Gray Wolf Mountain

Route: Guanella Pass
Posted On: 6/27/2025, By: Danger_D
Info: Definitely a little boggy after leaving the Bierstadt trail, but not nearly as bad as I feared. Glad I brought boots instead of trail runners, but if you're smart you can stay mostly dry. No snow, and tons of wild flowers! Lots of traffic on Bierstadt but I was the only one on Gray Wolf 

Route: East Couloir
Posted On: 5/24/2025, By: BiggasPanda
Info: East couloir still goes and there's no cornice at the top. Was a long day since Summit Lake is closed, but this mountain was calling me. It's a beautiful line. 

Route: Summit Lake TH
Posted On: 7/3/2024, By: Ssgustafson
Info: Only a couple small and easily avoidable snow patches on Gray Wolf above the saddle with Spalding. Otherwise summer conditions. 

Route: From Guanella Pass
Posted On: 3/7/2024, By: Will_E
Info: Good conditions on Gray Wolf today, in the morning there was a trench along the road with just an inch or so of fresh snow. I didn't need snowshoes until leaving the road, I followed a skin track that went toward the gully up BS, I branched off towards GW, the willows weren't terribly bad, just a few post holes. Kept snowshoes on until probably 12,800' or so when the rocks started popping out. Went over to Spalding as well, hadn't been there before. On the way down a snowmobile had put in a track along the road. Day started out warm and sunny. Clouds, snow and sun came and went off and on all afternoon, but not much accumulation on the way down. Very little wind today. Nice day. 

Route: South Chicago Creek
Posted On: 2/3/2024, By: Joshmduffy
Info: Hiked from Highway 103 as Hefferman Gulch road was snowed in. Bootpack 1.25 mi to South Chicago Creek, bootpack up trail approx half way to treeline, added snowshoes, some packed in and a couple of ski tracks down. Once the "trail" ends, it was post-holing thigh to waist deep snow breaking trail where the trail ends to above tree-line. Very slow going (1.5 hr to go 0.5 mi). Above tree line it was windblown, hiked to the top in hiking boots. Sunny and warm most of the day, breezy on top. 9.75 hours round trip, 12mi, 4,300 ft vertical 

Route: From Burning Bear TH
Posted On: 1/16/2024, By: 14ercooper
Info: Preface this as "this was before the crazy snow and wind this weekend", so the conditions could be wildly different now. Posting mostly since past conditions can sometimes be helpful even after a storm. Parked at a pull-off near Burning Bear TH on the 285 side of the pass (didn't want to deal with any potential I-70 traffic), and skinned up the road to the pass. There was enough coverage, though some spots were thin and I wouldn't be surprised if the wind this weekend stripped them bare. Dropped into the trees along what CalTopo calls South Clear Creek and did a gear swap to crampons (a bit overkill, but my boots don't take microspikes and I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to hit up high thanks to it still being dark at this point), and started booting up the slope to the saddle between the two 12ers almost due west of Gray Wolf Mountain (both of which I did summit, though I think only one of them is ranked). I then followed the fairly windblown ridgeline to Gray Wolf Mountain, making sure to stay a little ways away from the cliffs in case one of the 120mph+ wind gusts knocked me over. The ridgeline was fairly dry, and I didn't need any flotation (and could have gotten away with microspikes or possibly no traction) above where I dropped my skis. Bierstadt didn't look particularly skiable if you like your skis. Return route was the same, skied down the road where possible with a few short walking sections over thin patches along the road. 

Route: SW Slopes from Guanella Pas
Posted On: 9/9/2023, By: cdgibbons
Info: daway8's trip report for this route is excellent; I followed it as closely as I could. Some slippery frost on the boardwalk early in the morning; fall is coming. Unexpected obstacle, and highlight of the day: right where the Evans trail splits off from the Bierstadt trail, I encountered five, very large bull moose grazing and making quite a racket crashing antlers through the willows. Took a long break until they moved on before continuing- certainly raised my level of alert and attention as I worked my way through willows that I couldn't see over. 

