El Diente Peak

Route: North Slopes
Posted On: 5/21/2018, By: Gatsby
Info: Navajo Lake approach clear of snow to the lake. We encountered mud and some snow patches traversing around the lake, but no traction required. S. facing talus slopes to access the upper basin are also clear.

North slopes of El Diente were getting nuked by sun early, but snow conditions were fine for climbing until the final E. facing aspect up high. Crampons and axe necessary - we each had an axe and a technical tool, and wouldn't have wanted less.

Traverse from the saddle to El Diente contains some exciting snow slopes and funky rock. Section to Mt. Wilson is spicier - lots of loose rock, snow ledges, and hidden ice. Turned back 100 ft. below the summit of Mt. Wilson due to storms and time.

Ski descent conditions were not favorable. Graupel, rain, and falling temps made for difficult snow in the N. Slopes main couloir.

Be careful up there - it is still full value mixed conditions. 

Route: Mt. Wilson + El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 1/4/2018, By: dereferenced
Info: Here's one more report to say that winter has yet to hit the san juans. I did the el diente to wilson traverse, from kilpacker basin, in goretex trail runners and microspikes. Ice axe wasn't really necessary. I carried boots and crampons all day, just in case, but never needed them. It should still be in super easy conditions tomorrow, then getting a little harder after this weekend's snow. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 10/9/2017, By: AnastasiaC
Info: Dry terrain and summer conditions until 13,700 where we had to navigate through patches of fresh snow, which didn't cause any problems. Once we crossed to the north side, it was a whole new ballgame. We came prepared with our winter mountaineering gear, which would have done absolutely nothing to aid us. We decided to turn around 100' below the summit. The snow was way too loose and unconsolidated for crampons and ice ax. A climber we met on our way down was able to make it slightly further, however he also turned around due to impassable snow in the notch before the summit. 

Route: North Buttress
Posted On: 9/18/2017, By: LoneLobo
Info: Ascended El Diente's North Buttress route, then traversed to Mt Wilson and took the North Slopes route down.

There was roughly 3" of snow on the north sides of El Diente and Mt Wilson. Otherwise, the conditions were optimal and typical for mid-September climbing. Beautiful!

For anyone planning to do the North Slopes route on Mt Wilson, please be on the lookout for an iPhone that my climbing partner, Tim lost on our way down.

I created a trip report here:
https://14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=18266 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 9/9/2017, By: kayleenann8
Info: Approach is dry and clear. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 9/9/2017, By: kayleenann8
Info: Dry and clear! Wear a helmet as there is loose rock. We had some folks on the ridge above us knocking stuff down. 

Route: Mt. Wilson + El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 9/9/2017, By: kayleenann8
Info: Traverse is dry and clear. Was a blast! Wear a helmet. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 9/5/2017, By: Blue6String
Info: Only a couple of small, easily avoidable snow patches left (for now). One just above the junction of the trail to SW Wilson, a good marker for the turn up the slope, and a steep section in the final gully that be be bypassed going climbers left until you can safely step over it. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 8/28/2017, By: MountainMo
Info: Gully after 2nd notch, just below summit, still has snow/ice but you can bypass on climbers left next to snow. Great route. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 8/15/2017, By: alyannkar
Info: I only ascended this way. There were very few snow fields to cross and they could be almost entirely avoided depending on whether you want to scramble around them or not. In the early AM, they were all solid ice and traction was necessary. All the rocks were covered in ice early in the morning, as well, which made the ascent and traverse a little more interesting. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 8/11/2017, By: RWSchaffer
Info: Only a few snowfields still cover small portions of the route, and these are avoidable. 

Route: Mt. Wilson + El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 8/10/2017, By: zinj
Info: These were 14ers #57 and #58 for two of us. This infernal 14er list is now "finished"!

From high camp near Kilpacker Cr.

Nearly full-moon start at 3:40 am gave way to brutally foggy conditions in the a.m. All three of us made the classic error of turning too soon to face El D. The consequence is a lot of unnecessary (but fun) climbing of cliffs and fins and some traverses of hard-ice snowfields. One of our group summitted TWO pinnacles on the ridgeline before finally finding the summit block where the other of us had wandered.

Traversing W to E past the Gendarmes was a nightmare as we couldn't see where we were going (visibility was about 75 feet) -- consequently a lot of backtracking, upclimbing, downclimbing and "unnecessarily difficult" route choices ensued. On the ridgeline, we got a slight break in the clouds, were on the coxcomb before we realized it and upon arriving at what was billed as the most difficult climbing of the traverse, kind of shrugged it off as not as difficult as what we had endured up to that point by wandering off route so many times.

Saw (and heard) some guys coming up the N slopes route to Mt Wilson, but we exited the summit to the South before they got there. Descent of Mt. Wilson to South STILL has a lot of snow on it. it's suitable for late morning glissading even without axes. Ascent up that route, particuarly earlier in the day) would be unpleasant enough without crampons I don't think I would have continued if we had ascended that way. Not too steep, just lots and lots of snow, followed by loose scree and dirt once onto the the 'dry' bit of the pitch.

The traverse was a great adventure, but was drawn out in some not so fun ways by the severely restricted visibility. I wonder if the Gendarme passage would have been more evident coming E to W? 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 7/18/2017, By: PedroCO
Info: Still quite a bit of snow above the turnoff at 12,600'. I listened to the prev reports and enjoyed wearing crampons and using my axe for a good portion of the climb until the gully before the organ pipes. There's another short snow field just before the summit, which I skirted by climbing the rock on the left (class 3). 

Route: North Buttress
Posted On: 7/7/2017, By: merrion13
Info: Approached from a campsite at Navajo Lake. We had attempted to do traverse today; conditions were ideal in the morning and we were on summit of El Diente by 8:30.

A couple of warnings: About 3/4 of the way up the buttress, after the V snowfield, you have to straddle a roughly 20 foot snow knife edge that is very steep on either end. This was just before the slabs/chimneys, and was definitely sketchy (we had ice axes and Hillsound spikes and those were much needed).

Other warning would be the downclimb off the summit to the traverse. Still steep snow on the way to the notch and some snow covering the trail. I was on some of this snow and it gave out, causing me to tumble about 20' above a dropoff. Definitely rattled me, and after the organ pipes, I got off the traverse and popped back on the north side, downclimbed the North slopes, which still have extensive snow and was steep from top to bottom. 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 7/9/2017, By: jonandmalia
Info: Lots of snow along upper part of route. Picture attached is at 13.3k', after traversing a large snow field. There was a lot of snow going up to Mt Wilson too.