Pagoda Mountain

Route: From Glacier Gorge
Posted On: 10/7/2024, By: jbealer
Info: Still dry up there, that gully is a life sucker, bring poles and good luck. i found the upper section to be mostly class 2+, staying ridge direct will keep it at mostly 3. 

Route: Crescent Ridge from Sandbeach Lake TH
Posted On: 9/8/2024, By: Wildernessjane
Info: Summited Pagoda from Sandbeach Lake TH via Crescent Ridge. The ridge was fun but we thought the 5.6 grade was soft (it felt like 5.4 with maybe a couple of 5.5 moves) and the difficulties of the bushwhacking were overstated. We covered the technical section in two rope stretcher pitches from the base of the ridge with a 60m rope. Although we could have scrambled higher up and around before pulling out the rope, we started lower down to get the most out of the climbing section. Also, it took us just under two hours to get to the base of the climb from Sandbeach Lake. The GPS and phone indicated our overall mileage was 18.9 and 18.6 miles versus 15 miles RT as listed on at least one trip report on here. We traversed high above treeline in the basin to minimize shenanigans. We followed the tracks on OnX Backcountry, which are linked to Mountain Project. Overall, it took us just under 13.5 hours car to car with at least half an hour on the summit. I am not the fastest but also not the slowest as far as pace but we were efficient with our ropework. Although not terrible, the descent gully is quite loose and does eat up a fair bit of time. 

Route: From Glacier Gorge
Posted On: 7/13/2024, By: kyrawhitworth
Info: Full summer conditions! Only a couple wet spots in the gully. I swear descending it took longer than going up. There are two small elk herds with calves past mills lake that caused some minor detours so be on the look out! In terms of adjacent peaks, loft was dry on the backside, stone man pass is still pretty snowy, there were a few folks we saw on chiefs head (unsure on the route they took), tons of parties on spearhead. 

Route: From Glacier Gorge
Posted On: 9/23/2023, By: oorg
Info: It was a chilly day with non-stop wind. Given that the area had recently received snow, we brought microspikes expecting ice in the couloir. There was none to be found. There was sporadic ice on some rock slabs we had to cross above Black Lake, but nothing that wasn't avoidable. No need for traction at this time. 

Route: From Glacier Gorge
Posted On: 5/21/2023, By: colin j
Info: Solid freeze in the park last night. The NW couloir features exposed rocks and slabs to navigate at the bottom but held solid snow above 12.1k. There is plenty of snow climber's left on the NE ridge that was pretty soft by 9:30 am. Approach to Black Lake was a posthole fest in the afternoon. 

Route: From Longs, returning to Keyhole
Posted On: 9/9/2022, By: supranihilest
Info: From the summit of Longs we descended the Homestretch and then continued down climbing where it joined the Narrows. In general route finding in this section was easy - it was either steep boulders or too cliffy to be reasonable. A long stretch of open boulderfield came next, which led us to the crux of the traverse to Pagoda, a large cliff. Finding the easiest way down this was easier than expected, and farther to our right than expected. Most of the cliff is obviously too difficult to descend, and the way down is on the left corner of a huge, square cut out of the cliff. This spot goes at Class 3 down large, blocky ledges. The remaining traverse is Class 2 to 2+ on boulders. To return to the Keyhole route we returned to the first, large Key along the Keyboard of the Winds - this Key is the first big one after the cliff descent. There's a big cairn there and the gully down is obvious. It's very loose. We then traversed a good distance to the Trough, all of which was loose, and ascended the Trough to the Keyhole route. The Trough was by far the loosest part of the day. The remaining route was cruiser after rejoining Keyhole. See my Longs CR for additional details. 

Route: From Glacier Gorge
Posted On: 8/5/2022, By: PJ88
Info: The trail is a little muddy past Mills Lake. I didn't stop much from Black Lake until partway up the gully because of the mosquitos. The gully is not fun, but the views at the top are worth it. Summit register is there, but nothing to sign it with. Lots of people across the way on Longs. Started at 3:45AM and back to car about noon. 

Route: From Glacier Gorge
Posted On: 8/3/2022, By: bangerth
Info: All summer conditions. Great peak, with excellent views of the many routes up Longs Peak next door -- if you've done Longs a few times, Pagoda Mountain is a fun to stand on and look over. Now, the gully leading to the ridge is a different issue. That must count as one of the worse mountaineering experiences I can recount. The way up was tedious, the way down was outright terrible. 

Route: From Glacier Gorge
Posted On: 12/4/2021, By: don_solo
Info: Approach from trailhead to vicinity of Green Lake required microspikes. Several low angle ice flows to navigate around between Black and Green Lake. Gully leading up to the notch was dry- only patches of snow near the base. No snow on the summit ridge. Long day- probably would have been more enjoyable with continuous snow coverage in that gully. 

Route: From Glacier Gorge
Posted On: 7/10/2021, By: Alpinefroggy
Info: Full summer conditions. Couloir is dry leading to keyboard. Unknown about the backside. 

Route: From Glacier Gorge
Posted On: 5/9/2021, By: bmcqueen
Info: Climbed Pagoda via the gully between Keyboard and Pagoda. It was still a bit soft here and there. Snowshoes were nice for the way out from Green Lake back to Mills Lake - lots of post-holing potential without them. Used crampons for the Couloir and snowy upper ridge to Pagoda summit. 

Route: From Glacier Gorge
Posted On: 1/26/2021, By: Scary_Canary
Info: Snowy but very calm weather all day, just really cold. Very solid trench from T.H. to Black lake. Helped reinforce the trench for future users. It ain't much, but its honest work. We put on snowshoes once in the upper basin til green lake area. Trenched our way from black lake to the base of pagoda, trenching through willows and bushes was hard at times. Sinking into voids up to the pits sometimes. Blue ice hidden under snow in many areas in upper basin, but didn't deem it necessary to put on microspikes. Lots of trap doors and loose rocks going up the talus slope to the saddle between Longs and Pagoda Deep deep snow from saddle to summit. From base of pagoda to the summit we didnt need or use amy flotation or traction. Axe was handy for a couple spots, but not entirely necessary. From the saddle we put in a trench through waist to chest deep mostly sugar snow. It was trench warfare out there. We rock hopped as best we could, but it was a sad effort. It didn't seem like anyone had been here recently. Not sure how relevant any of this will be as it started snowing pretty hard on our way out. Many of our previous tracks had been covered as we were hiking back out. Re established the trench as best as we could back to the trailhead as all previous prints had been covered up. Did not see a single person the entire day out. Beautiful mountain with views of the keyboard that steal the breath from your lungs.