Route: South Chicago TH
Posted On: 7/18/2023, By: ColoNativeGal
Info: Summer conditions. Once the main trail ends about 2 miles from the TH, marked by the old rusty mining parts, you start your bushwhack, but there are social/animal trails to follow and some cairns along the way. Pretty simple to just stay left of the willows in the trees and keep making your way up to treeline. Once you break out of the trees the willows continue almost all the way up to the ridge. You have some options, cross the willows (doable, pick a line and there are trails through it) or go all the way up to the ridge and follow the ridge line all the way up to the false summit. A few snow patches up top, but completely avoidable. Saw one marmot, pika and a large herd of elk (50+) running down the other gully. Tons of wildflowers! Based on other trip reports you can go up the west gully, so you would need to cross the willows down lower and make your way over to the other gully. We chose to stay in the east gully and loosely followed the route that All Trails shows. I had downloaded a GPX from a trip report on this site (tysm!) and they had gone up one gully and down the other. I tracked 9.5 miles RT and 3600+ ft of gain. 

Route: Standard
Posted On: 3/18/2023, By: sarahmariekirk
Info: Hiked Gray Wolf Mtn today with Kyra and Ryan - I snowshoed while they skinned. Theres a pretty decent trench in right now, but it was miserable for me in the willows and through the trees. Blowing snow today filled it in a bit, but its better than nothing! 

Route: Guanella Pass
Posted On: 3/18/2023, By: kyrawhitworth
Info: Skinned up to the end of the trees (thankful for the skis as we avoided the willow post holing) and opted for boots and spikes. One in our party had snowshoes and faired pretty well with only a few bad spots. Some fresh snow up high but rocks and grass still poking through. Very cold day but sun was shining! Followed the climb13ers route pretty closely and that worked out well. 

Route: SW slopes from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 2/8/2023, By: Jay521
Info: While I put in a pretty good trench, you will likely need snowshoes from the cutoff from the Bierstadt trail at the rock past Scott-Gomer creek. I did not take the best route up the one little wall so you might want to choose your own. 

Route: North Slope
Posted On: 2/5/2023, By: PeakMiller
Info: We skinned up Hefferman Gulch Rd from Squaw Pass. We used the S Chicago Creek TH/Trail until we basically got out of treeline. Once we got to 12k the rest of the way was pretty bare so we left our skis and put on trail runners. It was pretty damn cold and the wind was fierce, but we got to the summit before noon. We skied windblown snow on the N slope until treeline and then had sugary powder back to our ascent tracks. From there we cruised the trail and road back to the car in like 20 mins. Besides the wind it was a pretty fun day mixing it up with some skiing and hiking. 

Route: Via Guanella Pass
Posted On: 1/7/2023, By: daway8
Info: I'll fill out the recent Evans & Bierstadt reports with my Gray Wolf report. Also came from Guanella Pass but had a slightly different take than the others. The road is super well packed down as is the trail going to Bierstadt. I never felt any need for snowshoes or traction until leaving the Bierstadt trail. I didn't take any of the bypass routes, just stayed on the road the entire way. I did confirm some very minor avalanche activity at the first switchback (will add some photos later) but not currently a major concern. For those into skinning it should be perfect except for the last little bit that was blown dry but there was still snow on the side of the road that would probably work ok. Apparently I have Joey_parm to thank for putting in a trench through the willows across the meadow (turn left after the lake and a ways after the boulder when you reach a flat meadow with now a trench through it). Followed his tracks until it was time to turn off for Gray Wolf. Trenching uphill through willows was not a lot of fun but not quite as bad as I feared. A time or two I found a game trail or once an old remnant of someone's Spaulding/Evans track from a ways back but mostly had to pay my own trenching dues after poaching Joey's trench across the meadow. One slightly sketchy spot midway up crossing over a snow covered stream/pond where I could hear water running below but never punched through. Once above the willows it was easy going but still a long trek. No real avy danger anywhere on the route besides that first switchback. Had a little bit of whoomping and cracking among the willows but only on very low angle terrain where it wasn't a concern. Followed my tracks back so there is now a pretty solid trench if a bit meandering. Will seldom find better conditions in winter for tagging Gray Wolf (also super easy access to Spaulding, Sawtooth and Evans from here - did those a couple winters ago using this approximate route but orphaned Gray Wolf). 

Route: From Guanella Pass
Posted On: 11/25/2022, By: snacktime
Info: Guanella Pass is still open. Beautiful day - 30 degrees and sunny, no wind! There was not enough snow to warrant snowshoes. We carried spikes but didn't ever feel the need to use them. The snow down low (willows) was sugary but was firmer (but not ever really an issue) up high. This may be the best time of year to go for this peak, as the water is all frozen, so there's no real risk of getting your feet wet while navigating the willows. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 11/12/2022, By: soxfan249
Info: Not much snow accumulation on the slopes east of the Bierstadt parking area. The bushwhack through the tall bushes from 11,600' to 12,000' is pretty tough work, but it was a great day to be out there. No wind.