Hagerman Peak

Route: SW Ridge from Geneva Lake Trail
Posted On: 6/23/2026, By: jbealer
Info: We took the lower road for lead king basin in a Tacoma truck, no issues (not from crystal mill). We camped at the TH. the trail to the lake is straightforward, we did have a stream crossing on the backside of Geneva lake, boots/socks needed to be removed. no need for spikes or axe, they just took a hike with us. we took the grassy patch up that is the normal return route, up to the ridge, its really nice. we took ridge direct from that point to the summit with just a few sections of dropping off it on either side but really not that far off. The route as you know takes all your focus to test most of everything you touch, we ran into more loose rocks on the way down then we did on the way up. We took an earlier gully back down and made our way back to the grass gully to get back to trail rider. Was a great weather day. Saw 3 other people heading to the Southface below us as we were heading back down the ridge.
forgot to mention, if you head up, bring some paper for the registry it had one small not in great shape paper in it. 

Route: Traverse from Snowmass
Posted On: 6/14/2026, By: notidealbutfine
Info: See my Snowmass Mountain peak conditions update for more info on the approach/climb on Snowmass proper. From the summit of Snowmass, I descended to the low point between Snowmass and Hagerman by mostly sticking to the ridge crest, which ended up being very nice class 3. From the low point, I decided to descend a few hundred feet below the ridge crest on the west side for some easier climbing, since there is gnarly looking tower just ahead. A few hundred feet down, I started to traverse the 4 main ribs dividing Hagerman's west face. Route finding was quite tricky, but there are decent ways to make it over these ribs, just look lower than you think. The gullies between the ribs were either iced/snowed up or generally horrible friction slabs I was not willing to get on without climbing shoes. After over an hour I made it to the 4th and final rib, but the direct climbing looked pretty stiff and exposed, so I backtracked to the 3rd rib and climbed directly up the crest for 300 or 400 feet. Climbing the friction slabs directly up the 3rd rib was the crux for me, probably 5.5 or 5.6, but felt harder due to my big pack and lack of climbing or approach shoes (I was in trail runners). Near the top of the 3rd rib, the climbing technicality eased to 5.3 or 5.4. The top had more big volume flake/boulder climbing with fantastic handholds which felt significantly easier than the friction pitches below it. The rock quality on the ribs themselves was decent, but the gullies in between were straight-up terrifying, icy choss. Took me just under 2 hours to complete this .6 mile traverse. Since I was most certainly not downclimbing the route I took, I improvised and descended Hagerman's west side (also EXTREMELY CHOSSY) and met up with Trail Rider Pass to get back to Snowmass Lake. Nice little unexpected lollipop. Certainly a memorable way to finish out the Elks Centennials! Day 1: 6.68 miles / 1,739' gain / 3 hours, 27 minutes. Day 2: 13.75 miles / 5,023' gain / 10 hours, 20 minutes. Day 3: 6.31 miles / 49' gain / 2 hours, 25 minutes 

Route: SW Ridge up, S face down
Posted On: 6/14/2026, By: PedroCO
Info: Parked at 4WD TH at 9660' in Lead King Basin. Left TH at 3:10 AM. Hike to lake Geneva was easy going - clear. Took boots off to wade across the creek on N side of the lake. A fair amount of snow, which was not very firm due to the recent warmer weather, from lake to the saddle around 11,270'. Pretty clear after that to where I left the trail at 11,480'. Took the first valley left (like Roach book) to the ridge saddle at 12,380' First gendarme was loose and steep but climbed it direct - kinda California class 3 (CO class 4). Honestly, this ridge was super fun, even though loose in areas. Staying on the ridge direct had better rock. Decended the S face route which sucked until I put on hiking crampons and downclimbed in the snow, which was much more secure than that lovely elk junk that is sometimes more like rock surfing. Hiked Trail rider pass tr down to the valley, then the N fork Crystal river trail back to the jeep. Had to take boots off again to get across the creek at 9911' - pretty fast water there, so care is advised. 9:23 car-2-car. Fun adventure in a beautiful setting. 

Route: Southface
Posted On: 5/29/2026, By: Jcinco
Info: So I’m backpacking with my ski gear in 9 miles solo for Snowmass. Well, I might as well make it a 2-nighter and see if Hagerman goes. There is barely enough coverage to ski from the summit down to the flats at 12.3k. This required several horizontal ski carries across talus to link the various S Face gullies, but they were pretty short carries.

This looks like it might be a better ski if you were camped at Geneva Lake. Excellent coverage below 12k over there. However, very fun skiing options from Trail Rider Pass down to Snowmass Lake and with careful traversing, you can pretty much drop directly down to camp. South side of Trail Rider pass is dry down to 12k in case anyone is interested in that.

See my post for Snowmass for info on the camping situation at the lake. 

Route: SW Ridge from Geneva Lake Trail
Posted On: 8/18/2025, By: E_A_Marcus_949
Info: Took Geneva Lake trail to where it curves after a meadow around 11k then veered off trail and took the ridge essentially the whole way to the summit. Some side-hilling that is not recommended. Ridge dry the whole way, plenty loose, lots of fun Class 3. 

Route: Southwest Ridge
Posted On: 8/10/2025, By: durkan
Info: South slopes looked to descend dry. Ridge out and back was our option and probably more fun. Maybe class 3 for us for a few spots, but overall goes as about 2+. Dry, no smoke, but some "smoke inversion" toward Aspen it looked like. 

Route: Southface
Posted On: 7/19/2025, By: Thmpsn_
Info: 100% summer conditions. Hiked from Marble, and this was tough. Tons of wildflowers in Lead King. Keep in mind that you’ll likely get soaked from the overgrown plants on the trail with their morning dew. Took north fork crystal river trail instead of Geneva lake, and it was great. Following the prior Southface trip reports to stay on the tundra with an ascending traverse was great. Felt the final scramble was better than I expected, but is very steep and time consuming. Great day! 

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. 

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. 

Route: south face
Posted On: 9/30/2024, By: TheseThousandHills
Info: Snow free on the route 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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!