Kelso Mountain

Route: South slopes
Posted On: 5/18/2026, By: mjlucarelli
Info: You will still run into some snow sporadically in the basin and on the ridge. Most of the ridge snow can be avoided. I didn't feel a need for any winter gear but if the area gets an overnight freeze a pair of spikes might be useful. 

Route: South slopes
Posted On: 5/3/2026, By: sehessler92
Info: Conditions are great. South slopes have good hard snow that holds until you get to the dirt/grassy area. Microspikes would be plenty for approaching from the south slopes. In the basin the trail is boot packed so snowshoes would be overkill. 

Route: South slopes
Posted On: 12/31/2025, By: dolfh
Info: Parked at Bakerville. Hiked the road to Stevens Gulch TH. The road is icy in some places but no deep snow. At least 3 vehicles drove to the SGTH. The Grays Peak Trail is compacted snow to the beginning of the Kelso South Slopes route. The route to Kelso Mtn summit is mostly dry. 

Route: NE ridge from intersection with Kelso Ridge.
Posted On: 12/24/2025, By: matt_foco
Info: Started from Bakersville exit. I drove my truck up 100 yards before I thought better of it and reversed. Road is well traveled and snowpacked in, with dry spots near Stevens Gulch. I would not try to reach the Stevens gulch lot, snow is super soft and deepest during the first mile, with recent evidence of multiple stuck vehicles. Beyond Stevens Gulch the road is packed down from skiers, snowmobiles, and hikers to the summer trailhead. Large stretches of dry road exist by the old Stevens Gulch Mine, but booted pack returns soon after.

Beyond the summer trailhead, the trail is bootpacked or dry the entire way to ridge intersection. Only experienced one posthole after stepping off the pack. At most you will steep accidentally knee deep in the afternoon. Terrifyingly dry and no snow at the base of Grays.

I took the ridge up Kelso Mountain from the intersection of Kelso ridge. Standard route looked boring and steep. Ridge was completely dry. It goes class 2+ entirely on right side, but there a few class 3 moves on the left/west side of the ridge if you sniff them out. Route beyond ridge to summit is dry, only small periods of drifted snowpatches. Goat traffic to the summit slowed my ascent by 30 minutes. Be warned, I counted 5 false summits from the ridge approach. Nothing too terrible, but annoying to deal with. Took standard route down to the trail intersection. Steep, loose, and boring, but a time saver! We need snow so bad, this is the driest Ive seen this basin ever in December. 

Route: South slopes
Posted On: 10/26/2025, By: bigfoot1
Info: Some icy spots on the road, but mostly dry. Thanks to Karen and David who let me hitchhike with them to the trailhead! Their Xterra made it pretty easily in 4-Lo with regular tires and we only had to back up once at the first icy spot to get more of a running start. A white van was unable to make it up past the first icy spot. Trailhead was surprisingly busy, and lower part of the trail is partially covered in snow and ice. Route up kelso is dry except at the very top of the ridge by the summit. Entire thing is easily runnable. Had spikes but didn't need them. Parnassus & co are also pretty bare on the south side 

Route: South slopes
Posted On: 7/30/2025, By: mijoflynn
Info: There's been a lot of hand-wringing about the road up Stevens Gulch this year. It's bumpy, sure, but I had no problem with my Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk (8.7" clearance, same as a Subaru, but with better angles). Did a short and sweet run up to Kelso before the thunderstorms started. Happy to report that I saw not a single rock with hieroglyphics anywhere on the route. But these goats were huddled together suspiciously on the hillside, and then ran away guiltily when I approached -- so I suspect they're involved somehow. 

Route: South slopes
Posted On: 7/7/2025, By: ncxhjhgvbi
Info: Turned right off the Grays trail at the big cairn around a mile in. Very clear route from here. Cool spring at ~12,400’ too. Was manageable to descend this route as well. Others have been here - picked up some trash on the way including a full bottle of sunscreen with marmot tooth marks in it! 1:57 RT 

Route: North face
Posted On: 6/2/2025, By: jmanner
Info: Skied Kelso today, getting across the creek is interesting…
We toured to 12,400’ booted to 12,900’ and then toured to the summit. We skied from the summit to 10,800’ then the short walk to creek fun. 

Route: North Gully
Posted On: 6/1/2025, By: ProtonWitch
Info: Gully still continuous top to bottom but definitely thinning in spots. 

Route: North Gully
Posted On: 5/27/2025, By: Danger_D
Info: Skied the North Gully from the summit. Snow starts just after the creek crossing, and the Avy debris makes a good bridge. Skinned the first half of gully then booted the rest. Lots of snow at summit, so it should stick around for a while. Dropped in for a grade-A corn harvest at 10:30, but rollerballs were already kicking off so don’t wait too long. Skied to within 15 feet of creek 

Route: South slopes
Posted On: 5/5/2025, By: ColoNativeGal
Info: Parked at the Grizzly/Stephens Gulch turn off. You can't make it further up the road without chains or snow machine. Carried snowshoes and spikes, but didn't use them. Although I do think SS might be needed depending on what time you come out in the afternoon through the willow section. We post holed a little around 11:45am. Although I imagine this all will be different after this next storm this week. We took a more direct route up the side, instead of looping around closer to the Kelso Ridge turn off. Snow conditions were great. Saw some goats. Saw evidence of several slides on Torreys. 

Route: South slopes
Posted On: 5/1/2025, By: 14er101
Info: Pics of Grays and Torreys attached

Skinned up road w/ fresh snow storm. Climbed ridge to summit. Was able to ski 95% of the route back to the car.

Would probably want either ski's or snowshoes for the postholing

Snow melting rapidly, saw some loose wets on the way down, had to take ski's off a few sections on the road. 

Route: South slopes
Posted On: 12/25/2024, By: _coloradical
Info: Note: These conditions have already changed with the snow on 12/25.

The road was packed in nicely for the first 1.5 miles; from there it was ski tracks to the summer trailhead. From the bridge, you could spot a well traveled trail. We followed the trail and found evidence of a small avalanche on the east face of Kelso (see photo). We stayed below the standard route and aimed for the south slopes of Kelso that had patches of snow but were windswept.

Near the summit, two additional sections needed care to cross. They were short but some cornices were forming before the final summit. On the descent, we noticed all of our tracks had disappeared from the incoming snow.

Id recommend packing snowshoes after this most recent snow, and monitor avalanche conditions with the east face of Kelso.

Last thing to note I found a watch near the summer TH. If you may have lost it, please shoot me a DM and Ill do my best to get it to you. 

Route: South slopes
Posted On: 9/30/2024, By: MaryinColorado
Info: Dry, dry, and - you guessed it - dry! The class 3 section down to the saddle with Kelso Ridge is also dry.

The peak is also severely lacking in mountain goats. Plenty of evidence of their existence, but I guess they weren't feeling social. 

Route: South slopes
Posted On: 6/18/2024, By: jaba9631
Info: Hiked this 6/16, was mostly clear of snow. We took the suggested east side descent up, very loose and steep but doable and reduced the mileage to less than 5 miles. A few patches of snow on the actual grays/torreys trail but clear once off trail all the way to the summit.