Pigeon Peak

Route: Ruby Basin
Posted On: 9/2/2025, By: ryansunshine20
Info: Hardest part of this adventure is the pack in. I felt it was a loose class 3 climb. Nothing too hard scrambling wise but a big slog of an approach and a peak. Top tier views and an excellent camping basin. The hike back to the saddle after descending pigeon was easier and quicker than I was anticipating. 

Route: Turn Eon / N Pigeon Basin
Posted On: 8/18/2025, By: LivingOnTheEdge
Info: Did Gerry Roach's Turn Eon from Purgatory and just thought I'd throw a few thoughts out there with some info that I wondered about going in. Doesn't feel like enough for a full TR but happy to do one if people are interested in pics, etc. Roach says this is 27.85 and 8807'. My watch, which is the best that Garmin makes, reported 32.5 miles and 10,600' feet of gain. I've seen HUGE variations in this so I wanted to start with the actual mileage for doing both of these all the way from Purgatory. Next, Roach's description for finding the turn up to Ruby Creek after the Needleton bridge was a bit off in distance. Basically walk into the woods past the fallen tree in the same direction you have been going and there is a cairn and a stick carved with "RUBY CREEK" pointing the right direction. It's obvious and if it feels like it's not obvious, you are in the wrong spot. The Ruby Creek trail is indeed oppressively steep as advertised. In upper camper's meadow, hang on the right side of the meadow until the trail appears again - alternatively walk to the firepit look to your right and it's again, obvious. The turnoff for N Pigeon and Ruby Creek is also more obvious than expected and on a little flat shelf - Roach's description hits this well. The bushwhack up N Pigeon was better than expected. Based on previous reports, I was expecting the most heinous steep bushwhack ever. It was steep and ugly but there are a number of cairns and some orange tape that flagged a reasonable route and I was able to take nearly the same route up as I did down. As others have mentioned, it is the most challenging to follow from 9800' to 11000' but there are a number of routes and GPX's you could follow that all work. I split geojed's and KTC88's and I would do it again. Point being though, don't stress about it - follow what feels natural. Once you get to the basin at 11700' things open up and it's pretty obvious and there are a number of options. I had some questions about dodging the slabs and cliffs on the way to the upper face - don't sweat it. There are a number of options, just walk up the steep grass until the cliffs to your left start to force you to angle towards Pigeon proper. I also had questions about the upper face. Was it class 4? Class 3? Class 2+? From a technical standpoint - barely class 3. What makes it annoying is just about everything is covered in ball bearing scree on slabs or hardpack so it takes a bit of time and care to make sure your footing is solid. Descending was much more time consuming that going up for this reason, as a slip in the wrong spot could send you tumbling all the way down to 11700' pretty quickly. Once the scree became more plentiful, the scree surf was pretty lovely. Onto Turret, you'll see the climber's trail that brings you over the the saddle on your way up. Aim for that on your way down and just follow where feels good. I was a bit worried that things might cliff out over there, but there was always a pretty simple zig-zag to get around things. Up to the saddle was faster and better than it looks. The same goes for the grunt up to turret. I ended up a little more on the face than I needed to be and this was barely class 3. Had I gone to climbers right a bit more and followed an obvious cairn I saw on the way down, it would have led me to a lovely lower angle scree squiggle up to the summit. Same thoughts on the return for Turret. Two steps forward, one step backwards scree that sucked coming up was now a great reprieve and a fast descent to get back to the shoulder and then down again to 11700'. Back into the bushwhack again and I think I slid out like 4? times. It's just steep and annoying and I was trying to get it over with. Back on the approach was cruisey back to Cascade Creek - nothing to comment on heading back in and up to Purg. I filtered water 3x total - twice at N Pigeon Creek coming and going and then once at the Animas prior to the last bit up to the TH. Total moving time was 8:02. Total car to car time was 11:40. One of my favorite all time days in the mountains. Again, happy to upload my GPX or write a full TR if anyone is interested - just shoot me a DM or comment. 

Route: Ruby Basin
Posted On: 7/12/2025, By: Sbenfield
Info: Occasional snow patches higher up. Able to avoid and keep everything class 3. Did not use axe or microspikes. 

Route: Ruby Basin
Posted On: 7/8/2025, By: Laxer04
Info: Backpacked into Ruby Basin and camped below the Pigeon/Turret saddle. Friendly mountain goats and aggressive marmots. Watch your stuff!

All of the snow is avoidable. There was some ice/snow in the class 3/4 chimney section - it wasn't hard to climb over. I also found an easier route around it as well to the right.

The trail to Ruby Basin is in rough shape. Really steep with countless downed trees and route finding. So much deadfall.

We did find an ice axe hiking out from Ruby Basin through the willows - if this axe belongs to you please message me on here and I will coordinate getting it back to you. 

