Baldy Cinco

Route: Spring Creek Pass
Posted On: 2/17/2024, By: kyrawhitworth
Info: Did no es, cinco, and 13168. We were absolutely blessed with a killer trench below treeline. Above tree line was all trenching and snowshoes stayed on 95% of the day (yuck). To our disappointment there is no longer a groomed snowmobile track and it seems like there hasnt been one all season. Expect a slog across the snow mesa as a result :(. Conditions on the ridge to 13510 were pretty loaded and dropping deep into the basin to then up climb wasnt super feasible. 11hrs and 13.5 miles for the three peaks. Trip report: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=22490&cpgm 

Route: Spring Creek Pass
Posted On: 11/11/2023, By: Kiefer
Info: Splotchy snow pretty much everywhere. But as you can see from the pictures, it's easily avoidable. Snow is expectedly dry, icy and unconsolidated. Daytime temps maybe around 35. Spring Creek Pass parking area is completely dry. 

Route: From SpringCreekPass
Posted On: 7/5/2023, By: 9patrickmurphy
Info: Did the 4-peak Baldy Cinco loop from Spring Creek Pass. Summer conditions, like everything in the La Garitas right now. Snow Mesa was muddy in quite a few spots on the hike out, but trailrunners were fine. 

Route: Accessed via CDT/Spring Creek Pass
Posted On: 6/20/2023, By: Scott Conro
Info: Photos included for conditions on Baldy Cinco, "no es Cinco," and 13510A. Route up to the snow mesa was summer conditions. Quite a bit of snow on the snow mesa en route to the saddle with "Baldy no es Cinco," but it held me and my pack (combined 200lbs) easily at sunrise. If you're intent on doing this route later in the day, I think the snow would be an inconvenience but not altogether much of an issue. You can see in the photos that once you're moving up from the mesa to gain the saddle, the route can be done with minimal snow crossing. The route from Baldy Cinco to 13162A was summer conditions. I did this as a backpack toward West Willow Creek TH. If considering heading out this way in the next couple weeks, know the route on the CDT is manageable, but lots of snow for about a mile just past the West Mineral Creek trail makes for a challenging route. There is snow in many other places before San Luis Pass. It makes for much slower travel than you would probably like, especially later in the day, so plan accordingly. Photo 1: A look at the route up 'Baldy no es Cinco" and Baldy Cinco from the Snow Mesa. Photo 2: A look back at the route from near the saddle. Photo 3: Below UN 13162A, connecting with the CDT on the way to UN 13510A. Photo 4: On the CDT, looking back on the route dodging snowfields descending 13162A. There are a few snow-free routes to choose from on the descent, but time consuming. Photo 5: Screen grab from a video showing the route along the CDT soon after the West Mineral Creek trail junction. 

Route: Spring Creek Pass Trailhead
Posted On: 5/30/2023, By: EH974871
Info: At 6am, the mud, water and snow were all frozen enough to support myself and my (way too large) pack (160lbs aprox.). Snow didnt become consistent until hiking on Snow Mesa. There are patches that dont have snow but for the most part theres still a fair amount of snow that hasnt melted yet. Baldy cinco was pretty bare in terms of snow. The decent at 11am was a different story. Snow and ice started melting. Increased amount of post-holing but it could have been way worse. Within Treeline the trail was pretty bare except some mud. 

Route: Southwest Slopes
Posted On: 12/22/2022, By: dolfh
Info: The parking lot at Spring Creek Pass was icy in spots but mostly dry. I crossed hwy 149 and started trenching up the low angled ridge eastward. Snow on the ridge was 6 inches to 24 inches deep, but well trenched now. Staying with the ridge until I could see a talus slope ahead. I left the trail still heading east. The slope angle up the talus was close to 30 degrees straight ahead, but if trending to climbers right the angle decreased to around 20 degrees. I climbed the talus slope with patches of deep snow for a few hundred yards to the expanse of the mesa. I started seeing Colorado Trail signposts and large cairns up ahead. The cairns and posts would prove useful as landmarks on the way out. The walk Northeast towards Baldy Cinco was over snow 4-12 inches deep. I went straight up the Southwest Slope of Baldy Cinco on trivial snow cover to a cairn at around 13,250. From the cairn to the summit was a few hundred yards with a small elevation gain. The wind was strong all day and tracks across the mesa on the way out were hard to spot. As mentioned in previous trip reports navigation is important here because of the lack of large landmarks on the mesa. 

