Gladstone Peak

Route: North Face
Posted On: 5/13/2026, By: Jcinco
Info: I chose this based on very promising satellite imagery. Just goes to show the limitations of relying on that kind of data sometimes. The NF couloir has pretty decent snow conditions and booted really well. At the top of the couloir right now, you are faced with two options for gaining the summit ridge. To your left is a quite exposed 4th-class step on solid rock (not obvious it goes from below). To your right is a sketch rising traverse on thin partially consolidated snow over rock steps. I went right to gain the ridge to suss out its feasibility for a continuous ski. Not feasible this year. I was able to ski the east face from 50ft below the summit and back to ridge, and since I’m not too OCD about continuous skis, I down climbed the rock step. As I mentioned, surprisingly good snow in the couloir and all the way down to 12k. Below that it was junk due to the weak freeze, which was too bad since there is great coverage down to 11k. If you don’t mind getting a super early start, the east face right now offers the best option for a continuous ski and it’s way tamer at the moment.

Incidentally, Gladstone is the site of one of my closest calls in the mountains and certainly the most memorable. Quite a long time ago, I completed the traverse from Wilson Pk just as a horrendous T-storm hit. I quickly scooted down one of the west facing scree chutes to return to Navajo Lake. No more than 5 minutes after exiting the chute, lightning struck near the summit sending a torrent of rockfall flushing down the chute. Quite lucky indeed. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 8/4/2025, By: terribletigzy
Info: The route is totally dry and in good condition. This is an extremely long ridge and it is slow moving, do not underestimate it. It took me 3:30 round trip from the rock of ages saddle. I would budget 3-4 hours for the route for most people. There was good scrambling on the ridge proper, but more than enough loose rock to make me leery. I had several rocks dislodge that looked and felt solid upon initial testing. The loose rock had me constantly on edge and made it hard to enjoy the scrambling. I found the route very mentally taxing. I dropped to the east of the ridge a few times to avoid some harder parts, but you do not want to stray far from the ridge. Anything off the ridge is dangerously loose. Paper in the summit register is totally soaked, a new register is likely needed. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 7/26/2025, By: dcsheldon
Info: The only snow we encountered was on the ROA approach. I brought spikes but didn't use them.
The north ridge is difficult and time consuming. We had a good weather day. No wind and a little light rain near the end of the hike. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 7/29/2025, By: andy_legrunge
Info: To emphasize the route description - beyond Pt 13,341', terrain even a few meters below the ridge is dangerous. I cut some very large material loose when I got lazy and tried to avoid climbing over towers. Attempting to bypass obstacles, save elevation, or "keep it class 3" is not worth it. The ridge top is solid and rarely, if ever, exceeds airy and enjoyable class 4. RT from the Wilson saddle split was around 2:30 moving quick, and it took nearly the same amount of time in both directions. Be sure you have a good weather window before committing. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 7/1/2025, By: backcountrybrodes
Info: Ridge is free of snow, allow a lot of time for this one since you have to cross the class 4 ridge both ways. Harder than it looks. See my update from Wilson Peak on the same day for Rock of Ages approach conditions. TLDR is microspikes and an axe are highly recommended. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 7/13/2024, By: shapovalovm
Info: Did Gladstone on the way back from Wilson. No cairns, but there's a ton of options and hard to get lost anyway. On the way up mostly stayed to the left of the ridge and it was ok-ish. On the way back tried to be more true to the GPX and description and stay on ridge proper for the first 2/3 back to the saddle and more often than not it actually worked pretty nicely. So choose your own adventure :)

The route is no harder than class 3 (and quite a lot of it). The section marked as class 4 in the route description is not harder than a bunch of other sections on the route. Not sure by what principle this is supposed to be class 4. 

Route: East face
Posted On: 7/3/2024, By: gcook33
Info: Summit from Cross Mountain trailhead. Not sure why this isnt the standard route, it was incredible. Mostly class 1 and 2 on the approach. Then the last 500 some fun class 3, mostly solid. Snow on the route can be navigated with crampons or microspikes, but we had a guy without either and he just rock hopped around. Thanks to the trip reports written about this route, they were very helpful. 11 miles, ~4800 

