Hayden Mountain South

Route: Richmond TH to Pass
Posted On: 7/3/2025, By: bryanpeck3
Info: Couple small, soft, avoidable snowfields below the pass (see AllTrails for route to pass). Dry, loose trails along the ridge to the peak. 

Route: South Ridge via Richmond Pass
Posted On: 5/28/2025, By: sdkeil
Info: We started at the Richmond TH off of 550 and the trail was basically clear until ~11.6k, with a few drifts that can be avoided. There are a couple snow fields from 11.6k to 12.1k that had to be traversed and they were pretty hard in the morning so some might feel more comfortable crossing with crampons. Above 12.1k there was consistent snow that was supportive in the morning, but punchy when we were coming down. Below the pass there was a snow slope that got soft early as we traversed below the summit of Richmond Peak. We wore crampons here. Once on the ridge there were some minor snow and rock obstacles to negotiate, but nothing too difficult. 

Route: Richmond Trail
Posted On: 7/21/2024, By: Istoodupthere
Info: 99.9 percent snow free. Great trail up to Richmond Pass. A bit overgrown in spots. May want to consider gaiters. From pass to summit there is mostly a lesser used trail. Summit is obvious. Beautiful morning in the San Juans with great views of Sneffels. 6.5 miles rt and 3400 gain. So its a bit steep 

Route: Up SE Couloir, down SE Gully
Posted On: 6/14/2024, By: Boggy B
Info: Picked a less than ideal morning to do this after feeling cooped up the last couple of gorgeous days and not checking the forecast. Noticed this couloir in recent satellite images and figured the snow is good to go after recent sunny weather, which proved true despite clouds and no freeze overnight. Not as steep as hoped, but casual cramponing up 1000' of easy snow. Pieced together some glissades down the gully farther east. Rain started up in the couloir around 630 AM, turned to graupel on the summit, then poured (by CO standards) all the way back down the Richmond trail. Debated how to access this but it seems the best way is Richmond trail to Full Moon trail, then beeline across Full Moon basin. 

Route: Richmond Trail
Posted On: 10/2/2021, By: clairekm
Info: Foliage on the Richmond Trail is slightly past peak, but is still amazing. There were a few patches of shallow snow on the trail from the Full Moon Trail split. Almost all of the route from the pass to the summit was covered in snow, but was navigable. I appreciated the elk that had taken the use trail all the way to the summit and made it surprisingly easy to follow the route under the snow. 

Route: Richmond Trail
Posted On: 9/17/2020, By: supranihilest
Info: The Richmond Trail is super steep and unrelenting, something like 1,200 vert per mile the entire way up. Only near Richmond Pass does the trail flatten somewhat. From Richmond Pass there's a couple of use trails up Hayden Mountain South. One stays closer to ridge crest through the rotten towers and rock on the ridge, the other skirts below it to the west. Neither is really better than the other and both are loose. Past the trash on the ridge the ridge broadens a bit and eventually leads into the last few hundred feet of gray chip rock to the summit. This stuff is super junky but there are trails to the summit. Instead of taking the full Richmond Trail back down I took the Full Moon Trail where it meets the Richmond Trail. It fades in and out a bit through some marshy stuff up high but eventually gets nice as it drops down towards the road. It's not a shorter or faster way down.