9/4/2024 Route: Patriot Couloir variation Posted On: 9/10/2024, By: happyallyy Info: Went up Patriot Couloir to get American/Jones/Niagara from American Basin and scout patriot for spring skiing. Very loose on the way up and was happy to be hugging the wall on the left side. You can download my GPX from my Strava activity: https://strava.app.link/B2w6rAugNMb |
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7/5/2024 Route: Patriot Couloir variation Posted On: 7/6/2024, By: wintersage Info: The couloir is definitely not in but I wanted to grab American-Jones-Niagara all from American basin so I tried yaktoleft13s variation (see the trip report from 9/2018). There was still some snow at the beginning third of the couloir which made it a little easier. Once the snow ended, I hugged the left wall the entire way up. It was pretty loose but ultimately wasnt a big deal at all |
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6/23/2024 Route: South Ridge-American Pie Posted On: 6/23/2024, By: mjlucarelli Info: Started at Cuba Gulch. Summer conditions. All snow is avoidable, but it is wet and muddy in places due to a lot of melting snow. |
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6/22/2024 Route: Independence Couloir from American Basin Posted On: 6/25/2024, By: backcountrybrodes Info: Prime snow in the couloir!!... in the sunny bits at least, other side is solid ice. Super sweet route, TH is accessible with a stock 4x4. Super nice peak, one of my new favorite 13ers. |
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5/25/2024 Route: Independence Couloir Posted On: 5/25/2024, By: merrion13 Info: Great conditions in American Basin right now. Climbed Independence Couloir and went down Patriot, all are in good condition. Wanted to make the traverse over to Jones after summiting American but the ridge and climb to the west of the ridge looked hazardous, so kept today to 1 summit. Also took other pics of surrounding areas like Wetterhorn to the North and the Vestal/Trinity/Basin peaks to the South. Still a fair amount of snow out there! |
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8/20/2023 Route: From Burns Gulch Posted On: 8/21/2023, By: dr_j Info: Completely dry route, full summer conditions, with decent wildflowers. We hiked the Niagara / Jones / American combo starting up from about 3/4 of the way up Burns Gulch Road, up to the Niagara / Jones saddle. We summited Niagara first, a bit loose, but nothing exceeds Class 2+. The traverse to Jones is in good shape and is very clear, and there is a path to the top of Jones. The descent from Jones to the Jones / American saddle is steep and loose, and after an initial climb up towards American, the trail stays fairly level, look for cairns, and choose your own adventure to the summit of American. The descent back towards Burns Gulch from the saddle is quite loose (thanks you San Juans), look for cairns, and follow a very faint overgrown road back towards the trailhead. I do not recommend ascending the Jones / American saddle, best to summit Niagara - Jones - American in that order. |
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7/15/2023 Route: North Face Couloirs Posted On: 7/16/2023, By: cloudkicker Info: I climbed Independence Couloir, tagged American, traversed to Jones & Niagara (separate conditions report) and came down the yellow gully. All of Americans north face couloirs are still in for climbing. The top 50ft of Victory is melted out. The top of Independence is melting out too, but I found a way to finish on snow by hooking climbers left near the top. I was able to wear crampons all the way from the far side of Sloans Lake to the top of Independence Couloir thanks to a continuous snow line that connected the lake to the apron. Independence doesnt have much time left, there were a couple sections of exposed rocks here and there in the couloir. Patriot and Traitor seem to be more full, neither of which have seen much melting near the top. Im not a skier but if i were I would pick Patriot as it looked the most full from the American Basin trail. The yellow gully is nowhere near melted out right now. Crampons and axe recommended. I did read a report recently of someone who went up in spikes, so it may be possible, just depends on risk appetite. |
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9/3/2022 Route: Burns Gulch Posted On: 9/5/2022, By: IHikeLikeAGirl Info: Road/trail with cairns almost the entire way from where we parked up to the ridge and summit. Was relieved that the route was not nearly as difficult as I'd anticipated. Register placed on the summit. |
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8/23/2022 Route: Grouse/Burns Gulch Posted On: 8/26/2022, By: JasonKline Info: Summer conditions. No snow or ice. |
