9/25/2022 Route: Southface Posted On: 9/27/2022, By: supranihilest Info: A happy little peak with happy little boulders teetering every which way and begging to crush you with love. After descending "Siberia Peak" we went back to Geneva Lake then took the trail towards the forested pass off Hagerman's southwest ridge. We took this a ways past a junction as the trail snaked around a large cliffy section, and when we had a clear shot at Hagerman's south face we left the trail and contoured around the massive rock glacier at the base of the peak, then scrambled (Class 2+) up a couple of mixed grass and rock gullies through cliffs to the bottom of the face itself. From here it's something like 1,800 feet of dirt, scree, talus, and boulders, all at a high angle and all very loose. There's an obvious gully towards the center of the face that looked like it would work but we went in between it and the gully separating Hagerman and Snowmass Peak. There were dirt trail segments throughout the whole thing, but route finding was still a bit of a pain, mostly trying to avoid what was loosest and/or steepest. Every single rock on this thing moves so it was a bit of a tedious experience. The face is rather sustained in how much it sucks, and I wouldn't recommend this peak with more than two people. The summit ridge is short but just about the only solid part of the peak. We scoped the traverse to Snowmass Peak and didn't like how steep and loose it was so we just descended our ascent route back to Lead King Basin trailhead. On the way down I knocked down a block half the size of a refrigerator that took a bunch of other choss with it - be extremely careful no matter where you are on this peak, it's dangerously loose. |
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7/16/2022 Route: SW ridge Posted On: 7/17/2022, By: zootloopz Info: Summer conditions! Up and down the ridge. 7:41 RT from Lead King. Mostly class 3 with some class 4. Rock felt solid enough on the way up, but was more of a problem on the way down with the increased force we were putting on the rocks. Crumbly, pieces breaking off of large boulders, microwave sized rocks dislodging, the works. Ascended west face of ridge. Mosquitoes followed us from geneva lake all the way to the ridge. Hard to take a break without being eaten alive. Descended off east face of ridge to 4 pass loop trail. This way is more gradual but longer mileage. The flowers are insane and HUGE. So good right now. Seemed like all the skeeters were hanging at the lakes. W/ vertical_volume |
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6/5/2022 Route: Southwest ridge Posted On: 6/6/2022, By: Devil_in_sky Info: Essentially bone dry up to Geneva lake. Near the creek crossing on the north end of the lake, snow begins and there is a good amount of snow heading up to the saddle (the last few hundred feet the snow has melted out and I had to deal with a little scree scrambling). The creek is too high to cross by balancing on rocks right now, so i had to just walk across it. On the ridge, there's a good mix of firm snow and solid rock all the way to the summit of hagerman. I did not need snowshoes at all, but also hit it super early. Spikes/potentially even crampons might be helpful getting to the saddle-I used my crampons for this section and it made things a little quicker. Ice axe was nice to have on the way down. Fantastic day on an amazing mountain. |
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8/22/2021 Route: Snowmass-Hagerman traverse Posted On: 8/22/2021, By: jscully205 Info: Did the S-Ridge to Hagerman traverse 8/21 from Lead King Basin. Small amount of snow on the upper mountain but wasn't of much consequence. Staying ridge proper and contouring climbers right to avoid difficult moves keeps it 3rd class on the S Ridge. Traverse itself was pretty tame with the exception of 1 tower that required maybe a 5.2 exposed move on the top out. Really no way to bypass it. There's some also a fair amount of loose rock on it. I suspect it doesn't get done often. Register on Hagerman can use a pencil for anyone going up there. |
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7/5/2021 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 7/5/2021, By: mountainman102 Info: Climbed the Southwest Ridge route from the 4WD Lead King Basin trailhead. Road and route were in summer conditions. The only snow remaining on the SW Ridge trail is a couple easily avoidable snowfields. No need for any winter gear on this route. The South Face route and the East Ridge route also appeared to be summer conditions. Really enjoyed the trail and was quite happy we decided on it over the South Face route. |
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7/3/2021 Route: Southface Posted On: 7/3/2021, By: Dan_Suitor Info: I climbed via lower gully #1 and class 2+ upper gully. Lower gully was filled with snow, but it is not so steep that traction was required. Upper gully had patches of snow, which can be avoided. The right side was by far better than the left. I found out the hard way. No traction, flotation or axe needed. |
