5/26/2025 Route: Skywalker Couloir Posted On: 5/27/2025, By: vertical_volume Info: Skywalker in good condition still. Mixed wintery and spring conditions, firm down low for fast booting and a combo of fresh snow/unfrozen snow in the top half made for very supportive and secure booting when the line eclipsed 55+ up into the Leia entrance/exit. Couloir started to get sun around 8:30 but it was generally pretty cold, then intermittent clouds to full cloud coverage. Thanks to that window of sun and then clouds we were able to drop the Leia entrance at 12:45 with very grippy and supportive cold snow up top and corn in the bottom half. |
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6/23/2024 Route: Skywalker Couloir Posted On: 6/24/2024, By: slawrence2011 Info: Didn't climb, posting a pic of Skywalker from unnamed lake NE of Jasper lake, apron is pretty out and may be a tunnel, but probably skiable, I did last Sunday. I climbed and skied Phoebe on Neva in good conditions (other more direct couloirs were out), and was able to ski to the base of a snow slope on the N ridge of Jasper, climbed that to 12,5, followed Easy ridge to summit, and skied Northeast face. In for about 500', linked snowfields, then had to downclimb 400' of talus to the lake. Right below the lake, 500' more of great skiing I wasn't expecting. Hike out was brutal, finally gained the diamond lake trail out. |
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6/16/2024 Route: SE Ridge up to Skywalker ski Posted On: 6/16/2024, By: slawrence2011 Info: A bunch of people skiing/climbing skywalker and a bunch of people on the SE ridge, but I may have been the only one who went up the ridge and down the couloir. At least one did the opposite, and most climbed and skied it. All Talus to get to the entry, Princess Leia looks skiable, except all the ski stairsteps from the side step, so I did the same, until I got through the choke. Things were quite soft when I dropped around 11:45. Unfortunately, I hear someone took a whip while skiing, so there were a lot of rescuers out, including a helicopter. I hope everyone is ok. Can ski to around 11K. |
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6/9/2024 Route: Skywalker Couloir Posted On: 6/9/2024, By: colin j Info: Left the trailhead at 3:50, temperature was 36 with clear skies and the freeze in the couloir was ideal. A few short sections of front pointing but snow was generally great for side-stepping and step-kicking. I did the Leia finish; it's getting pretty close to becoming an ice climb; I took two axes but only used my Sum'tec; I'd recommend using two axes or tools though; two bergschrunds are starting to form up. I'd say there's another week or two of great conditions and then it depends on how warm things get. Entered the couloir just after 6 am and topped out at 8 am; I think this was pretty much perfect timing. Traverse to North is still pretty snowy and I turned around at the first crux, give it another week or so and should be good to go. |
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6/3/2024 Route: Skywalker Couloir Posted On: 6/3/2024, By: Logan5280 Info: Climbed and skied the Skywalker Couloir with Clark today. The road is open and plowed all the way to summer fourth of July trailhead. The approach has intermittent snow that is doable without flotation and a bit of post holing, and isn't consistent enough to be skin-able (at least for a while). Despite the warm overnight temps, the couloir had a bulletproof freeze leading to some excellent climbing for the most part. We climbed the upper "escape" exit face as the sun was warming it up, significantly rotting the snow, leading to a hair-raising climb given the steepness. Once on the ridge, we opted to skip the summit in order to ski down the escape face while it was still supportive enough. We did some extremely cautious steep skiing and then were greeted by unwarmed icy runnels in the middle of the couloir. We waited a few minutes for the sun, then side slipped the icy middle third. The lower third and apron had some nice corn, which skied fairly well. It seems like it's difficult to ski this couloir when the entirety is in good condition, but it was still a great outing. The Indian Peaks are in excellent shape right now |
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6/3/2024 Route: Via Fourth of July trailhead Posted On: 6/3/2024, By: Piotr Info: The lower part of trail to 4th of July mine is probably the worst part of this hike right now - 60-70% covered by melting 6ft snow drifts. 4th of July mine area was a post-hole city after 9am. Once you get past the 4th of July mine basin it gets much better, the trail is mostly melted out. The top part from saddle is pretty solid, you can pick your way on the rocks or follow snow patches. |
