El Diente Peak

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 + 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 + 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. 

Route: Mt. Wilson + El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 8/22/2023, By: doeeth
Info: So I now understand why most people complete this traverse from El Diente (way more downclimbing when coming from Mt Wilson, class 3-4). The routes on El Diente are loose and challenging, and next time I would opt to ascend North Buttress or South Slopes of El Diente if doing the traverse. To summarize, I hiked up to Navajo lake on 8/19, summited Wilson Peak, slept at my campsite for awhile before starting Mt Wilson North Slopes to El Diente traverse, then South Slope descent into Kilpacker Basin. Due to a conditions/trail review that suggested using microspikes and an ice axe, I brought both (and used neither). I encountered nearly zero snow leading up Mt Wilson North slopes (as well as Wilson Peak). North Slopes of El Diente was originally my plan for descent as it leads to Navajo basin. I had intended to do the route this direction because I was under the assumption that the North slopes route has the fantastic ridge crux climb. However, any route coming from the north, east, or west on the ridge (including the traverse) will climb up, then downclimb this section. The class 4 section was fantastic quality and holds, and was my favorite part of the whole trip. Wilson Peak's summit scramble was also very fun. Anywho, the North Slopes route on El Diente looked like a few hundred feet of chossy nightmare leading to a fractured snowfield. There also was not any obvious trail leading to the base of the suggested gully. I would not recommend this route to any sound of mind human, unless you want to put on crampons after this loose choss field; the snow on North face of this massif is almost bullet proof in the AM. Perhaps in the afternoon it may be tolerable but I did not test this theory out. Doing the traverse from Mt Wilson after camping at Navajo Lake meant that I needed to either reascend to the lake to grab my gear (extra 4 miles and 1,500 feet gain likely) or carry everything with me. So my pack was roughly 20 lbs, plus I filled up 3 liters of water at the base of the North slope, of which I only drank probably .75 L during the traverse, and probably 0.5 on the descent from El Diente after deciding to throw out 1.5 L at the start of that descent. First of all, the route finding from Mt Wilson to El Diente starts out somewhat poorly, but I was able to turn on my phone (low battery) for brief periods to use the GPS map. The section where there is a class 4 chimney was tough to descend with a 20 lbs pack. Lots of loose rocks in this section, which I kicked some down. Most of the El Diente side of the traverse is straight class 2-3, with easier route finding. The final descent down South Slopes of El Diente was chossy, w loose rocks all the way until you get below treeline. I thought the Navajo Lakes trail to Mt wilson had significantly less loose rocks, or walking over huge rocks beds. I did glissade 2 sections of snowfields, with the first one remaining on route, and the second leading to some of the loosest, of route-iest bull crap class 2 and 3 I've had the displeasure of sliding down precariously. All in all, I would not take back any decisions I made on this trip. By day 2, the routes I finally chose were the best for the circumstance. It was a fantastic experience. Kilpacker basin is gorgeous, and Navajo basin ain't bad either. Also took the short trip to see Navajo falls, which is incredible. Probably one of the best waterfalls areas I'd seen in Colorado. Do not take ice axe or micro spikes unless you want to carry an extra 3.5 lbs in your pack. Camping at Navajo Lake and doing all 3 peaks as a camping trip is tough, because not all the safest routes are in the basin. This basin is also considerably colder than any location I've been to in Colorado this summer, even with a blue bird sky day.