10/8/2016 Route: West Ridge via Zapata Falls Posted On: 10/8/2016, By: bdloftin77 Info: Route is dry as of 10/8/16. From Zapata Falls TH, went 2.5 mi to the North Fork Trail turnoff (carved into an aspen, at 10,600 ft, at the top of a hill). Went about 0.3 miles on a faint trail, then turned left and went uphill at a cairn to an even fainter trail, seeing an occasional cairn or two. The "trail" ends at a pink ribbon at the start of the west ridge. The right side and top of the beginning of the ridge are tree covered.. the left has a rocky slope. I'd recommend ascending the rocky slope near the beginning of the ridge where the rocks are big and solid, then staying nearish the top of the ridge just below the trees, then gaining the top of the ridge as the trees fade out, and continuing to the summit. My gps said about 10.5 miles total, though google earth abridged the route to 9.5. Road is a bit bumpy, but I'd just call it a rough 2wd.. doable by any car. Dry conditions. |
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10/2/2016 Route: North Ridge via Lower Huerfano Posted On: 10/2/2016, By: RyGuy Info: The trail is totally dry and in amazing condition for fall! Also worth noting that the Aspens are at peak in the Huerfano basin. |
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9/26/2016 Route: North ridge Posted On: 10/1/2016, By: Rockhopper2 Info: Dry |
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9/26/2016 Route: North ridge Posted On: 10/1/2016, By: Rockhopper2 Info: Good to go, only a tiny few spots of snow, hope you like false summits, the views of the aspens, peaks and the dunes are amazing! I hiked it round trip from 2pm to 6 pm on Monday. Did I say the aspens are going off?! |
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8/28/2016 Route: North Ridge Posted On: 8/28/2016, By: JChitwood Info: Hiked California today. No snow anywhere on the peak. I could see some snow on the south side of the Crestones but the Blanca group is dry. |
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6/18/2015 Route: W. Slope Posted On: 6/18/2015, By: illusion7il Info: ALL CLEAR !!! ridge to PT 13577 and PT 13660 is all clear as well |
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3/29/2015 Route: east face Posted On: 3/29/2015, By: taylorzs Info: California is caked in snow and we had an excellent descent of the east face today. Overall, the Sangres are caked in snow and in a pretty solid melt freeze cycle. If you have the skills and desire to climb and/or ski big snow lines in the Sangres, they are going off right now. The next week or two are likely to be the peak ski mountaineering season for this range. Get on it! |
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6/26/2014 Route: North Ridge Posted On: 6/30/2014, By: desertdog Info: Dry the whole way. We added UN13,577 too. Beautiful views all around. Might be a good one to add onto a Lindsey climbing trip! |
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6/22/2014 Route: Zapata Posted On: 6/22/2014, By: Monster5 Info: Descended CA to Zapata Falls last night - no snow on W ridge or in tree-wack down to N Zapata trail. The trail is in good condition but a bit difficult to follow at the stream crossing (by headlamp). Ridge to connecting 13ers and 14ers dry. Talus slopes above Lily Lakes looked dry too. No techy snow gear used from Little Bear to CA. |
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6/14/2014 Route: Lower Huerfano Trail Route Posted On: 6/16/2014, By: Than217 Info: Was extremely windy the entire route once on the ridge. Strongest wind I‘ve ever felt. The only snow was one patch directly at the ridge above the treeline. It looked easy enough to walk around it but I just climbed over it since it was only about 30 to 40 feet high wall of snow. Easy to climb over. No snow along the ridge on the way up except for one small patch around the summit of California peak itself. But this small patch encircling the peak was very small and required no effort to walk over. The summit itself was clear, no snow. Ellingwood Point and Blanca Peak both looked clear of snow on their summits. Very few snow patches everywhere but melting fast. |
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2/23/2014 Route: West ridge Posted On: 2/24/2014, By: ahrendse Info: The trail towards Zapata Lake was either boot packed or dry all the way to the turn off for the west ridge. I took the west ridge up to UN13660A which was relatively dry with occasional patches of snow. The ridge to UN13577 was about the same but with more snow. Ridge to California peak was mostly dry. West ridge off California had much more snow, especially at and below tree line. Image 1- looking towards California from UN13577 Image 2- Crestones Image 3- LB/B/E |
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10/5/2013 Route: North Ridge Posted On: 10/7/2013, By: mrickers Info: Route is 99% snow free...a little snow near the true summit, can be avoided if you want. Image 1: Typical ridge conditions Image 2: Huerfano / Lindsey Image 3: Blanca / Ellingwood / LB |
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6/2/2013 Route: North Ridge Posted On: 6/2/2013, By: Jay521 Info: A little bit of snow on the Zapata trail but no problem. Ditto on the summit. |
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10/8/2012 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 10/9/2012, By: JROSKA Info: I didn‘t quite make it all the way, but close enough to post a conditions report. Only about 35 degrees near the top, but no snow whatsoever. I had microspikes but did not need them. Some of the nearby Sangre peaks had a dusting of snow on the north facing slopes but that‘s about it. |
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5/7/2011 Route: North Ridge Posted On: 5/7/2011, By: CarpeDM Info: Went up California Peak today. Tried to stick to the summer trail, but there was more snow than expected in the trees (did some frustrating postholing), so we bushwhacked up a snow-filled gully to the ridge on the way up. We didn‘t bring snowshoes. And if I had to do it again, I probably still wouldn‘t bring them - just find a different way up. The ridge is long and the ups and downs are disheartening, but we made it. On the way down, we hiked to the saddle where the trail normally goes, but bushwhacked again straight back to the meadow in photo 1. Photo 1: about where the snow began in earnest and where the bushwhacking began. This is an open meadow where you encounter a fence. Photo 2: the gully that we went up. The snow ended somewhere around 12,000 ft, but then there were a few hundred feet of talus before the ridgeline - really sucked up some time. Photo 3: view of the ridge once we got up there. Photo 4: ridgeline leading up to California Peak. |