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10/4/2023 Route: Via Fourth of July trailhead Posted On: 10/4/2023, By: climbingyogi Info: Trail is in great shape! There's some snow on the ascent up to the summit after reaching the saddle with Old Baldy but it didn't really make the final ascent any more difficult. I carried spikes but never pulled them out. Had the peak to myself today and there were only about 6 cars at the TH. It was eerily quiet, even for a weekday. |
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8/12/2023 Route: Via Fourth of July trailhead Posted On: 8/13/2023, By: zootloopz Info: Road to 4th of July has plenty of potholes to slow you down but very few rocks, a solid 2 on the 14ers scale. You can find a clean privy at the TH. The approach to the saddle is well graded and goes quickly. Flowers all the way. Smells amazing. Views are excellent. Highly enjoyable. |
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6/7/2023 Route: Skywalker Couloir Posted On: 6/10/2023, By: glove Info: Got lucky with a hard freeze the night before, zero post-holing on the way in. Started up the apron with crampons on at 7:44 with things still very firm, topped out ~50 minutes later in very soft snow. Several old wet slides on the apron and in the main chute. Descent via the path of least resistance down the Arapaho Glacier trail and a game trail through the willows. Still a lot of snow on the standard trail. |
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5/26/2023 Route: Skywalker Couloir Posted On: 5/27/2023, By: 123tqb Info: The Arapaho Pass Trail has intermittent snow that requires some post-holing. Kind of a slow approach. |
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5/26/2023 Route: Skywalker Couloir Posted On: 5/26/2023, By: stomblin7 Info: Trail has deep snow starting from Trailhead - I'd give a rough estimate of 90% snow covered? We did not use snowshoes today, but were punching through frequently. The sections of trail that are exposed with steep drop offs have significant snow loading (traction would be advised (extremely hard snow), tho we kicked our steps enough for an edge). Allow yourselves more time for the approach than expected. The snow near treeline this morning was very firm/hard. Started up the couloir around 6-6:30 am from where we put on crampons near the lower rocks. Snow was very firm in couloir until sun began hitting it (~8:15 am). We topped out just as the light started touching the top of the couloir. Swam through treeline back to the cars and were too lazy to deal with snowshoes. |
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10/25/2022 Route: Old Baldy and S. Arapaho Peak Combo Posted On: 10/25/2022, By: Jan van Tilburg Info: Road to trailhead was mostly snowfree. The trail up had snow most of the way (came to 12,179ft). There were multiple extremely slippery icy patches on the trail. Microspikes highly recommended. Returned because of high cold wind and very limited visibility. |
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10/21/2022 Route: Via Fourth of July trailhead Posted On: 10/21/2022, By: Piotr Info: Nice and dry, few iced over sections past 4th of July mine, very windy. Found sunglasses on the summit, if you lost a pair message me. |
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8/6/2022 Route: Via Fourth of July trailhead Posted On: 8/6/2022, By: csf-lhiver Info: Started at 4:13 AM to get ahead of forecasted rains. Passed some deer in the dark, could tell by the shiny eyes in the distance lit up by our headlamps. Had an ominous moose hiding in the trees around 11,570', was only able to see its antlers and a dark body and one shiny eye also lit up by our headlamps. Summit had some cool views. A little scramble if you wish to get to the false summit. |
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7/17/2022 Route: Via Fourth of July trailhead Posted On: 7/17/2022, By: k_fergie Info: No CR since 07/04. As predicted in that report (likely the last climb of the season), Skywalker is completely done with just patches of snow in the middle. Standard route (and traverse to North) is 100% dry. Summit register is a complete mess, looked like it had been placed in a thin walled fake-wooden box which promptly broke into pieces. Its literally a pile of fake wood and paper, completely unprotected from the elements. In retrospect, I should've packed out the trash |
