Ypsilon Mountain

Route: Chapin-Chiquita-Ypsilon (CCY)
Posted On: 7/20/2023, By: Rileyhiker
Info: Chapin creek at 530 am. Parking about half full. Hiked with my friend Steve. First time for him and I think he was thrilled. Perfect day, little wind, sun, cool. Did CCY and back by noon. No traction needed just two small patches of snow. Been 10 years since hiking this, but wow its really still breathtaking. Fall River road near perfect too, about 35 minutes up or so. Psalm 104:18. One more note, alpine flowers were about peaking, take time to admire them. 

Route: Chapin-Chiquita-Ypsilon (CCY)
Posted On: 7/16/2023, By: beanchristensen
Info: Fall River Road is now open so we were able to start from the Chapin Creek Trailhead. Lots of construction and potential for traffic getting into the park from that side, but we entered before 5 am so had no traffic delays at all. Great conditions and a fabulous three peak day. 

Route: Chapin-Chiquita-Ypsilon (CCY)
Posted On: 7/4/2023, By: Shooter
Info: Summer conditions 

Route: Donner Ridge via Lawn Lake TH
Posted On: 8/1/2022, By: E_A_Marcus_949
Info: Hiked in via Lawn Lake TH over to Ypsilon Lake - camped at a reserved site just below Ypsilon Lake and climbed up Donner Ridge to Ypsilon Mountain. There was a bull moose at Ypsilon Lake right in the middle of the trail at 6:15am yesterday when we started. Make sure to follow the trail/attempt at trail up to the waterfall below Spectacle Lakes and then climb up the right of the waterfall. Headed up Donner Ridge, which starts as 2 then goes into Class 3+/4 and a 'pick your own adventure' line often before meeting up with connecting ridge from Chiquita - then back to a 2. Zero snow on the route. Rocks get very slippery when wet. Little info on Donner Ridge, so I may write a trip report. 

Route: Blitzen
Posted On: 7/15/2022, By: blazintoes
Info: Finally took the blazintoes up Blitzen ridge and what a blast! A very fun scramble and a little easier than expected however I had a partner who had done it before so route finding was a breeze. Also we shuttled cars. One at Lawn Lake and his motorcycle at Chapin Pass, which is a small pull off 8.5 miles from Lawn Lake up Old Trail Ridge road that is one way traffic so drive the entire road up and over back to Lawn Lake. Yep, this kills some time but is worth it, twice. We launched at 0630 and found the climbers trail off the Yipsilon trail then chose the slab approach to get to Spectacle Lakes. I switched to climbing shoes and we soloed the entire route. The first and second Ace are good warm ups. At the top of the 3rd Ace are bolted anchors if you choose a rope or want to bail because the 4th Ace is where the climbing up is out. My partner chose to go right around the 3rd and I went left. The right is easier. Left is slab. Down climbing the 3rd looks intimidating but trend left for genuine chicken heads. The 4th is best climbed to the right but we found a fun very committing and exposed left variation along sloping blocks and solid flakes with excellent holds. There is another 1400' of superb scrambling after the 4th but it eases and you can catch your breath. Free soloing Blitzen with a good partner is a worthy endeavor and Yipsilon has got to be the best alpine circus mountain in the front range. I've been free up the Y with Marsters, done the Mummy Traverse and now Blitzen. Wow! Yipsilon has something for everyone. Get on it! 

Route: Chapin-Chiquita-Ypsilon (CCY)
Posted On: 9/9/2021, By: Craig Jones
Info: Everything clear, though it seems the heavily cairned route bypassing Chiquita on the return from Ypsilon just peters out in a rock field well before rejoining the route up Chiquita. Also the main route up Ypsilon splinters badly just above photo 17 of the route description--there are actually multiple cairned routes, which can get annoying both going up and coming down. Smoke really degraded the vistas on this date (though there was nearly no wind, a rarity for this route). And NPS folks, if you are reading, the wood and rock stairs both leading to Chapin Pass and from there to the end of of the "maintained" trail are in bad shape. 