Route: East Face
Posted On: 5/26/2024, By: kyrawhitworth
Info: Dry for the first mile from Cross Mtn TH then various levels of patchy and consistent up to and on the pass.(Obligatory stops to look at Lizard Head required.) We booted down from the pass into Bilk Basin and then very consistent coverage. We skinned up into the basin then transitioned to crampons. We left skis at the cliff band. There was a bit of weird scrambling over the cliff band then a more mellow slope to the final push. The couloir does truly feel steep and the rocks are exposed so theres not an easy option but the snow was thankfully about as good in crampons as you could ask for. Summit block felt truly epic (thank you to the awesome group on Wilson for the pics). Due to clouds we took our time overall on the ascent and thankfully it meant we timed the snow perfectly for some fun turns in the basin. full trip report as I felt this was a great snow route: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=22525 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 10/4/2023, By: Jonathan Deffenbaugh
Info: Was snow free to final scramble, however did not use traction. Sticking near or on the ridge crest was the way to go, ended up doing the Class 4 crux following the route description. Used the trust but verify approach with hand/footholds, didnt fully commit till I knew the hold(s) were good. Had a helmet for protection. Long ridge though, especially since you have to do it twice 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 8/27/2023, By: swilson753
Info: As other reports have said, the route is in summer conditions. There's one 50 ft snow field to cross in Silver Pick Basin. It was a little slippery at 5 am after a bunch of rain the day before, but I was able to kick steps in hiking boots without any issue. I had more trouble with a couple spots up high in the basin (around 12.7k and 12.9k) where the trail to the Rock of Ages saddle appears to have washed out. It made for sketchy route finding in the dark. On my way down, I heard spontaneous rockfall above me as I crossed the washed out gullies. I'm glad I left my helmet on.

Overall the first half to 2/3 of the ridge to Gladstone is really fun scrambling on surprising solid rock. After the low point, the rock gets a lot looser/tippier, especially on some of the lower ledges we took to bypass some difficult sections on the ridge proper. Lots of the large flat plates will tilt unnervingly when stepped on. I thought the ridge would take 2 hours each way from the Wilson-Gladstone saddle, but it wound up taking just under 3 hours each way. It's a long and committing climb. We got rained on/graupeled on the way back. I was glad to be past the loose section when the weather rolled in.

Thank you to the two guys who let me invite myself along with them. You made today a lot of fun! 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 8/6/2023, By: daway8
Info: Only a few trivial snowfields going up towards Wilson Peak (see reports for that peak). After that, the traverse to Gladstone is totally dry. Lots of snowfields left on the north slopes of the El Diente-Wilson Traverse but from the looks of it (and what I've heard) the Traverse itself is dry. Mt Wilson East Face route had a surprising amount of snow left but is no longer continuous. Ridge proper from Wilson to Gladstone was fairly solid overall but, as others have reported, there are some very large rocking horses on this route that will get your heart pumping if you step on one unawares. Route quickly goes from class 2 to 3 to 4 if you stay ridge proper, with a couple isolated class 5 moves with easy bypasses. Agree with the note in the route description that you're typically better off staying on or near the ridge crest, but it does get tiring by the time you go there and back (especially if you just did Wilson Peak before going over to Gladstone). 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 7/24/2023, By: Veory
Info: Summer conditions. I thought that the looseness of the route was overhyped, aside from the start of the ridge from the saddle with Wilson. Thought the scrambling was enjoyable, although it was a bit hot with a lot of direct sun and this recent heat. 

Route: NE Face
Posted On: 7/22/2023, By: slawrence2011
Info: Started from Sunshine Mesa Th at 4. Dry until upper Bill Basin, great trail, but glad I had the beta for crossing Bilk creek .2 miles past the main crossing, running high! Almost climbed snow to the ridge, but entry to col is getting thin, and took a couple crampon steps on rock. The snow was quite cohesionless by these rocks, but better rest of way til ridge. Class 2 on ridge was cruiser. Skied down from ridge, took off skis to cross bare spots, then took off skis several more times to link snowfields down to 11,8. Much more cruiser when snow covers loose rock! 

Route: East Face
Posted On: 7/2/2023, By: _coloradical
Info: Trail up to Lizard Head pass is in great condition currently.

This route contours around Cross Mountain until you gain the eastern slopes. Despite my 6 am start time, the snow was still hard and easy to move across. I highly recommend an ice axe and crampons for the snow section, I noticed I forgot mine at mile 4, when I went to grab my crampons and it made the last portion of the climb a little tougher.

The slopes before the ridge are holding some nice snow at the moment. Once you gain the ridge, its got a couple of snowy areas youll need to bypass but mostly dry rock.

I havent climbed the North Ridge, so I dont know if the rock is better then how Roach describes it. Followed a similar line on the descent, but a pole collapsed and went for a short slide.

Overall it was a great route, conditions are good right now.

One other person made summit today that was behind me. Overall great day for Gladstone. 

Route: East Face
Posted On: 5/28/2023, By: dcruz654
Info: Snow begins a half mile from the trailhead. Seems like the freeze has been doing well recently. Snow stayed firm enough to stay mostly solid even down low at 10am.
I started at 4 am. Was on a split board, but walked for about 1.5 miles before switching to skinning, honestly could have easily walked all the way to the pass between Lizard and Cross. Once at 11,900 there are some spots were there was no snow, so I booted to the saddle, this was avoidable however if you really wanted to stay on snow.
The face gets sun early, but held up pretty well while I was climbing it after 7.
Summited around 830, then dropped at 9. There was just barely enough snow to ski off the top with a bit of billy goating just 50' vert from the summit. Bit of sloughing in the steeper sections near the summit and the cliff band, but was manageable.
Back at car just 1:45 after leaving the peak.
East face is good right now, maybe not so much for skiing (it was ok, Wilson looked GREAT though), it seemed walkable from bottom to top and back with minimal post holing