McHenrys Peak

Route: From Arrowhead
Posted On: 8/22/2026, By: sehessler92
Info: Definitely more scrambly and exposed than I was expecting. Was able to keep things mostly class 3 and 4 from arrowhead to McHenrys. The descent down McHenrys to stonemans seemed a bit more convoluted than you’d expect.
When ascending Arrowhead, the leaning rock slab you go under then come up to a steep area to climb up on the right, you can go just a little further and find some more exposed but easier scrambling to the right. The only tough part is a BIG step up on the first move but everything is secure and blocky. 

Route: Stone Man
Posted On: 7/31/2026, By: Sbenfield
Info: Summer conditions 

Route: Up NE ridge down stone man pass
Posted On: 7/3/2026, By: BadWolf
Info: Arrowhead arête/NE ridge is clear, one or two very easily avoidable patches of snow. The descent was clear until I reached stone man pass, where much of the snow is bypassable, but not all. I'd recommend an axe still. Though you may be able to find a dry line, it would be safer/more fun to glissade with an axe. 

Route: Via Stoneman Pass
Posted On: 9/2/2025, By: blonde_dinosaur
Info: Full summer conditions. Routefinding is very challenging and I’m posting this in case it is helpful to others. When ascending towards Stoneman pass, you can either ascend climber’s right or climber’s left below the pass. In the middle are cliff bands. On the ascent, my partner and I chose to go to climber’s right through some rock ribs (to climber’s left of the loose gully) and encountered stiff class 4 climbing with overhanging rock. Unless that is your jam, I recommend ascending to the left instead. You will climb up class 3 rock slabs and the attached photo is where we started climbing. The slabs will eventually lead you to multiple grassy ramps that do connect. You can see the ramps from below. We were not sure looking up if they connected but they do. There are lots of cairns on the route as well. It will spit you out to climber’s left of the Stoneman. You then drop slight left of the ridge and traverse to the McHenrys Peak ridge. This route does not exceed Class 3 and is much better than what we did going up or the really loose gully that meets at the saddle between the pass and McHenrys Peak. Lots of slabby rocks to climb from the trail to the Stoneman pass gullys. Vegetation not terribly wet right now. 

Route: Arrowhead NW face to McHenrys traverse
Posted On: 8/17/2025, By: Kbrown321
Info: Full summer conditions. Agree with previous reports that the whole thing goes at largely class 3 with a few low 4 moves (and any of the harder parts didn’t feel super exposed) using bypasses/routefinding around the hardest parts of the ridge; felt similar difficulty to the Loft/Clarks Arrow.

Mental crux was actually the first part of the climb up Arrowhead’s NW face due to routefinding and some exposure on the ledges. I took a leftward-trending gully up that starts right after the tarn above solitude lake, then cut back right on slabby ledges (all cl3) to access the upper NW face. From there it was a take your pick between slabs/grass or talus to the ridge and summit of Arrowhead. The Arrowhead-McHenrys traverse is classic “easier than it looks from afar”, but is good sustained scrambling from the ridge low point all the way to the summit of McHenrys. I bypassed the two gendarmes on the right and stayed right of the arete on the final climb to McHenrys, otherwise experimented with ridge proper when it wasn’t too spicy. Descended standard route on McHenrys and took the route directly down from the Stone Man from the pass (much nicer than the gully looked).

This was an absolutely incredible route - great scrambling on solid rock and the ability to customize as spicy as you want it. Plus the scenery is outstanding, you’re on the Wave which is a really cool feature plus you’ve otherwise got all the main sights of Upper Glacier Gorge to look at. Highly recommend! 

Route: Stoneman
Posted On: 10/13/2024, By: ekalina
Info: Dry conditions. We took the trail above Black Lake and approached the pass from climber's left, not entering the couloir until we were nearly at the pass. This was more solid than the scree in the couloir, but required care not to pull any blocks out in the couple of brief third class sections we encountered along the way. The route finding and scrambling between the pass and the summit was easier than we expected. There were a number of cairns for guidance, and most of the remaining route was boulder/talus hopping until we passed through the notch/keyhole in the rock rib. From there we ascended some ledges and went up the lighter-colored rock on climber's left. This lighter rock featured the toughest scrambling of the route (still class 3) and some loose rock, but both were brief. On the way back we reversed the route, except we didn't take the pass but stayed near the ridge until just past the stone man and then followed cairns down. This deviation featured wonderfully solid rock with occasional short class 3 sections and is already discussed on this site (see first TR below). Both of us greatly preferred it to stone man pass.

Helpful trip reports:
https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=20562
https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=21864 

Route: Arrowhead/NE Ridge to Stoneman Pass
Posted On: 8/4/2024, By: colin j
Info: Summer conditions. The South Ramp of Arrowhead has a short 4th class section and is a good way to gain the ridge. With good route finding the ridge can be kept 4th class but there is a lot of 5.fun options to take and this is now one of my favorite ridge scrambles. Stoneman pass still holds an avoidable snowfield; it's easier to just go around it compared to bringing an ice axe.

