Apache Peak

Route: Apache Couloir
Posted On: 6/22/2025, By: slawrence2011
Info: Biked to Long Lake th, road totally dry but gated a mile before for some reason. Intermittent snow immediately, but mostly dry until around Lake Isabelle, and basically continuous past it, with about 3 short talus sections near lakes past it. I don't know how it is still continuous to 11K here when so much higher elsewhere. Lower snow was a bit suncupped, and all very supportive til early afternoon. Snow quality in couloir was very flat for mid June, though super soft when dropping at 11:30. I then climbed and skied Navajo snowfield which was very nice around 1:15. Then skied to the lake, after going too far skiers left and having to reascend. It is easy to miss the small access ramp to the lower snowfield, and if you do there are no others. Does anyone know if airplane gully is ever in for skiing? Sure didn't look like it yesterday, and I have never found a report of someone doing it, or where it looked good. If not, and since the entire S side closed with the Boulder watershed, is the Navajo snowfield the only ski descent? 

Route: Queen's Way
Posted On: 5/21/2025, By: ckaplan5
Info: Road thinning between Red Rock and Brainard. Overnighted at the CMC cabin and left at 415 for Queen's. 10mi and 9 hrs RT to cabin. We topped the couloir around 930 but didn't complete the short summit ridge to true summit due to timing concerns amongst group members. New snow was consolidating but still weak. Steps were punching through even early while in the couli around 0800; but manageable overall, besides some minor and sparse point releases. 

Route: Queens Way
Posted On: 5/5/2025, By: SchralpTheGnar
Info: Minor snow patches from winter closure to beginning of Brainard Lake. Road fully snow covered before the bend to Lost Lake Trailhead. We hiked the road and it was over before it started. We were able to hike on snow with no issues all the way to Lake Isabelle. Started skinning at the end of the lake in good conditions before switching over to bootpacking, we wore crampons too, but not really necessary, but since we had em, hey why not. We had somewhat of a booter for follow to about 1/2 up queens way where either the previous party turned around or the steps were filled in, the conditions were variable, new snow not fully consolidated, but manageable. The upper face was even more variable, some real firm, almost ice underneath the recent snow on the solar aspects. The snow refroze with the clouds that came in so the turns on the upper face were survival skiing, but we got good spring pow on the right hand side of the couloir. My GPS had us cover 16 miles in 11 hours with 3,600 vert. 

Route: Queens way
Posted On: 7/22/2024, By: Trotter
Info: Queens way is still in! No snowshoes needed on way in. Trail is 99% dry and snow free. Traversed to Navajo, remaining snow not an issue. 

Route: Queens Way
Posted On: 6/24/2024, By: stepholm25
Info: Long lake TH still closed but road is fully dry. Pretty dry until Lake Isabelle and then a mix of snow and mud. Summitted a little before 10 AM and dropped closer to 10:30. Couloir skied nicely but probably would've dropped earlier. Mainly because the lower snowfields were getting pretty gross. I strapped a pair of brown Merrell Moab's to my pack and unfortunately they fell off somewhere between Lake Isabelle and the mini lake above. If found, please email schshizal@hotmail.com! 

Route: East Ledges & Navajo via Airplane Gully
Posted On: 9/10/2023, By: L1zzz1ee
Info: Started from the Brainard lake parking lot at 0800. Used the Isabel Glacier trail to the upper unnamed lake. I feel like I missed the East Ledges. There were some ledges but lots of uphill climbing that seemed more difficult than class 2. Traversed over to Navajo skipping Dickers Peck. Enjoyed the difficult downclimb and chimney ascent. The airplane gully was more mellow than expected. Back to the car by 1530. 

Route: Queens Way
Posted On: 7/9/2023, By: kyrawhitworth
Info: Most dry with some snow crossings to the lake/access to the couloir. Very filled in at this point and was in great shape. Snow travel from there to just below the summit. Absolutely stunning surroundings. 

Route: Queen’s Way Couloir
Posted On: 7/8/2023, By: sarahmariekirk
Info: This couloir has been on my list since a friend told me about it last year. So when Kyra, Ryan and Luis invited me to climb Apache I could not turn it down! It lived up to all of the expectations. Insanely beautiful views of the surrounding peaks, and fantastic conditions today. The snow quality was perfect for kicking in a solid staircase up the col, and so much fun. It is definitely still in, and still very skiable. It was definitely the easiest part of today - we climbed Navajo via the traverse right after. I will post peak conditions separately. 

Route: Queens Way Couloir
Posted On: 7/2/2023, By: theodore_jm
Info: Started at 4:40am from the Brainard Lake TH, biked to the Long Lake TH, wore trail runners until a bit past Lake Isabelle (the trail was mostly dry; there were a few snow drifts that had firm footpaths running through them, and most of the muddy sections were avoidable with careful stepping), then switched to skinning (I had to carry my skis through 2-3 gaps in the snowfield), and then started booting with crampons and ice axe at roughly 12,200. I reached the false summit of Apache Peak (13,351) at 10:00am, saw clouds moving in, and opted to descend sooner rather than later. The snow was soft (in retrospect, I would have started earlier) and I had to watch my sluff carefully and let it pass. Finished my day at 1:15pm back at the Brainard Lake TH parking lot, which was pretty much full, and as I drove past the winter TH, I saw that it too was packed. CalTopo gave me a total distance of 14.4 mi and 3,300 elevation gain. 

