4/30/2022 Route: From Hoosier Pass Posted On: 5/1/2022, By: dleflar Info: Started from pass at 7:30 am. Snow pack is thinning out in trees but was solid in the morning. One could have navigated through without snowshoes heading up early, but the return trip was a soupy mess and was glad I brought snowshoes. Once to treeline snowshoes are not required and ridge line can be navigated by picking your way through remaining wind blown snow. Hoosier ridge summit is basically clear at this point with maybe 1/2" of crust in spots. Red Mountain still holds a considerable amount of snow, while Red Peak to the east was pretty much scoured clear. |
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4/18/2022 Route: From Hoosier Pass Posted On: 4/18/2022, By: ncxhjhgvbi Info: A lot more fresh snow on the route than when I scoped it out last week. I started at 8:00am and I wore my snowshoes to 12,700 cause the risers were nice and there was enough snow. After the warm temps this morning though I just carried them back down to treeline before donning them again. Floatation will definitely be helpful to get to and from treeline for a while longer. Ridge was straightforward, still about 60% snow but not a nuisance. Didn't use traction. Super windy, but only once felt like I might get knocked over. |
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3/27/2022 Route: From Hoosier Pass Posted On: 3/27/2022, By: Carl_Healy Info: Hit this today along with Red Mountain A and Red Peak C from Hoosier Pass. Well packed track through most of treeline, though snow shoes were still helpful both one the way up around 7:00 AM and on the way down in the afternoon. Stashed them at treeline. Beyond treeline I'd say the entire route may have been maybe 60% dry, and the snow that was there wasn't too troublesome. Didn't need snowshoes or spikes at least to Hoosier Ridge summit. Great day weather wise too. Only saw one other hiker on the ridge with a beautiful German Shepperd (Drogo) For info on part of route from Hoosier Ridge Summit to either Reds see those respective peaks. |
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2/13/2022 Route: Pennsylvania Gulch Posted On: 2/19/2022, By: B_2 Info: Hoped to skin up to saddle but continuous snow ends 150-200 feet below saddle. First few miles of the trail are well traveled and well packed. The trees on the north shoulder of Red C are riding fat, we cut fresh track in foot-deep pow for 1.5ish miles up to the cirque. Snow is deep in this lower angle section and snowshoers would potentially struggle. There are several terrain traps to be wary of in this section. Gained ridge skinning on higher steeper chute to East of lower saddle which was 30-35 and very icy and required ski crampons. All wind-blown booting from saddle to both Reds. East side of Red C from summit is filled in and is a very tempting ski but snow is wind drifted and crusted and 30-40 deg so decided no go. Descended from HR saddle after a mostly dry boot up HR then over to Red Peak in the 60-70mph wind which was not super pleasant. Climbed a little on the exit to East to gain better position for fun ski down. More terrain traps to watch for here as you are under the steep East ridge of Red C and there are many gullies and convexities. Picked our way down the terrain getting about 10-15 min of ski fun for our labor. Then the rolling ski/skate out. Long but satisfying day. Finding that our photos are crap, sorry. |
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1/30/2022 Route: From Hoosier Pass Posted On: 1/30/2022, By: swilson753 Info: Used snowshoes from TH to a few hundred ft above treeline, then spikes the rest of the way. Lots of knee-hip deep powder in the willows at and above treeline. Ridge above the first high point (12800) is half dirt, half windblown snow. You could probably boot it after the willows. Bluebird day and only a moderate breeze. Saddle from Hoosier summit to Red Mountain has significantly more snow than the rest of the area. Pictures of Silverheels and Red Mountain attached. |
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1/10/2022 Route: From Hoosier Pass Posted On: 1/10/2022, By: -wren- Info: Silverheels/Hoosier/Reds in great condition. 19 miles (seems high) and 6k total. The gist is a deep approach, up to about 11,800, that will require snowshoes or skis - stops there if you take the climbers right side of the ridge/slope up to Hoosier/silverheels turnoff but continues to 12,300 if u bear left. Mostly negligible snow afterwards, with sections of deep stuff that doesn't need snowshoes. Spikes will be helpful for ascent of silverheels which is a steep loose climbers trail covered in 2-4 inches of sugar snow, and one steep bootpackish section going up red mtn. An axe would be nice on that section of red as well, it is a solid 30 degrees or so. Was nice to have one but poles would also totally suffice. Stay far left on it and there is no avy hazard, but definitely stay away from the rollover on the right side - could definitely cause a slide, maybe below you but maybe not. Get after it, the gettin's good! |
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12/12/2021 Route: From Hoosier Pass Posted On: 12/13/2021, By: gluckhikes Info: No need for traction or flotation. The road is well-traveled, and after a couple hundred feet of shallow snow around the willows, the ridge is mostly dry and windblown. |