Route: Purgatory to N Pigeon Creek
Posted On: 7/3/2025, By: dcsheldon
Info: After hiking to the basin below Pigeon via North Pigeon on Monday June 30, we hiked Pigeon on July 1. I brought gaiters, ice axe, crampons and never used them. I did use hiking poles (for the descent) and spikes on the ascent and descent. This hike is steep climbing all the way from basin to the summit.
As you turn right to head up the final summit pitch, there is remaining snow and one large snow field that I didn't trust to climb with crampons and ice axe. This large snow field covered what is the normal class 3 climb to the summit.
For the final 200-300 ft, we had three difficulties to reach the summit. 

Route: Standard route from Ruby Basin
Posted On: 6/18/2025, By: bdloftin77
Info: The Ruby Basin valley is dry. There's some snow as you climb from the valley to Turret's saddle, but mostly avoidable with only a few crossings if desired. Route is fairly dry until you get to the northwest side of Pigeon. From there, we encountered lots of unavoidable snow. Crampons and ice axe are advised. Our route turned into low 5th class as we avoided mushy snow up high. Snow was decently solid (a far cry from bullet proof though) in the early afternoon, and very mushy in the late afternoon. Some snow was waist deep. 

Route: Standard from N Pigeon
Posted On: 7/31/2024, By: eskermo
Info: Entire route is dry. Near the big chimney close to the ridgeline, we took a cool right trending ramp at class 3 with maybe one class 4 move, then followed broken rock and easier scrambling just climbers right of the ridgeline to the summit. On the way down, we stayed a little farther away from the ridgeline and zig zagged down mostly class 2 climber trail segments interupted by an occasional class 3 step down. We both thought this route could probably be kept completely at Class 3 if you prefer loose steep dirt over solid scrambling.

We took the train into Needleton and packed up N Pigeon Creek (Tie Creek on some maps). We saw no other people from the time we left Needleton bridge until we got back to the bridge.

Good but steep, sometimes loose trail up until ~10,200'. From there, we generally climbed up a drainage on easier ground, then traversed right holding elevation until wrapping around each minor ridgeline. Sometimes there were cairns and trail segments, other times you need to follow your nose for the easiest path.

We got turned around on P&T via N Pigeon 8 years ago. By comparison, the line we took up N Pigeon Creek was way easier and more manageable. The bushwhacking is not fun, but felt totally manageable and not as heinous as we remembered. We downloaded 3 different GPX tracks to guide us - none were spot on anything resembling a trail for longer than 100 yards, but were great to use as a general guide.

The camping at 11,740' is exceptional. There is no running water in the flat meadow. However if you walk uphill to ~11,820' the creek still has plenty of running water to filter. The pika colony barked at us the entire time at camp, but the marmots and pikas left us alone. No other wildlife.

We tried to take a different line back down to the Columbine tree at the Ruby junction, but it seemed very similar in nature to our ascent - follow your nose and loosely follow the GPX tracks and it is pretty much all the same 'shwacking. 

Route: Turret and Pigeon from Ruby Basin
Posted On: 7/7/2024, By: Justin9
Info: Turret and Pigeon all clear and summer conditions. We camped in Ruby basin after climbing Jagged and the approach up Ruby was quite nice. The exit out North Pigeon Creek was, on the other hand horrendous and not recommended. 

Route: Standard West Couloir
Posted On: 7/7/2024, By: supranihilest
Info: From the 11,600 foot meadow in Ruby Basin we climbed up the super steep slope to the Pigeon/Turret saddle. A little bit of willow bashing on the lower parts. Upper parts had some scree and boulder hopping. All snow is avoidable.

We dropped down towards the saddle over which we'd be in Tie Creek basin. Grass and kitty litter got us to the saddle, then it was hardpan, scree, and talus to get even lower to bypass all the ridges off of Pigeon. The west couloir is enormous and you can get like 700 feet of ascent on steep grass. This eventually leads to more kitty litter, then the Class 3 summit scramble. The rock to the summit is solid but there's lots of gravel on everything. On ascent we scrambled more or less directly to the ridge, then up to the summit. This was mostly Class 3 with a couple of moves of Class 4. On descent we went more directly north down gravely ledges at Class 3. All snow is avoidable on route. We descended the couloir again and reascended most of the way to the Pigeon/Turret saddle, opting to stay on grass to get closer to Turret instead of returning to the saddle itself first. 

Route: SW Slopes from upper Ruby Basin via Chicago Basin
Posted On: 9/3/2023, By: cloudkicker
Info: Summer conditions. Pigeon had no register. Turrets register had a bunch of tattered paper in it but some intact entries dating back to 2014.

