. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of the north summit ridge - we were primarily focused on safety.

We started from camp (10,500') at around 4:00 am and snow was firm on the ascent, but soft enough on the descent to plunge step without the crampons. Also if you plan to camp bring plenty of bug spray. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 7/9/2019, By: jeffmpls
Info: We left our car in the parking lot of Kilpacker Basin Trailhead at 4:45 AM and expected some added work with all the snow in the San Juan's, and were prepared with crampons and ice axs, but amount of snow was staggering. I don't recall the elevation that we put our crampons on, but it was somewhere shortly after timberline when we traversed several fields before the bigger fields. Over the course of the day we took them off, and put them back 7-8 times and were in snowfields for 7-8 hours during our climb. We made the summit at 11:20 AM, and were back at the car at 5:30 PM, 12 hours & 45 minutes.

My best guess is that crampons and ax will be needed for another 3 weeks. 

Route: North Slopes
Posted On: 6/1/2019, By: climbingcue
Info: Tons of snow in the entire Wilson group. If you want to get some skiing 🎿 in. Great place to do it. Rock of Ages trailhead is 1.3 miles further down the road from where you can park. Just tons of snow. 

Route: Luttrell line
Posted On: 5/17/2019, By: SnowAlien
Info: No consolidation yet on NW aspect, suncrust developed after several warm days, resulting in breakable crust ski conditions (not fun). Fox traverse in great shape, upper chute is ice with a windslab crown. Apron ran big with big chunks of avy debris at the bottom. Pretty sure you can't get any worse skiing conditions than us, so go for it :) 

Route: North Buttress
Posted On: 10/3/2018, By: andrew85
Info: Full summer conditions from Navajo Lake through the summit. Snow patches visible elsewhere on the north slopes, but none directly encountered on the buttress route. If following the route description and looking for the "V" snow-field, it's completely melted out (see picture). 

Route: Mt. Wilson + El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 9/25/2018, By: jahselassie
Info: Still snow on route from last report. Made it slightly more challenging. However, I didn't encounter any moisture other than before the summit of El Diente and on the steep down climb before Wilson. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 9/24/2018, By: Moogie737
Info: The South Slopes route was entirely dry UNTIL we reached the north side from the notch. There was about 2" of snow along portion of the route from the notch to the summit. It was doable but no one from our little group of 5 was in any hurry to throw caution to the wind. Our time from the main notch to the summit was 40 minutes. Some of the snow could be avoided but only some of it. 

Route: Mt. Wilson + El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 9/17/2018, By: CalebMD
Info: Small patches of snow that are few and far between but they are avoidable and not a problem. Traverse was dry and fun, go get it! 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 9/19/2018, By: lukedog
Info: We did El Diente/Mt Wilson traverse from Kilpacker on 9/15 and Wilson Peak SW Ridge from Navajo on 9/16. Really summer conditions throughout. A few bits of snow in very small areas near El Diente summit and on the exposed area between the false summit and summit of Wilson Peak. Most of it was avoidable. We took care on a little that wasn't as avoidable but still didn't need any traction. 

Route: West Ridge/traverse
Posted On: 9/14/2018, By: Wentzl
Info: Snow is a non issue on the west ridge route and the traverse to Mt. Wilson. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 9/12/2018, By: KC Aakhus
Info: Same as previous report, with photos showing very small snow patches in highest, north-facing nooks and crannies. South slopes were completely dry. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 9/10/2018, By: mcklarry
Info: The gulley below the main push is still without any snow.
There is no snow until you reach to top of the ridge and over
Then there is a little snow. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 9/10/2018, By: mtn_clmbr
Info: From Kilpacker to the turn off, trail is in great condition with only 1 tree down past the creek. Lots of scree to start the south slope it's a little bit of a slog but easy to find the way up. The grey gully was pretty easy to find and decently well cairned. Climbing was mostly solid, on the west side of the ridge there was a little bit of snow which made the final traverse to the summit a little more interesting but still doable without spikes. Good weather helped could get more interesting with more snow.