El Diente Peak

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 7/4/2024, By: sfreytag
Info: Maybe 3 or 4 snow crossings that you can't avoid. Early in the morning they are iced over and sketchy. Probably want some kind of traction for early morning but axe isn't necessary. Later in day no traction needed for the slush. One small snow crossing on summit push has good steps kicked in and feels secure without traction. 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 6/24/2024, By: ashleyhardick1012
Info: Snow patches that were unavoidable in steep sections made this route a bit sketchier than it should be and increased difficulty with route finding. Two patches in the summit push involved some 3+ to 4 moves that arent on the original route. I would advise giving it a few more weeks for the snow to melt. 

Route: Navajo Lake Approach
Posted On: 6/11/2024, By: jas0nleslie
Info: Please see update on Mt Wilson for the werds. 

Route: Rock of Ages Approach
Posted On: 5/27/2024, By: gingers101
Info: El diente conditions 5/27 from Pt. 13540 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 5/28/2024, By: jfm3
Info: Snow starts just above the last stand of trees in Kilpacker Basin and is continuous up to the ridge. I attempted "South Wilson" but got a great look at the south side of El Diente. Snow was in great condition for crampon and ice axe use. There are some old avalanche paths on both sides of Kilpacker Basin with frozen debris at the bottom. CAIC says there haven't been any reported avalanches in the San Juans for a few weeks so the consolidation is well underway. Some intermittent waterfalls are frozen on the cliffs and I did hear occasional rockfall. The Kilpacker approach has a lot of snow in the trees that was supportive in the morning but soft in the afternoon. Snowshoes necessary for the hike out. 

Route: Navajo Lake Approach
Posted On: 5/19/2024, By: LeftyGriffin
Info: Almost no snow from TH to merge with Kilpacker Trail (~2.5 miles in). Consistent snow to Navajo Lake after that. Pictures from the lake looking towards El Diente and up valley towards Gladstone 

Route: Rock of Ages Approach
Posted On: 5/6/2024, By: jas0nleslie
Info: Snow all the way from RoA TH up to both the ROA saddle and the ED ridge, via North Slopes. Floatation required. The north-facing couloir coming up to the RoA saddle was ankle-to-knee deep, and so was the North Slopes couloir proper, all the way up to the saddle. The snow made route-finding difficult to ED summit once past the obstacles on the south side of the ridge... 

Route: Mt. Wilson and El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 12/31/2023, By: paulbarish
Info: Stunningly beautiful! Somewhat heinous. Deep postholing with lots of trap doors in the talus. More so than your typical winter 14er sufferfest it felt like lol it wasnt as bad when I could use my track on the way back. The cruxes are mostly dry and the whole route is just a great time. Snow is very stable. These are new 14ers for me and I have to say this is one of my favorite 14er routes Ive done! Have fun and go get it! 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 10/22/2023, By: ericahlstedt
Info: Conditions were dry, west ridge was super solid and fun, not unstable like other routes ive read about. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 9/28/2023, By: Sandi N
Info: Summer conditions on the south side. As soon as you cross over to the north side of the ridge, you'll hit snow (not visible until you reach it). On the first part of the north ridge, we felt good traversing the snow with microspikes (photo 22 from the route description). From the last notch to the top (picture 23 in the route description), we felt traversing that was significantly more dangerous and just missed the summit. An ice axe may have been helpful. Even with the current warm weather the sun isn't hitting this section so the snow and ice likely aren't going anywhere on any high north-facing slopes. 