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5/31/2022 Route: From Cataract gulch/Cuba gulch Posted On: 5/31/2022, By: Codyhill1991 Info: Beautiful day, summer-like conditions. A little bit of snow on top but was very easy to walk across without spikes. Didn't bag the other peaks, but will add pics. American basin still very snowy. |
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5/26/2022 Route: South Ridge Posted On: 5/26/2022, By: desertdog Info: Dry, summer conditions. No snow gear needed. |
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5/21/2022 Route: American-Jones-Niagra-Crown traverse Posted On: 5/21/2022, By: Geckser Info: We drove down to the San Juan's on Friday hoping to dodge the snow and get some centennials in. We went to bed happy on Friday night but Tad (the winter storm) had other ideas dropping a couple of inches. We bailed on Rio Grande Pyramid and went over to Lake City to hit this batch of 5 13ers. We made it all the way to the scuba Gulch Trailhead with a little work The day was slushy, cold, snowy and windy, despite this it was a pretty good day with 5 summits. We followed a route that tagged Crown and North Crown along with the big boys. The snow that fell was largely gone by 2:00 pm, at least below 12k. It took us about 6 hours, 15 minutes despite being slowed down by the snow. We will make a push on Rio Grande Pyramid tomorrow if weather cooperates. It is now beautiful in the San Juan's. |
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5/14/2022 Route: Traitor Couloir Posted On: 5/16/2022, By: CheapCigarMan Info: Another epic couloir! I put this one up there with Pacific Peak's North Couloir. We ascended Traitor Couloir and glissaded back down Patriot Couloir. Independence looked like a great ride as well as we passed it on our way to American's summit. Crampons, ice axe (I would have appreciated two while on the final icy stretch in the couloir), helmet, and snowshoes were all used. Good snow on the approach in the morning. Traitor itself was in great shape but is transitioning. Good snow at the base, starting to become rotted snow in the middle, and the top 20' - 30' becoming ice. Roach is accurate when he says this is a treacherous couloir. As my partner and I faced rockfall while in the bottom section. Two tennis to softball sized rocks just missed me by inches, while a tennis sized ice ball hit my chest. Thankful my partner called out "rock" which allowed me to move just enough to dodge the first two flying projectiles. Used crampons ascending the couloir but didn't use them again. Seen a pair of stashed snowshoes near the exit of the couloir. There are several snowy slopes hiking over and up to American. Didn't use traction to cross them. Once back down in the upper basin near Sloan Lake we started without snowshoes but soon found out they were needed. From there we made several adjustments from wearing them to hiking without them then wearing them again when they were needed. |
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10/3/2021 Route: SE Ridge Posted On: 10/5/2021, By: madmattd Info: Snare Stairs have a few blowdowns and a 5' deep washout down low, one switchback has some small aspens growing on it but easy to pass through. Otherwise clear on the ascent if heavy on the loose rock in a few places. The ascent up to the ridge from ~12,800' in the valley was very steep and loose in many places. The ridge itself to the summit was just steep. Snow started around 13,000', though was not really a factor to the summit (no traction used). We put microspikes on for the descent to the American-Jones saddle. The initial descent off the summit was slick and had up to 10" of snow in a couple places, care was needed around the top of a couple couloirs. The traversing descent was far more pleasant than expected, pretty easy going with a couple inches of snow. |
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7/4/2021 Route: West Face Posted On: 7/4/2021, By: tortilla Info: American, Jones, and Niagara from American Basin. All 4 couloirs on American look melted out. Climbed snow and talus to gain American's west ridge. Able to kick steps with one swing of the foot. Had trouble getting purchase with my axe pick but climbing with a self belay grip was easier anyway given the slope angle. One could gain the ridge without touching snow if they wanted. The ridge over to Jones and then Niagara is effectively snow free. There is one short band of snow to cross at the American-Jones saddle. Nothing to write about, yet here I am. Avoided snow on the descent and suffered my way down the talus. Saw three other people once I split from the Handies trail. As expected, the area in general was a madhouse given the holiday weekend. A pair of tourists dusted me with their razors as I was driving down from American Basin. Maybe a mile later I saw one of them had rolled. After checking that they weren't injured I enjoyed a moment, or two, of smug satisfaction. The razor might still be there as it wasn't driveable. This happened just past the silver/grizzly TH by one of the rock steps. |