Route: East Ledges From Long Lake
Posted On: 9/21/2022, By: Abominabl31
Info: I enjoyed a fantastic last day of summer climbing Apache Peak via the East Ledges route. Overall, the route was dry, free of snow and very pleasant. Safety note for this report: I did hear lots of small pebbles melting free of Navajo Glacier, which is above parts of this route. I also saw one large watermelon-sized stone fall from the North face of Apache, tumble rapidly across the glacier ice and then bounce all the way across the boulder field below to the other side of the tarn. It's speed and distance were quite a sight! Perhaps it was a rare occurrence, but here's info for your personal decision making. I reckon there are at least two ways to ascend from the boulder field below the ledges and gain the first, gravely ledge. Choosing this initial ascent to the first ledge seems key since once that's attained, you can quickly move away from under the Navajo face and glacier. One ascent takes you closer to Navajo Peak and places you on the first ledge with more of the Navajo Glacier to traverse under. I didn't pick that because of rockfall concerns. I chose a route to climber's right that gains the first ledge further from Navajo's face and with much less of the glacier above while traversing. I do try to stay away from looser looking faces and fields of more recently fallen and less lichen-covered stone. I spoke with another climber who had taken the ascent closer to where that rock tumbled. He would have been in its path had the timing been ill. Here's a picture describing my route in green and the other climber's, whose path the rock crossed, in orange. There's likely many more ways to safely climb this area. Rockfall is undoubtedly a hazard of different levels in this entire area. Be safe and have a great climb! 

Route: Queen's Way Couloir
Posted On: 6/20/2022, By: jfm3
Info: The current snow conditions are the same as the post from 6/19. I wore mountaineering boots (La Sportiva Nepals) for the whole day. The snow has a soft upper layer but it was still supportive after 12 PM today. In general, any thin snow near talus is unsupportive. The larger snowfields & couloirs are still in good condition. Several creek crossings have snow bridges. The upper snowfield on Apache, above the couloir, was rather wet and granular. The sun aspect on this part of the mountain is more exposed than the main couloir. The approach trail from the parking lot to the west side of Lake Isabelle is a mix of snowdrifts, mud and running water. 

Route: Queens Way
Posted On: 6/19/2022, By: Wimyers
Info: Really soft snow all day today, despite a light freeze last night. Mostly good, continuous snow from Isabelle glacier to summit. We got a late start but the weather was cloudy all morning long so the snow conditions were stable; if the route had been in sun we would have turned back at the couloir entrance. Started at 5:30am and the approach took us a bit longer than we anticipated, 2 hours from trailhead to glacier. 7 hours total car to car. We glissaded from near the summit to the glacier and made it down in about 15 minutes. Seemed like perfect ski conditions. 

Route: Queens Way
Posted On: 5/1/2022, By: blazintoes
Info: IPW is the most underrated range in Colorado or I was stymied by the celebrity sightings today. Stupefied by grandeur my awesome crew of 3 blitzed up Queens Way and suggested Supra needs a tip jar for kicking the best steps up and plunge stepping down making for the easiest couloir climb before the next storm rolls in. The eerie calm before the storm was deafening silence. From the top you see Kasparov to the right and lower you'll see Mohling. Amazing views from the top! The gate opens June 11th and it's 5k to Long Lake TH from the winter lot. The snow was perfectly consolidated all the way up. Snowshoes never used and crampons came in handy before climbing to the upper tarn. Seems like everyone no matter their mode of travel had a good day! 

Route: Mohling
Posted On: 8/28/2021, By: blazintoes
Info: Not wanting to deal with the Brainard permit we chose to approach Lone Eagle's Solo Flight via Monarch Lake/Grandby knowing the added distance however on good trails. Beautiful weather and awesome partners made this a worthy outing. Lone Eagle is well cairned and the remaining traverse looks formidable. There's no water until you get back down. We brought a 30m rope and gladly rapped off Limbo. The webbing is still in descent shape and we left a biner. Scrambling ensued and the climb up Iroquois was super scary no matter if you chose the far left ledges or up the spine of the gully as rocks were merely held in place by wet sandy mud and/or moss. This section aged me 5 years. The summit proper was an easy boulder problem. After George pk we chose to descend a gully to its left and despite the looseness turned out to be a great escape to the Wheeler basin where we refueled. Another 2000' descent and we found a common use faint trail that meandered southwest. We ate all the fresh raspberries and even a wild mushroom. With the deadfall in Wheeler the mere one mile bushwhack to Wheeler trail was horrendous. Eventually we found the final 7 miles back to Monarch mindless. Maybe the wild mushroom helped. A 23 mile day was a bit brutal but completely worth it! Super fun ridge traverse! 

Route: Brainard Lake
Posted On: 8/19/2020, By: nilaoire
Info: Snow only in a short section as you cross the South St Vrain creek at about 11800 ft, otherwise the climb if Apache is your only goal, is snow free.