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6/27/2021 Route: Hagars Way Posted On: 6/27/2021, By: Eli Watson Info: Summited Hagerman Pk & Snowmass Pk via Hagar's Way from Snowmass Lake TH. Descended S Face and returned back over Trail Rider Pass. Getting around Snowmass Lake on the Southside is a marshy mess right now. You will get wet. As mentioned by the party up Snowmass Mtn today, the snow was excellent. Forgot to check the temperature this morning but last night it was 48 °F. Clear skies after midnight left a good freeze at treeline, and a cloudy morning meant the snow stayed nice and cool all morning, so I let myself sleep in a bit. The clouds broke for a perfect afternoon. Hagar's Way (Photo 1) is in great climbing condition. I was at the bottom of the couloir at 10 AM, and the snow was still pretty bulletproof and icy on the surface, though I was able to get good kick steps in. I used a shorter ice axe that I appreciated having today. There is a bit of fluff from new snow, especially on the top-out but it was manageable. E Ridge to Hagerman summit is 100% dry. Roach calls ascending the upper S Face (Class 3, Photo 3) to reach the E Ridge an "undesirable place", but descending the S Face (Class 2+) of Hagerman from the Hagerman-Snowmass Pk Saddle was by far my least favorite part of the day. I would never ever ever want to go up that without snow. There is some snow hanging around in the middle of the gully that I used at times to descend around noon. It was slushy but I got traction. Splits for Snow References: TH - 5:40 AM (0:00) Northside of Snowmass Lake - 8:15 AM (2:35) Bench - 9:25 AM (1:10) Bottom of Hagar's Way - 10:00 AM (0:35) 13,500' Hagerman-Snowmass Pk Saddle - 10:50 AM ( 0:50) Hagerman Summit - 11:15 AM (0:25) (0:05 Break) Snowmass Pk Summit - 11:55 AM (0:50) Trail Rider Pass - 1:15 PM (1:20) Northside of Snowmass Lake - 2:00 PM (0:45) TH - 3:55 PM (1:55) 22.80 mi, 7500', 10:15 TH-TH. |
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6/23/2021 Route: Southface Posted On: 6/23/2021, By: cochsman Info: Took the high road in and out in my stock 2000 Tundra and it did fine. Hiked from the normal TH at the bottom of LK. Shortcutted Gevena lake to the west and used the log jam to keep my feet dry in the morning. We went by way of the trail, around the east of the lake on the way down and had to ford it. It wasn't deep. Easy route finding the whole way. Climbers right of the larger snow gully proved to be the best. |
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4/25/2021 Route: Southface Posted On: 4/27/2021, By: SnowAlien Info: Approched from the camp at Snowmass lake over Trailrider pass. We were able to contour high around 12,5k ft and gain the face. Booted up from there, there's one choke that didn't quite go, but we were able to bypass it on the ski down. Snow is all the way to the summit. Bad winds that day, so we transitioned just below the summit and took the skiers left line. Kicked off windslab in the gully, traversed one more gully to the left and were able to make continuous turns down to 12.4k, transitioned back to skins and regained the pass. Great corn turns down to the Snowmass lake. 6 hr RT with transitions. Compared to the ridge, I much preferred this peak as a snow climb. |
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3/7/2021 Route: SW ridge from south then down west NW gully Posted On: 3/8/2021, By: blazintoes Info: Hiked up to Geneva Lake with team Snowmass then solo around south to gain the ridge. Went out and back on the tedious class 3 ridge with classic Elk looseness. Snow on the ridge was a bastard. So chose rocks with crampons up and some snow down. Freaking beautiful winter day! The Elks are so dang pretty and pristine in snow. Went down the west NW gully and had perfect plunge stepping conditions. We battled with avy areas up to Geneva and they triggered on the way down. No avy concerns on my route up or down. Team Snowmass found a better way down through the willows and I was thankful on my return!!! |
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9/21/2020 Route: Southface Posted On: 9/23/2020, By: Kitten Info: Summer conditions for the whole route. Ascended the Southwest ridge (fun route, challenging) and descended the South Face (very loose, I would not recommend). Went up from Geneva Lake (camp) to Trail Rider, then gully to access the ridge (route #2 description from Roach). Just a note that the creek is not running any water right now at the junction of Geneva Trail and Trail Rider, so the last source of water would be at the Lake. First pic: ridge Second pic: peaks as seen from Geneva Lake |
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7/25/2020 Route: SW Ridge Posted On: 7/26/2020, By: angry Info: Well defined and easy to follow Geneva Lake to Trail Rider Pass trail to the point where you leave to access the ridge. Rained all night and most of the morning, so we did get soaked in the willows. Ridge felt solid overall. Descended a gully to meet back up with trail which worked great as the dirt had softened in the rain and allowed for some muddy plunge steps. |
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7/12/2020 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 7/15/2020, By: bunny256 Info: Creek crossing at north end of Geneva Lake requires getting feet wet, otherwise completely dry summer conditions |
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6/27/2020 Route: South Face Posted On: 6/28/2020, By: HikerBox Info: A few patches of snow in the trees above Geneva Lake but otherwise it's easy to avoid snow. The south face is divided by ribs separated by shallow gullies that are still mostly filled with snow. The middle rib seemed the least loose but was a little jungle gym-y. I came down the right rib which had a lot of scree and wouldn't be fun to go up. |
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7/28/2019 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 7/28/2019, By: macgyver Info: From Lead King is basically snow free except for a few hundred yards in the drainage before ascending the ridge, appx 11800'. Stream fording after Geneva is unavoidable, 6+" of water. Ridge rock is typical Elk rock - it wants to hurt you on both hand and foot holds if unfamiliar with it. Photo: right is Geneva Lake area, left is the slight snow encountered. The ridge is gained further down at the 2nd lower saddle. |
