6/8/2025 Route: Southface Posted On: 6/13/2025, By: scott_steele Info: We approached via Snowmass Creek and camped at the lake. The creek was mostly dry, aside from a few well-consolidated snow drifts between the switchbacks after the log jam and near the lake. Starting from camp at 2 a.m., we made our way toward Trail Rider Pass. The snow was punchy in a few spots but generally supportive with snowshoes. A sun crust from the previous day made night travel a bit easier. Expect to spend some time route finding when moving from the lake up to the pass in the dark when most of the trail is still snow covered. After crossing the pass, we initially attempted to traverse the rock fields but quickly realized it was worth losing some elevation for easier travel on snow. The gully leading up the south face offered straightforward climbing with crampons and an ice axe, except for the final 50–100 feet where the snow became less consolidated. At that point, we transitioned to scrambling. The rock up top was typical for the Elks, loose but manageable. We summited around 7am -- what a stunning peak. On the descent, we got a solid glissade in coming down from Trail Rider Pass. By mid to late morning, the snow had softened considerably, and even with snowshoes, we broke through a few times. Note: our original objective was the X Couloir. However, it didn’t appear to be in condition. The snow was not continuous, and from the lake, we couldn’t tell whether the exposed rock would be Class 5 (we had no rope or pro) or something more easily scramble-able. We also weren’t able to get a clear line of sight on Hagar’s Way. |
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10/11/2024 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 10/11/2024, By: gcook33 Info: Summer conditions. This is a great route, a lot less loose than expected (but still keep your wits about you since its an Elk). We roughly followed Brads descent route as we ascended. We actually descended the Southeast face. Theres a lot of options, but we found an area where there was a good mix of slab, tundra, and dirt gullies. |
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9/29/2024 Route: south face Posted On: 9/30/2024, By: TheseThousandHills Info: Snow free on the route |
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7/14/2024 Route: Southwest ridge Posted On: 7/15/2024, By: ryansunshine20 Info: Very fun ridge. No snow to deal with. Look at brads trip report and take his route up the grassy slope from trail rider pass trail. Someone coming down Saturday said the gully that goes right to the lake was terrible. |
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6/29/2024 Route: Southface Posted On: 6/30/2024, By: dcsheldon Info: Hiked Hagerman after camping at Geneva Lake. We had lots of rain on Friday night but everything cleared out Saturday morning. Made for a sloppy hike but the wet dirt was better for getting up gully 2. We followed the Southface route and went up the green Gully 1 and then up Gully 2. Going up Gully 2 we avoided the snow. There is a faint trail to the left of the snow as you go up and we opted to do that. Brought crampons and ice axe but never used them. Getting up Gully 2 takes more time than you think when looking at it from the base. We went up Gully 1 from the Geneva/Trail Rider junction and this was mostly in snow (without postholing). Microspikes and hiking poles worked great and we made great time walking on top of the snow. Starting the hike you cross a stream on the north end of Geneva Lk and I used swim shoes to cross. I didn't see a way to get past the stream and keep your boots dry. The first mile after the stream has areas of snow but you can get through that without traction. |
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5/4/2024 Route: Southface Posted On: 5/5/2024, By: Snow_Dog_frassati Info: Conditions are pretty great if you're trying to ski this one at the moment. South face line was punchy going up but pretty good after it warmed. Snowmass Lake was frozen enough for us to trust to cross. However the melt even over 24hrs along the entire route was incredible. The march dust layer seems to have revealed itself lower down. We started from the standard Snowmass TH and had to hike about 4 miles in before putting on skis. I would expect that walk to get longer. I would say we lost about a quarter mile of the approach snow to melt in just 24hrs. On that note, log jam was pretty snow covered but it is melting out fast. The creek also can still be crossed pretty easily if you take shoes off etc. Hagerman is in from the summit at the moment. X Couloir may be an option but it looked too corniced from the lake so we opted to go up and around trail rider pass. |
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9/30/2023 Route: SW Ridge from Geneva Lake Posted On: 10/1/2023, By: Laxer04 Info: Summer conditions. Aspens are popping but likely another week or so before peak. We went up the SW ridge from Geneva Lake and descended the gulley below the Hagerman / Snowmass peak saddle. Like much of this range, the rock sucks. The descent from Hagerman over to Snowmass took very careful route finding on rotten, loose rock. |
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9/7/2023 Route: Southface Posted On: 9/10/2023, By: tonythetiger Info: Climbed Hagerman's south face from the high camp around 11.5K mentioned in Roach's description. The campsite is adequate but marginal. The nearby creek was running but in drier years or later in the season that may not be the case. The south face climb up the loose gulley was not much fun but was not as bad as I expected. Spectacular views from the summit! |