Route: Via Baldy no es Cinco
Posted On: 5/29/2022, By: HikerGuy
Info: Summer condition. 

Route: Spring Ck Pass
Posted On: 1/9/2022, By: Reg0928
Info: Re-stamped Ikk & Osprey's trench this morning, then a few skiers skinned up after me. It's bomber solid now! Go get it! 

Route: Spring Creek Pass
Posted On: 1/7/2022, By: osprey
Info: The parking area at Spring Creek Pass is paved and plowed with room for several vehicles. The trailhead is on the east side of the highway and is marked with a sign. Happily, the remnants of IKk's trench from January 1&2 were still faintly visible which saved a lot of time trail finding. The trench disappeared in the meadow with the large cairn. From the cairn I put in a trench going east until breaking out of timberline. Then I traversed south on a hillside until reaching the gully that leads to Snow Mesa. There is a Continental Divide trail marker where you leave the gully and pop out onto Snow Mesa. You can see Baldy Cinco and no es Cinco from there. It looks like a short distance but the view is fore- shortened and there is still a lot of work to be done. I went to the saddle between the two peaks. The ridge up to Cinco was wind scoured and so I left my snowshoes and pack at the saddle and went to the Cinco summit. It took only 35 minutes RT from the saddle to summit to saddle. No es Baldy is very close and I wanted to climb it also but its ridge was snow covered and would have required snowshoes to ascend. I was running short on daylight and energy so I followed my trench back. It took 6hrs 25 minutes to the Cinco summit and 3 hours 15 minutes to return to the TH. The trench is in and should be available for several days. It should now be a cruise for anyone wanting to get both peaks. Take to heart the warning in IKK's CR from January 2: Snow Basin is a large area with few if any landmarks. It would be easy to become disoriented in a snow storm when the sky melds with the Mesa in one vast whitness. 

Route: Spring creek pass
Posted On: 1/3/2022, By: lkk8815
Info: Took two tries for these two - Baldy Cinco and Baldy no es Cinco. Slow going and arduous trail breaking from the parking lot up to Snow Mesa on Saturday 1/1. Made it halfway across the Mesa before deciding that worsening whiteout and bitter windchill temps exceeded my risk tolerance for what I was comfortable doing alone and turned around. Came back on a bluebird Sunday 1/2. Cruised up my awesome trench in less than half the time it had taken the day before. The peaks are pretty easy when you can see where you are going. Nice low angle outing, six hours RT. Kept snowshoes on all day. 

Route: Spring Creek Pass
Posted On: 5/28/2021, By: ScottLovesRMNP
Info: Dry, easy traverse over from Baldy no es Cinco. See notes from that report.... 

Route: Spring Creek Pass
Posted On: 4/24/2021, By: Sbenfield
Info: Hiked along with Baldy no es Cinco, UN 13162A & UN 13510A. Baldy Cinco, Baldy no es Cinco & 13162 are straightforward, we used snowshoes. Getting UN 13510A was a little more complicated with some steeper snow. I'd be careful & and be aware of wet slides if you head on over to UN13510A from UN13162A. We also attempted to hike 13020C but were turned around by a cornice. 

Route: From spring creek pass
Posted On: 4/2/2021, By: bmcqueen
Info: I was worried this morning when I started post-holing with my snowshoes on immediately at 5:45 am. I tiptoed in the faint old trench for the first hour, wondering if I would be cutting a short day even shorter. Then the snowmobile track appeared and saved the day. I went up to the Baldy no es Cinco/Baldy Cinco saddle, then headed left to no es Cinco. After Baldy Cinco, I descended its gentle ridge back to the snowmobile tracks. This time I followed the tracks all the way down to the road with only a couple unpleasant post-holing instances. 

Route: Spring Creek Pass
Posted On: 6/28/2020, By: mtngoatwithstyle
Info: Summer conditions.No snow in Snow Mesa to the summit.Same conditions for Baldy no es Cinco.Mosquitoes will be your best friend all the way to the summit. 

Route: Via \"Baldy no es Cinco\"
Posted On: 9/3/2019, By: supranihilest
Info: Entirely dry between summits. Class 2 near the tops of each peak with Class 1 off-trail grass between.