Itinerary:
Day 1. Needle Creek approach from train stop, camped at 11100 in Chi Basin.
Day 2. Sunlight, Windom, Peak 18, Glacier Point.
Day 3. Traverse over Twin Thumbs Pass and Ruby-Noname Pass, camp at 11600 in upper Ruby Basin.
Day 4. Pigeon and Turret.
Day 5. Hike past Ruby Lake down and out to Needleton.

It needs to be emphasized how dangerous the Noname side of Twin Thumbs Pass is. Loose kitty litter on very steep class 3 terrain near the top of the pass. With how popular the centennials are becoming, I foresee the route from Chicago basin also becoming more popular, and a SAR event is bound to happen on Twin Thumbs.

I recommend bringing a partner and some paracord to lower your heavy packs off the top. I was solo and had to detach my daypack and bear can to leave half my weight near the top, downclimbing 100 feet to drop half my pack before going back up for the rest.

There is one snowfield left in upper Noname basin between the two passes. In order to avoid this snowfield I dropped into the shallow gully on the Twin Thumbs side. This involved more kitty litter scree and I fell once with my heavy pack. Extreme caution is warranted in between the passes no matter which way you go.

Pigeon had even worse kitty litter near the top. The most loose mountain I have ever climbed.

Ruby Basin is the most beautiful place i have ever backpacked in, and also the most brutal backpacking trip I have ever done.

Worth it for the views and 88/105 though. 

Route: Ruby Basin Approach
Posted On: 8/15/2023, By: zinj
Info: Snowed above 13,300 night of 8/11 - 8/12. In Ruby Basin, rained for 13 hours straight (too wet for summit attempt on 8/12)

Approach: Chicago Basin to Twin Lakes b/w/o Twin Thumbs Pass (into Noname Basin), then through unnamed pass into Ruby Basin.

Chicago Basin - Twin Lakes: Bomber. Excellent, high quality trail. You'll make good time even under heavy backpack load.

Twin Lakes - Twin Thumbs Pass: Very good. No trail but lush grass & sand slope. Footing easy.

Twin Thumbs Pass to below North ramparts of Glacier Pt: Very poor. Sandpile mixed with SUBSTANTIAL snowfields. Spikes might help on steeper pitches. I went without and was okay. Partner wiped out and slid 250 feet uncontrolled to end of snowfield.

Below North ramparts of Glacier Pt - Southern Noname - Ruby pass: Moderate. Would be easy without heavy pack. Mixed Talus, tundra, grass.

Southern Noname - Ruby pass - 11,600 ft meadow in Ruby pass: More difficult. Some willow bashing. Stay far to climber's left.(Northest)

Descending from Ruby Basin around Ruby Lake and back to Needleton: stuff of nightmares. I have no idea how anyone could ASCEND to Ruby Basin this way. It's worse than Vestal Basin. Some parts have climbers trails, but it's easily lost in other parts and isn't necessarily in a good location even when it is apparent. As beautiful and remote as Ruby Basin is, I will NEVER climb to it from the Animas River. Return to get Pigeon (and Turret), if I EVER return, will have to be by Pigeon Creek, which is reportedly not any better than what I've described, but is a shorter approach. 

Route: Standard
Posted On: 9/17/2022, By: Dan_Suitor
Info: Snow and ice on the top. Warming temperatures may melt off some. 

Route: North Pigeon Creek
Posted On: 9/6/2022, By: ScottLovesRMNP
Info: The route (or lack thereof) is as-advertised. Even with extensive studying of the route, it's easy to get turned around up there or find yourself sidehilling steep slopes! But the basin at the top of North Pigeon Creek is one of the most spectacular places I've ever camped. ROach's description of the route is very good, and he's right, it's worth it! 

Route: Standard
Posted On: 8/31/2022, By: Grover
Info: Reporting live from the summit! An update for those making plans for Pigeon Pk. this wknd.

Approach: Needleton to N. Pigeon Creek. It is as advertised: Steep bushwacking. I pulled enough waypoints from TR's and other sites to help ensure I was on target to get into the basin
.

Cross N. Pigeon Creek at 9,500.
Leave Ruby Creek Trail at 9,800.
BushwackFest for 2,000 vertical.
I did NOT cross the creek and always stayed north of it. This is the way to go.

The grind and fighting your way up to 11,700 is worth it. Great camping under Pigeon. Water flowing in the basin. A group of 6 mountain goats on the grassy ramparts of Pigeon.

Route from basin to summit is also a grind. Well cairned route to summit after the loose scree gully.

Reco 1: Wear long sleeves hiking in. The branches hit back.
Reco 2: Bring bug spray. Small gnats swarm when you stop hiking, even at the campsite. 

Route: Tie creek
Posted On: 7/10/2022, By: zootloopz
Info: On top now. Summer conditions. Fun scramble. Beautiful views. Tie Creek is great. Black flies out in full force.

Got here via NY Basin descent off North Eolus and traverse under Peak 15.