Route: North Buttress
Posted On: 9/18/2023, By: colin j
Info: Patchy ice and snow above 12.8k; I turned around a little above 13k. Some very large boulders will move if weighted; check holds carefully. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 9/12/2023, By: HJack20
Info: Attempted a day hike from the Kilpacker trailhead to summit El Diente via the south slopes route, with the option of doing the traverse to Mt Wilson (and down Mt Wilsons southwest slopes) depending on how we were feeling. Approach is well kept and marked, although the first 3 miles dont involved much elevation gain. The class 1 talus field between roughly 11,000ft and the junction at 12,600ft is well marked but drags. Between 12,600 and the red rock rib (13,500ish), the class 1/2 route is well marked with cairns through the talus field. At the gray gulley, the route improves to class 3 with plenty of loose rock to slow things down. Under the organ pipes and up the gulley to the ridge crossing is well marked with some loose rock as well. However, upon crossing the ridge to the north side (around 14,000ft), we were met with a fresh blanket of snow that had likely showed up the previous night. It did rain pretty much all night down at Kilpacker, so we figured this was probably the same perception. The route from the ridge crossing to the notch was doable, although there were a few sections where some snow covered rocks had to be traversed. Unfortunately upon passing the notch, the conditions significantly worsened; the final gulley to the summit was covered in consistent layer of fresh snow. Despite the footprints in the snow indicating a rabbit had crosses it successfully, we determined it was unwise to continue. Would it have been possible? Maybe. But without any snow gear and experience, it just wasn't worth the risk. The picture attached shows the snow covered gulley. Having to turn around at 14,050 with around 100ft to go is disappointing, but the sunk cost fallacy shouldnt affect decision making heavily when dealing with potential life threatening risks, such as a snow covered gulley. Unless the snow melts, both the north and south slopes route will be affected by this, as the routes are concurrent here. The El Diente to Mt Wilson traverse also covers this route, but that implies you already summited El Diente (unsure about the snow coverage on the north buttress route). From visual observation, the route of Mt Wilson southwest slopes appeared to be covered in some fresh snowfall, but I dont want to make any definite conclusions there having not done it. If anyone wants to chime in with their experiences with climbing in snow without gear, based on the picture, what would you have done? 

Route: North Buttress
Posted On: 9/10/2023, By: shapovalovm
Info: Started at Navajo TH -> North Buttress to El Diente -> Traverse to Mt Wilson -> down North Slopes -> back to Navajo TH. Start 6:15am, back to car by 4:50pm. North Buttress route has lots of loose dirt and rock. Please triple check every rock before using as a hand/foot hold. Closer to the summit I also found it pretty easy to get into class 5 terrain if I got off route. You'll get there, at the end of the day you just climb the rub up, it's just a matter of what difficulty rock you'll be climbing. The traverse is not bad, but all that loose rock is annoying. I accidentally kicked off a few rocks that looked very solid and ready to bear my weight (Please scream "Rock!" even if you don't think there's anyone/any route below, you never know). As a result, the progress was painfully slow (~90 min?). Down N Slopes of Mt Wilson: same story. Nothing serious, just very slow because all that rock is moving. I think I only descended ~1200' in the first hour, which is slower than I usually go up. My initial plan was to also tag Wilson Peak (just 1600' extra gain), but I couldn't see more of that loose rock any more. 

Route: Mt. Wilson and El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 9/4/2023, By: blonde_dinosaur
Info: Did a day trip from the Kilpacker trailhead. Route is totally free of snow on El Diente South Slopes. The gully and a lot of the upper portion of the route contains very loose rock. We saw basketball sized rocks come tumbling down the gully. Would not recommend El Diente on a holiday weekend and it's a reminder to be mindful of the people below you. We attempted the traverse despite so-so weather and ended up getting graupeled on and managing wet 4th class terrain - also do not recommend this. The hardest part route finding for our group was the crux, especially when wet and with graupel. We ended up going further right once we were halfway up the wall to easier terrain. We finished the actual traverse but did not bag Mt. Wilson - the wet rock posed too much risk. Mt. Wilson's Southwest Slopes route is still holding snow, but it can be avoided by going over loose boulders, so pick your poison. PS- if anyone finds a red Salomon filter for a water bottle on the traverse, close to Mt. Wilson, please message me :) 

Route: North Slopes
Posted On: 8/30/2023, By: Wentzl
Info: El D North Butt from ROA no longer has any snow on the route. While on the traverse to Mt. Wilson I met two people coming from Mt. Wilson planning on descending N Butt. If they are on the site, I would like to hear how their day went. Finding the way down from the summit would be tricky as it is not well marked and several lines look tempting.