Chiefs Head Peak

Route: weird 13er walk in the park
Posted On: 8/1/2026, By: Geckser
Info: Today Arthurspiderman and I did a ridge traverse from Taylor -> Powell -> Mchenrys -> Alice -> Chiefs Head and down Stone Man pass into Glacier Gorge.

Super fun loop! Mostly writing this CR to say the route is snow free, and that we both found the ridge from the Notch to Mchenrys to be appreciably easier than reported. Maybe easy 5th. We traversed Andrews Glacier and while there is a decent amount of here snow, unless you are overly invested in TAY I think the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. Also the lot was packed when we arrived at 5:30 and likely somewhat earlier.

Happy 150th to this fine state! 

Route: wild basin-alice to chief-sandbeach
Posted On: 7/5/2026, By: jbealer
Info: we took wild basin to Alice over to chief head then down sandbeach. the only snow we could not really avoid was the back side of Alice to get over to chief, we could plunge step down it, or you can hike farther out of the way. the gully up to boulder-grand pass is free of snow, but the slope to the south is still holding a lot of snow, just take the gully. 

Route: From Sandbeach Lake TH
Posted On: 2/16/2026, By: Laxer04
Info: Hiked from the Sandbeach Lake TH in Wild Basin.

The sandbeach trail is dry for the first mile or so and then continuous snow from there. The snow is well packed down all the way to Sandbeach Lake. I didn't use snowshoes or spikes for this section.

Past the lake is where the fun begins. I had to break trail from the lake to treeline and snowshoes were essential. I found an old faint trench and followed that for a little while but quickly lost it. This was by far the hardest part of the hike, with knee to waste high snow in the steep sections. It was really slow going but I made it. Not sure if I took the best route out of the trees but there is a trench there for the taking :)

I ditched the snowshoes after Mount Orton and it was mostly dry to the summit from there. Intermittent snow that was mostly avoidable.

I saw one ptarmigan and an entire crew of bighorn sheep just below the summit. No summit register that I could find but it could be buried under the snow. 

Route: South Ridge from Sandbeach Lake
Posted On: 1/1/2026, By: wstanland
Info: Leaving Sandbeach Lake and breaking treeline is the crux of this in the winter. I attempted to find easier going further southwest, but the snow was deep in the trees. There is a series of meadows described in WildWanderer's excellent TR that I assumed would be full of deep drifted snow, but they were actually mostly bare and what snow was there was very supportive. I wallowed in the trees on the climb, and cruised the meadows on the descent.

I used microspikes from the trail junction with Meeker Park until I broke treeline. The trail to Sandbeach Lake is obvious, but the existing footprints are annoying. Before reaching the meadows on the climb, there is a nasty bushwhack which is tough in the deep snow. Beware the deadfall hiding underneath the snow cover. Snowshoes may be useful in this section, but are not necessary and you won't use them for the rest of the route. 

Route: From Sandbeach Lake
Posted On: 7/18/2024, By: SionaRW35
Info: One minor snow field at tree line which is avoidable. There is a legit climbers trail from the lake to tree line. I eventually found the climbers trail in the early light at 5am but much easier to follow on the way down. Above tree line to the 11er there are cairns to help you avoid the thick brush/willows. On the summit, I rescued the summit register from a deep hole. It goes back to 2016 and is in adequate condition. 

Route: Spearhead - NE ramps and standard route
Posted On: 7/8/2024, By: Kbrown321
Info: CR for The Spearhead. Ascended the NE ramps (or the Zig Zag as the group I met along the way called it) and descended the standard route, both in full summer conditions save a few inconsequential snowfields at the base of the Spearhead. NE ramps was much less scrambly than Id hoped, more of an exposed walk with a few scramble sections that were not super exposed (really only the first moves in the lower ramp had an element of exposure, moves to get on the upper ramp and summit ridge felt fairly protected). Standard route was typical 2+ loose talus fare. For the short kings, theres a hole sneak to the summit block (pictured) that avoids the massive exposure of the final moves on the summit ridge. In general I didnt find routefinding in upper GG to be very hard, good social trails get you up out of the krummholz then you can cruise around the meadows wherever you need to go.

For other peaks in the area, Arrowheads S ramps looked good to go, Stone Man and the backside of McHenrys still had plenty of snow as did the Arrowhead-McH traverse from the looks of it. 

Route: Southeast Slope
Posted On: 5/17/2024, By: PeakMiller
Info: Followed the Sandbeach Lake Trail up until snow and skinned to gain most of Mt Orton and the ridge to Chiefs Head. Snow was not continuous on the SE slope so I booted the rest. Decent snow in Wild Basin still. Here are some of the usual suspects. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 10/21/2023, By: madmattd
Info: Picked up Chiefs Head today to take advantage of this insanely nice weather we're having - I'm guessing conditions will change soon. Basically summer conditions to Lion Lake 2. I initially thought I could go up one of the gullys from near Lion Lake 2 to the "North Ridge" (actually the South ridge) of Chiefs Head, but once on-site, none looked appealing (actually they all looked awful!) so I just went up from the Alice-Chiefs Head saddle. A few patches of snow mixed in gaining the ridge to the saddle (seriously, take the ridge, ignore the gully!). Minor snowfields here and there in the lower 1/2 of the ascent from the saddle, but nothing more than a couple inches deep - if one were so inclined, there's probably a way to avoid all snow. One fairly exposed move just below the summit with a couloir going way down into Glacier Gorge under the step between a couple solid boulders - if things looked looser I would have been looking for a different line but the ridge is quite narrow here for a short stretch. Stunning views towards Longs as mentioned in TRs and such.

