4/16/2023 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 4/17/2023, By: Svobatron Info: Did Tweto, Treasurevault, Mosquito and Kuss. Snow is melting but still had to park 2 miles from the summer TH. We brought snowshoes, I wore them for maybe a mile, the other 2 people with me kept theirs off. Snow still covers a lot of the ridge and be careful with the cornices! I had unknowingly hiked the cornice between Treasure vault and Mosquito and my GPS added a lot of vertical ft thinking I downclimbed then back up over and over :|. 12 miles total. |
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10/29/2022 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 10/30/2022, By: bangerth Info: We did the Tweto -> Treasurevault -> Mosquito -> Kuss loop yesterday and winter is definitely here. There is between 4" and 2' of snow pretty much throughout the entire route. Two of us wore microspikes for the entire distance, two others took them off at the top of Tweto -- either was probably fine, but bringing them doesn't seem like a mistake. Most postholing can be avoided, but expect to just be stuck down to your knees half a dozen times throughout the route. |
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10/20/2022 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 10/20/2022, By: cardgenius Info: Snow on the grassy slope up to the ridge but is avoidable if you stay right. No snow on the ridge except for small patches you can step over. Bring spikes if you plan to traverse over to Treasurevault Mtn. The whole slope is covered in super slick, bulletproof snow. |
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6/28/2022 Route: From Buckskin Posted On: 6/28/2022, By: cougar Info: Attempted to traverse from Buckskin, but thunderstorms and graupel started mid morning despite the relatively dry forecast. The ridge is slow going, lots of loose junk, some snowfields lingering on the south side, covering the easiest path. Turned back at halfway point since I had to reclimb Buckskin to get back. There are a few cairns and nothing technical, but most of it is scree and loose talus. Some holds broke. |
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6/20/2022 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 6/20/2022, By: ncxhjhgvbi Info: Descended Tweto after the full cirque (London, Kuss, Mosquito, Treasurevault). Hit the road around 4:45pm. Tons of meltwater on the road and multiple crossings. Some long portions are just a creek. Quite nice to cool the feet off after 4.5 hours of moving, but maybe not so nice if you're ascending. Water in spots 6in deep or so with no easy way to cross. Expect it's better early in the day though. All snow avoidable during the entire cirque traverse. |
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11/9/2021 Route: Mosquito Peak to Arkansas Posted On: 11/9/2021, By: zootloopz Info: Plenty of snow. Intermittent rock hopping mixed with knee deep drifts. Pretty unconsolidated. No traction needed on the SW ridge, but used spikes for the ridge to Arkansas. |
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10/23/2021 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 10/24/2021, By: CheapCigarMan Info: This was similar to Kuss, boulder and rock hopping. No flotation or traction needed. The ridge around from Treasurevault to Tweto was mostly dry. Nothing newsworthy. |
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9/7/2021 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 9/10/2021, By: sigepnader Info: Road to “trailhead” is clear until right before the split. Two deepish water crossings. High clearance will have no problems with this. Route to Tweto/Treasurevault/Mosquito is dry and clear. Easy to navigate. |
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7/10/2021 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 7/10/2021, By: dwoodward13 Info: London->Kuss->Mosquito->Treasurevault->Tweto loop is in full summer conditions. |
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6/2/2021 Route: \"Crack\" Couloir Posted On: 6/4/2021, By: ClimberSkierDave64 Info: Skied the "Crack" Couloir on Wednesday and we were able to drive about 0.5 miles up from the highway to near the railroad crossing. The first 2.0 miles of the approach are patchy and not continuous. From the end of the trees and road after the first two miles, snow in the basin becomes continuous to the summit. The Couloir is in, but it became heavy mashed taters by 9am even with a good freeze, so hit it early. We skied from the summit down the Couloir which was heavy with small point releases and sluffs on the way down, and there is definitely a runnel forming, which was a bit annoying on the ski. Overall, it was a really unique line that was a lot of fun, but the bushwhack out through the willows was horrible! Saw tracks down Democrats west face and it looks continuous, but Buckskins NW couloir is definitely out, not enough snow. |
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5/29/2021 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 5/29/2021, By: pmp6 Info: Road clear until the fork to London Mill (~11,500'). We used hiking boots to the summit; microspikes stayed in the pack. You can definitely make it to the summit avoiding any high risk terrain; we did at times climb slopes steeper than 30deg (and below them), but those slopes had no snow. We did a touch of postholing ( |
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1/31/2021 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 1/31/2021, By: Sbenfield Info: Parked below the TH since snow and ice on the upper bit of the road. Snowshoe up most of the way into a cool basin. Went mostly directly up the south face of Tweto, easy to follow. Then took the straightforward ridge over to Treasurevault Mtn after stashing packs/gear at the saddle. |
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12/5/2020 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 12/5/2020, By: jbealer Info: 4wd road was snow covered in places but we were able to drive to the parking spots in front of the true off road part of mosquito pass. We took the summer trail up to Tweto wearing spikes, left ice axes and snowshoes in the car. We were passed by some guys later on that broke the rest of the trail, thanks! We followed their tracks and cut up tweto before the gully/saddle section. It was steep, deep snow in stops with loose rocks, 2 of us had poles, 1 nothing, she wished she had her axe with her for support. Those guys headed to Arkansas and we didn't see them again. We continued on to treasurevault, mosquito and kuss, making a loop. The ridge was a mix of rock and deep snow patches that were not supportive. We discussed if snow shoes would have helped and decided based on the bare sections we would have been putting them on and off all day or scraping them on the rock. We suffered with the postholing. Spikes stayed on all day, could have used the axe on a few snow fields. The descent off Kuss held some of the deepest snow all day, be careful of the hiding rock, mosquito Pass Road off Kuss was covered in more snow then expected, we stuck to the outside edge where it was less deep. Overall not bad for Dec, lacking snow for sure, but enough to make everything extra work. Get it while you can! |
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9/26/2020 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 9/26/2020, By: daway8 Info: Came up Tweto first and then over to Arkansas - passed colin j coming and going (he started from Arkansas I started from Tweto). Together with his update I can say their is no snow in the way from either direction or along the traverse (and yes, it was a windy day, but got much worse after traversing past Buckskin to Loveland Mountain). |
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7/9/2020 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 7/9/2020, By: CatsAreMyFriends Info: Summer conditions, but still pretty wet. Sparse snow remains on the ridge, but you can avoid it or just cross it in boots, it's all flat and safe. The road is also in fine conditions up until about 600 feet from the usual trailhead, where a huge murky puddle hides a roughly 1 foot drop off, just park nearby rather than risk the fording. The skid plate of some unfortunate soul is floating in it. |