Leviathan Peak

Route: Southwest Ridge from Leviathan Basin
Posted On: 9/12/2023, By: supranihilest
Info: We camped at the small lake near 11,500 feet in Levithan Basin, so this CR starts there. We traversed the southern side of the basin from camp, starting off on a couple hundred yards of grass and then transitioning to rock for the entire rest of the route. Ascending through the basin was tedious boulders and talus, but unavoidable. We traversed to below the pass between Leviathan and Peak Six and climbed up that, which was quite steep and at times unstable. Pretty unpleasant. From the pass I simply ascended the southwest ridge. The ridge is mostly Class 2+ scrambling, some Class 2 in spots, some Class 3 (at least if not attempting to keep to the easiest route possible). Rock is gorgeous quartzite and white granite with black lichen. Anything that's difficult can be bypassed on the north side of the ridge. From a false summit I scrambled down to my left and then up north side ledges to avoid the massive summit slabs, which looked smooth and pretty bereft of holds. The slabs were rather reminiscent of "Peak L" in the Gore. Still pretty easy scrambling at 2+ to the summit. I continued on to Vallecito Mountain, but instead of going ridge direct I went back down the southwest ridge and down a talus gully towards the south before traversing east on a grass ledge and joining the southeast ridge farther down. If doing Leviathan just by itself for some reason this gully could be used as well, or you could go back down the southwest ridge. 

Route: Leviathan Lake Approach
Posted On: 6/23/2022, By: supranihilest
Info: No snow from Beartown all the way to Leviathan Lake. Vallecito trail is almost 100% mud, often standing or running water on it, and a mind-numbing amount of deadfall. Bring dry socks and a snorkel. There's a faint trail up the north side of Leviathan Creek but it ends at about 11,000 feet. We camped at the small, unnamed lake below Leviathan Lake. No summits, we thought we'd sneak a few in before the monsoon and ended up with 15+ straight hours of rain yesterday afternoon through this morning and woke up in a Silent Hill death mist which soaked everything and lasted most of the day. Some thunder and lots of rain on the way out. Adjacent drainages also looked snow free with exception of Sunlight Basin which had snow on north aspects. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 9/21/2020, By: Grover
Info: Reached the summit of Leviathan Peak on Friday. If this peak is still on your '2020 To Climb' list or you want an excuse to get into the Weminuche, it is still in play. Snow free up to Leviathan Lake. Above the lake, the north facing talus slopes leading to the Leviathan/Pt. 13,420 saddle has a fair amount of snow. I am glad I brought microspikes for use in this section. The sun angle is not melting out the snow here, so it will remain persistent. After reaching the saddle, Jagged slaps you in the face- it is staggering. I took the west ridge, choosing the south facing side, as it was snow free and in the sun. The north facing side has snow and looks to be unpleasant. By taking the south facing side, you reach a dramatic pointed false summit. I down climbed to remaining route, which contained snow, and I used the microspikes again. From there, the route is snow free, and you can pick the easiest path, which has a couple cairns to help, avoiding the angled, blocky south face. Photo 1: Atop the pointed false summit, looking over at the remaining route. Photo 2: Looking SW from the summit, and you can see the snow below the false summit I down climbed. Photo 3: Leviathan from the summit of Silex; you can see the persistent snow that is above Leviathan Lake, on the west side of the peak.