Ledges on Longs looked to only have spotty snow, same in the lower part of the Trough (I'm going to guess more snow higher in the Trough). Narrows looked completely dry, and I did catch at least one person near the end of the ledges with my camera. I would guess the Homestretch is also dry given all the South faces are all but bone-dry in the area.

I also intended to climb Alice, but the North-facing Hourglass Ridge looked a little too spicy for my tastes today. Boulder-Grand saddle is also full of snow with a mini cornice right now, so Alice would likely need to be done as an out-and-back from the Alice-Chiefs Head saddle. 

Route: South Slope
Posted On: 7/22/2023, By: dleflar
Info: Went up over Mt. Orton and back down via Hunters Creek. There is some snow still on the east side of the Ortons North Ridge hanging down into Hunters Creek but totally avoidable. Summit is melted off and the marmots are acting pretty ballsy. Had one try and sit in my lap as I ate my strawberry sugar wafers. 

Route: “North Ridge” from Sandbeach Lake
Posted On: 7/4/2023, By: ReachingHigher
Info: Beautiful hike with minimal snow. We used spikes to cross a short but steep snowfield in the trees between Sandbeach Lake and Mt. Orton, but you could easily go around. It was a long day but so worth it! Pictures: #1 Chiefs Head from Mt.Orton, #2 Lion Lakes Valley, #3 Mt. Alice/Hourglass Ridge. 

Route: Southeast Ridge via Castle Lake
Posted On: 9/13/2022, By: supranihilest
Info: From the Wild Basin trailhead we took the excellent Thunder Lake trail to Lion Lakes trail. We took the trail as far as Castle Lake (the horseshoe shaped Castle Lake, not the tiny Castle Lakes to the south), crossed its south side, and headed up the right side of a steep, treed slope next to a large cliff. The slope took us to Chiefs Head's broad southeast ridge, oddly labeled "North Ridge" on maps. The majority of the ridge is open tundra with embedded boulders. This shifts to Class 2+ scrambling up steep, large boulders basically all the way up to the summit. There's multiple ways up the boulders, pick whatever you like. The boulders are generally stable but some caution is required. 

Route: Lion Lake
Posted On: 6/22/2021, By: dbolton
Info: Climbed Chiefs Head from the Wild Basin trailhead via Lion lakes and the saddle between Alice and Chiefs Head. Minimal snow remaining in the trees, easy to navigate to Lion Lake. It looked like the normal route by Trio Falls still had a lot of snow, so I veered climbers right starting from Lion #1 and went up a slope to the right of the entire cliff band. Staying to the right of all the lakes I didn't encounter any significant snow crossings. Summer conditions once above the lakes. 

Route: From Sandbeach Lake Trailhead
Posted On: 1/31/2021, By: bangerth
Info: The trail to Sandbeach Lake is pretty well packed, and one doesn't need either flotation or traction (though on the way down I wished I had put on my microspikes).

The real work starts at the lake: The steep slope to Mount Orton. We spent more than 3 hours for 700 ft of elevation from the lake, digging through snow so deep that one generally sinks in to the knees and sometimes to the hips even with snowshoes. It was an incredible amount of work just to make it to 10,925 ft -- only half the elevation from the lake to Mount Orton, and still more than 2500 ft of elevation from Chief's Head.

By that point, it was past 1pm and we called it a day. Much fun was had, it was good exercise, and it the views of Meeker, Longs, and Pagoda were incredible.

On the positive side, the trench is in -- use it, and improve it for us as we're thinking of coming back next weekend :-)

Pictures:
#1: From the overlook by Allenspark. Chief's Head is center; Pagoda just sticking out its head; Meeker taking up a lot of space.
#2: Looking down onto Sandbeach Lake
#3: Meeker (right) and Longs (left)
#4: That's how deep the snow was; he's wearing snowshoes, just to be clear. 

Route: Via Sandbeach Lake
Posted On: 12/6/2020, By: LetsGoMets
Info: Chiefs Head is in great condition from the Sandbeach Lake / Wild Basin side. Mostly packed trail to the Lake, bushwack up to Mt Orton ridge is pretty quick and in good shape (solid steps through the snow in place), final tundra / talus push to Chiefs Head is mostly wind blown / minimal snow to deal with. I took flotation and traction and used neither. ~17 mile day from this side. 

Route: Southeast ridge
Posted On: 10/10/2020, By: Jay521
Info: From Lion Lake - clear and dry but the loose gully up to the ridge isn't exactly easy....