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8/20/2023 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 8/20/2023, By: cloudkicker Info: The Southwest Ridge is the most fun route on this mountain. Stay on guard since its still the Elk range but the route is way less dreadfully loose than some people have hyped it to be. This route instantly vaulted this mountain into my top 10 favorite 13er climbs. We gained the ridge from the Trail Rider side, sharing the route of the south face until leaving it to gain the grassy slope to the ridge. (The descent route from Brads TR). Way better than ascending that 1100ft of suck from near Geneva Lake. Youre on good trail for longer and its mostly easy (steep) terrain up to the ridge from Trail Rider. The only really loose parts on the ridge are the first 100-200ft up the first tower on the ridge, and the last 200-300ft below the summit. But its not hard to pick good lines that keep the loose rock risk down. Everything in between is a joy to scramble on a highly aesthetic ridge. I am really not sure why anyone would even bother with the face route. Apparently the rock rib left of the widest gully on the face route is super solid (props to Scott for adding it to his 4PL trip!), but I cannot imagine that way being so much better than the ridge that one would go out of their way to avoid such an awesome scramble in search of the sketchy 2+ terrain of the standard route . You do you though. Summit register was wet and unusable sadly. |
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8/13/2023 Route: Southface Posted On: 8/13/2023, By: ScottLovesRMNP Info: Tacked this peak on to my 4-pass loop backpacking trip. The whole thing was super fun & beautiful. Wildflowers are spectacular right now! I followed Roach's South Face route and it goes at Class 2+ as stated. Unless you stay directly in the gullies, the rock is much less loose than I've seen suggested by others. I found a rock rib next to the gullies nice and solid, easy scrambling, and a quick up-and-down. I do believe a South Face rock rib is the easiest route up Hagerman. |
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7/29/2023 Route: SW Ridge Posted On: 8/4/2023, By: blazintoes Info: Joe from Chicagos finisher. Team of 5 on this ridge was a bit of cat and mouse. The gully up from Geneva Lake was the worst part. Once on the ridge its loose but the quality improves the higher you go. The final 300 was steep and loose. We saw CheapCigarMan, I think coming down the south face. The final push is best if you spread out. Many kicked rocks. We had the summit to ourselves and celebrated. We headed down the south face and decided to take the longer but better defined 4 pass loop section to North Fork. There is one river crossing at the end. |
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6/23/2023 Route: Snowmass Lake via Trail Rider Pass to SouthwestR. Posted On: 6/29/2023, By: ReggieBop Info: Lots o sner. Trail rider still covered for a bit - way more snow than last year at this time. Southwest Ridge is dry, very climbable. Recommend at least microspikes, crampons wouldn't hurt. Probably by now, no ice tools needed. See my trip report for more info |
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6/11/2023 Route: Southface Posted On: 6/13/2023, By: gluckhikes Info: Great snow climbing conditions - traction but no flotation needed. Road is washed out and snowy soon after the junction for Lead King Basin (around a mile from the TH). Best to park at the campsite just before the junction. It's a long 4wd to get there. Often narrow, some large puddles, but the Tacoma did just fine. The road and trail are mostly dry until the final switchbacks that climb up to the upper basin and Geneva Lake. The lake is mostly frozen and surrounded by snow. All campsites are in snow and likely will be for a while. Water can be filtered from the inlet stream. We started the climb at 5am and easily navigated over to the Hagerman basin and put crampons on before the steeps. Snow was good for crampons and we used a mix of front pointing and side stepping on the upper face. The summit ridge is a mix of rock and hard snow, along with an avoidable gaping cornice that's ready to cannonball any day. Snowmass Mtn looked like prime ski conditions as well. |
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5/28/2023 Route: Southface Posted On: 5/29/2023, By: kyrawhitworth Info: The most challenging day in the mountains for me yet. Parked 0.5 miles up the road from Crystal after which was not passable due to snow. Road was patchy then patchier as we neared Lead King Basin TH (we thought there would be consistent snow, nope). From there it was a lot of side stepping over snow patches. Consistent snow from about 10.5K. Geneva Lake is very snow covered (nice snow bridge to cross above the lake). Camped on snow and woke up at 2am. Skinned through most of the trees which were difficult to navigate in the dark. Dropped skis before we entered the gully on the S face. Snow was firm so crampons were great but man was it steeper than it looked. Husband stayed more on the rocks. Massive cornice on the ridge but it was easy to tell where not to step. Excellent summit views (8:30am). Descent via the same gully as on the way up (snow was soft enough by this point but it wasnt comfortable to glissades). Picked up our skis and descended back to camp on skis (yay). Pack out was much more melted out and extremely exhausting and we didnt get back to the car until 6:30pm. Ill post a trip report with more details soon! Also does anyone know the story of the dudes cabin just after the bridge before LKB TH? |
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10/19/2022 Route: SW Ridge Posted On: 10/21/2022, By: markf Info: Entire peak is dry until the summit. No spikes required. |