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10/22/2021 Route: From Hoosier Pass Posted On: 10/23/2021, By: asueagle02 Info: Minor snow, mostly boot-packed, from Hoosier Pass to the split with Silverheels' North Spur route. Heading north towards Hoosier summit, the first bump above 13,000' is holding snow on both south and north sides. I did not use traction here (but could have); gaiters were helpful for shin-deep postholing (sunny and 40-ish degrees). After the first bump there are only short stretches of snow, mostly on north facing pitches. Snow is usually mixed with loose talus, so watch your foot placements. |
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6/12/2021 Route: From Hoosier Pass Posted On: 6/12/2021, By: xcrunner365 Info: This route is dry save for one easy to cross 15' long snow patch. This is NW of point 13,201 on the ridge. |
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4/24/2021 Route: Horseshoe Basin/Northeast Face Posted On: 4/24/2021, By: Chicago Transplant Info: Skied after skiing Red, had come down Red to where the east face flattens out then skinned up to the Hoosier/Red Saddle. Was able to skin the whole way to the summit by going through the rocks in a few places. Skied off the summit along the north ridge until it starts to roll into the north east face. Some sharks that I had to traverse through before the bowl opened up below. I stuck skiers left closer to the ridge to avoid any potential slides in the bowl, the snow was drier than Red's east face and skied really well, but I did slough some snow on my first turn above the bowl, hence the caution as the route steepened below me. Horseshoe exit is flat and sticky, lots of work. Two short (10 feet tops) dry spots on the road that I just walked through. Summit to car door without taking off the skis, just the way I like it! First photo is slopes to saddle from bottom of Red ski, Second is ridge, Third is looking down decent from above sharks, Fourth is looking back from Horseshoe Basin exit, Hoosier Descent on left, Red Descent on right. |
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4/10/2021 Route: From Hoosier Pass Posted On: 4/10/2021, By: mtngoatwithstyle Info: Parked at Hoosier Pass at 9am. Solid snow all the way to the ridge with the occasional windblown pockets that one needs to look at because they may have been from other hikers who have postholed and it is filled with soft snow. I went around them. Wind and gusts were consistent, 30mph and it caught me off guard how cold I felt even though I was dressed with layers and what I thought was "warm" clothing. Made it to PT 12,800 and turned around. I felt cold and the wind was not going anywhere today. I think I saw fresh tracks from a hiker before me, but did not see anyone. By the time I made it down around 1:00pm, snow was already softening and percolating. Beautiful day regardless!. |
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1/1/2021 Route: From Hoosier Pass Posted On: 1/1/2021, By: HikesInGeologicTime Info: Well-trenched to ridge. Mostly able to stick to rocks after that. Had traction and flotation; did not use either. |
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12/26/2020 Route: From Hoosier Pass Posted On: 12/26/2020, By: weakenedwarrior Info: Bluebird day today with minimal wind on the way up, got a bit stronger on the way back but nothing too crazy. The service road is hard packed snow. Didn't need traction nor flotation although flotation could have been helpful to go down from the ridge back to the service road. The ridge is windblown at times, hard wind crust at other times. Edit: I don't know why the captions are not coming through... #1: The ridge while going up from the service road #2: View of the ridge #3: Looking towards Hoosier Ridge #4: Looking at Silverheels #5: Red Mountain and Hoosier Ridge #6: Hoosier Ridge and Red Peak |
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12/19/2020 Route: From Hoosier Pass Posted On: 12/19/2020, By: daway8 Info: While we didn't bother to summit today I figured upcoming snowflakers might want some beta on the approach. A little surprised to see a fair amount of snow but seemingly few tracks. Followed one set of snowshoe tracks that swung out wide to climbers left of the main trail (which we managed to miss) and followed those tracks as they bushwhacked over/through some willows. On the way down connected with the main trail and found it fairly packed but tracks obliterated by the wind. Need for snowshoes was intermittent - sometimes a packed trail, sometimes hard wind crust, other times sunk a couple feet or more even with snowshoes. Stopped after hitting ~12,800ft on the ridge. Looked like the rest of the way - as far as I could tell - was windblown enough to be largely dry. Very windy. Will upload a few photos. |
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11/17/2020 Route: From Hoosier Pass Posted On: 11/17/2020, By: Sbenfield Info: Did the combination of Hoosier Ridge along with Red Mtn C & Red Pk A. As of today, the route is very windblown and although I carried snowshoes I don't think they are mandatory at all. Didn't use micros either. Lots of ups and downs on this route! |