These days Glacier Gorge trailhead is filling up by 4:30 on weekends. 

Route: Stone Man
Posted On: 7/24/2024, By: Torgotant
Info: Climbed today. Followed dboltons excellent Trip Report up to the Stone Man ridge. All snow avoidable or inconsequential getting to the ridge. Backside (south face) of McHenrys is entirely snow free except a small snowfield in the final gully past the keyhole. Though this too is entirely avoidable.

Took the gully from Stone Man Pass down. While there is still a lot of snow lingering most of it is avoidable by a foot wide path along the wall (climbers right). One section of sketchy slabs with few holds to avoid the soft/steep snow, but this was maybe a 10ft section. 

Route: from Glacier Gorge
Posted On: 6/23/2024, By: WIclimber
Info: Lots of snow in the gully so I followed DBolton's suggestion and climbed straight to Stone Man. Still some steep snowfields to cross on the back side. Snow is variable - some places I postholed, some was slushy but I could kick steps into firm snow underneath, watch for the third kind - iced over and impenetrable. I recommend an axe but did not use traction. Great opportunities for scrambling on solid rock abounded on both sides! 

Route: Stoneman Pass
Posted On: 9/11/2023, By: Samwass24
Info: The route up to Stoneman pass is fully clear of snow. No microspikes needed. 

Route: Via Glacier Gorge and Stone Man Pass
Posted On: 7/28/2023, By: Corey17
Info: Summitted McHenrys today solo with only summer equipment. There's still some snow up there, primarily on the approaches to Stone Man Pass. The main gully used to access the pass is still completely snowed in - the late snow season still haunts us! I incidentally used dbolton's suggested route (https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=20562) to reach Stone Man Pass, and wholeheartedly agree that it's an enjoyable way to access the pass. Class 3 slabs made it easy enough, and it was fun! Some of the lower slabs were still buried in some mandatory snow crossings; they are short and can be crossed without any extra equipment. The last stretch above the pass was snow-free and a delightful scramble! These RMNP 13ers are absolute treasures. 

Route: Notch Couloir
Posted On: 7/9/2023, By: Wildernessjane
Info: Summited McHenrys via Notch Couloir today and descended the standard route (Stone Man Pass). Managed to navigate all water crossings without getting wet feet, which seemed like it was going to be the crux of the day. The couloir is still fat and will definitely be in for awhile. The snow was great for kicking steps (no ice). We topped out at around 9:00. The scramble/5.fun section leading to the summit was entirely free of snow but there was a fair bit of wet slab for us. There is still a considerable amount of snow on the backside of the mountain but we managed to stay on rock for most of the descent until we hit Stone Man Pass. There were a couple of short, unavoidable snow crossings. Crampons and ice axe are still needed for getting up to Stone Man Pass. For pic #3, we stayed high on the ridge instead of taking the ramp and it was super fun. 

Route: from Thatchtop
Posted On: 8/27/2022, By: SnowAlien
Info: Starting from Bear lake, we gained the north slope of Thatchtop to the summit. From there, we took the NE ridge towards Powell (exposed, low class 5). Tagged Taylor and returned to Powell. From there, we tried to stay high on the ridge, but kept getting cliffed out, until eagle-eyed Eric spotted cairns way down below. We downclimbed some low class 5 cracks and took the wraparound ledge that took us to the Notch. Clouds were really building, so we tried to hurry up the gully up from the Notch. From the top of the gully, Eric tried to take ridge direct again, but it looked time consuming, and I spotted a nice ramp on the right side. As soon as we got to the summit, the hiking poles started buzzing, so we took the SE ridge down as expediently as possible. Got graupel and rain and it went on for 2+ hours. We came down the Stoneman pass, traversed the basin above the Black lake and caught the trail from the base of Spearhead. Trail back was very wet, we arrived back to the cars just before 8pm. 

Route: Stone Man Pass
Posted On: 8/14/2022, By: ElBert604
Info: Route is fully dry, gully to Stone man pass seems a bit eroded, is half dirt/half scree. 

Route: from stone man pass
Posted On: 7/29/2022, By: Laxer04
Info: Climbed via Glacier Gorge TH, Stone Man Pass. There is a small amount of snow in the first gulley past Frozen Lake. I was able to avoid it by climbing around it to the left, my climbing partner opted to cross it using his axe. The rest of the route is snow free and well cairned.

We made the mistake of trying to descend the grass slopes to the north of Black Lake. Bad idea. Steep grass slopes, willows, prickers, wet slabs, etc. It was miserable, despite looking like a quicker option from the pass.

Mchenrys is an absolute gem. Highly recommend. The route we took came in at around 16 miles, 4400 ft of elevation gain