Chicago Peak

Route: From imogene pass
Posted On: 12/22/2025, By: yaktoleft13
Info: Climbed Chicago and tomboy from imogene pass with Jessi. Gated 2 miles below camp bird, above the Sneffels road is a mix of dry and ice. On the way up we went to the imogene pass entrance a mile past camp bird not realizing the road through camp bird was public (fixed that on the way down), probably added an unnecessary mile and a half. Imogene pass had a number of ski tracks, but they veered off to Richmond basin, so we broke trail from there. One very spooky section to gain the upper plateau just past poser: steep, slabby, north facing snow. Once above, we angled directly for chicagos false summit. We took on the ridge at first, but after a couple of dead ends, we dropped down and followed a ski track cutting directly to the low point. The last pitch was pretty simple, with some dry ground to the south.

The descent to the tomboy saddle was straightforward, though the steep downhill was a little postholey and trapdoory. We put on snowshoes for tomboys n ridge. We left them on for the descent and reascent back to chicagos ridge.

To descend, we elected to take the bowl between Chicago and US mountain. It didn't reach 40 degrees, managed with poles and spikes. Probably the better way to ascend the peak too, if conditions are good. We worked our way back to imogene pass road and back to the cars.

15.3 mi, 5600, 9:50. All in all, trenching wasnt too bad, usually no more than midcalf 

Route: Imogene Pass
Posted On: 7/10/2025, By: JasonKline
Info: Starting from the northern terminus of the Imogene Pass Road near Yankee Boy Basin (aka as far as my Hyundai Ioniq could go since the Imogene Pass Road was right out), this route combined

https://www.listsofjohn.com/tr?Id=12296&pkid=472

and

https://www.listsofjohn.com/tr?Id=19976&pkid=724

to do a loop of Hayden South->Richmond->T8->T7->Chicago->Tomboy. The route is basically in summer conditions. Most of the remaining snow is avoidable. The only places where I stepped on snow were (1) on the Richmond Road around 11,700' on the way up to Hayden South and (2) around 12,500' between Richmond and T8, and both crossings were inconsequential. If you can drive up to where the Richmond Road leaves the Imogene Pass Road, you can save some distance and elevation. 

Route: from T7
Posted On: 8/29/2021, By: SnowAlien
Info: Lots of 4x4 traffic on Imogen pass. Left the road and hiked T7, then traversed to Chicago pk and Tomboy pk. T7 doesn't have a register, but Chicago pk and Tomboy have new ones. 

Route: Via Imogene Pass Road
Posted On: 8/6/2021, By: supranihilest
Info: I parked on Yankee Boy Basin Road and took Imogene Pass Road all the way up. 90% of the road below treeline is wet and muddy, perhaps 10-20% above treeline is wet. The ridge from Imogene Pass to Chicago is easier than it looks as all of the gendarmes can be bypassed on the right side. Terrain is typical loose Sneffels Range scree and talus with a little exposure, mostly Class 2, fair bit of Class 2+, and I had a move of Class 3 that could probably be avoided. I was never on top of the gendarmes themselves. The ridge goes up and down a few times but nothing serious. Final stretch to Chicago is on easy scree. Don't make the mistake I did and take CR 361 down to Camp Bird Mine if you parked at the start of CR 26A (aka Imogene Pass Road). It's an easy mistake to make if you're descending in the dark like I was.