Route: Mummy Madness from Fairchild Mountain
Posted On: 7/12/2021, By: supranihilest
Info: From the summit of Fairchild head southwest towards the saddle with Ypsilon. Fairchild's west face is a gigantic and steep mess of huge boulders and talus. To say it is tedious is an understatement. The entire thing is Class 2+ or Class 3, steep, sometimes loose, and with plenty of literal pitfalls if you're not careful. The route's not particularly difficult, but at this point in the Mummy Madness route you've done something like 15 miles and 7,000 feet of gain, so you might not be totally there. Just continue on until you're able to easily make it to more forgiving ground, then follow grass and talus underneath the Fairchild/Ypsilon connecting ridge to avoid much harder scrambling. Once past the difficulties hike directly up steep scree to a break in the snow still clinging to the ridge northeast of Ypsilon. Once on the ridge the difficulty relents to simple Class 2, but it's still several hundred feet to the summit, and well over 1,000 total from Fairchild. The only snow on the route is near the ridge but it's easy to avoid. 

Route: Chapin Pass to Chiquita-Ypsilon-Fairchild
Posted On: 7/18/2020, By: brandon_ritchie10
Info: Started at 0615 and hit the summit around 1000. Strong winds throughout the day and not a lot of other hikers. Completed the hike around 1200, shortly before a storm rolled in. 

Route: Chapin-Chiquita-Ypsilon (CCY)
Posted On: 7/21/2019, By: CHEEBO
Info: Perfect conditions. No snow on the trails. Go get it. 

Route: Chapin-Chiquita-Ypsilon (CCY)
Posted On: 7/6/2019, By: CatsAreMyFriends
Info: There is still quite a bit of snow at the treeline, but the VERY industrious can avoid most of it. Be prepared for wet feet. Spikes and floatation will likelu add nothing, it's just slush. The upper trail of the Chapin slopes has some nasty, steep, razor-sharp snow on a 50-100 yard patch directly on trail. We avoided it by ascending to the Chapin ridge directly. The lower trail is swampy and has intermittent snow cover, but is probably the better choice for now. The ridges are in summer condition. Marmots are brazen and numerous. We saw 6 or 7 male elk about 40 feet off trail, without a care in the world. Also, the road in remains closed until July 12th (I believe?) so add roughly 4 miles and 800 feet of elevation if starting from the Alpine Center. Also, if you headed up in the immediate future, Chapin and Ypsilon need a new registry notebook (a pocked memo book is the largest that will fit), and Chiquita needs an entirely new container and log. 

Route: Blitzen Ridge
Posted On: 6/15/2019, By: seano
Info: Snow was continuous in the woods starting a bit before Chipmunk Lake, and while there was an old bootpack, there was still plenty of wretched postholing in the trees. Blitzen was snow-free where it mattered, and the traverse over to Chiquita and Chapin was mostly scoured clean. There was a bit of thigh-deep postholing descending to Chapin Pass and the Falls Creek Road, but the road itself was plowed to above the pass. 

Route: Chapin-Chiquita-Ypsilon (CCY)
Posted On: 9/11/2018, By: awake
Info: Old Fall River Road is still open for a few more weeks, so access is still good and route is clear. (Watch RMNP's site for more updates). 

Route: One-Way From Fairchild Mountain
Posted On: 8/12/2018, By: supranihilest
Info: I traversed the full Mummy Range and thus did not climb down any route I climbed up. Keep that in mind when reading these Mummy Range conditions reports. The view from the summit of Fairchild Mountain to Ypsilon Mountain is discouraging, as is the view from the saddle between Fairchild and Ypsilon. The down climb off Fairchild isn't all that bad, I don't think I found anything I would definitely call class 3. Lots of steep class 2 though. From the saddle Ypsilon is not climbable directly, probably even with a rope and protection. To reduce the difficulty as much as possible switchback north/northwest up the slopes near Ypsilon until you reach the ridge to your north, then class 2 talus hop to the summit. 

Route: Blitzen Ridge
Posted On: 7/28/2018, By: awatenmaker
Info: Blitzen is all clear and a joy to climb right now. Leading up to this climb, there were a variety of reports about the aces and the headwall (some pretty dramatic). At least for me and my partners, we barely noticed getting through the first two aces (bypassed on the left on the grassy exposed ledges). The third ace is straight forward, just head up the face! The downclimb off the 3rd ace was probably 5th class, but nothing crazy. As for the 4th ace, I read a lot of stuff about heading climber's right for a 5.4 move or two, but we chose climbers left and found a 5.4ish way up the ace after 1 balancey move on some loose rock. The headwall was such a blast to climb, pick a line and go for it! After the headwall, keep in mind you still have a bit to go before the summit. Hope this helps. Route finding was straightforward, and I would agree with the 5.4 rating. 

Route: Chapin Pass to Chiquita-Ypsilon-Fairchild
Posted On: 7/16/2017, By: TheseThousandHills
Info: Snow free