"Huerfano Peak"

Route: Huerfano - South Slopes (with Iron Nipple option)
Posted On: 5/25/2025, By: Lubellski
Info: See conditions update for Lindsey. 

Route: Huerfano - South Slopes (with Iron Nipple option)
Posted On: 10/22/2023, By: climbingyogi
Info: Still dry! Saw 3 guys coming down from Lindsey. I asked them if they knew it was closed and they said yeah. Otherwise had the trail to ourselves. 

Route: Huerfano - South Slopes (with Iron Nipple option)
Posted On: 10/18/2023, By: jeffh7
Info: Trail ran Huerfano and Iron Nipple in the evening of 10/16, both completely dry. Heard a very loud pack of coyotes howling around the trailhead at about 7:30 PM. Made me second guess the safety of finishing the trail alone in the dark *_* 

Route: Huerfano - South Slopes (with Iron Nipple option)
Posted On: 10/17/2023, By: TheseThousandHills
Info: Dry 

Route: Huerfano - South Slopes (with Iron Nipple option)
Posted On: 10/9/2023, By: andlours
Info: Entire route is dry to the summit. No need to bring spikes until more snow comes. Fall colors are fantastic at the moment. 

Route: Huerfano - South Slopes (with Iron Nipple option)
Posted On: 10/9/2023, By: kyrawhitworth
Info: No need for spikes right now. Fall colors looking great, the whole valley has color! We had considered adding on Huerfanito but after talking with some folks about our planned route crossing over onto the ranch boundary, ended up traversing over to"Huerfana//UN13557 instead and then down to connect with Huefano trail. Only had to step in snow a couple times on the traverse from Huerfano and it goes at Class 2-3+. 

Route: Huerfano - South Slopes (with Iron Nipple option)
Posted On: 9/30/2023, By: sarahmariekirk
Info: Climbed Huerfano today, along with Iron Nipple. Absolutely amazing views today with peak fall color and a pretty bomber trail. Mini knife edge up to Iron Nipple was fun and solid. There is also a super nice summit register on Huerfano from the CMC. Overall, amazing day! 

Route: Huerfano - South Slopes (with Iron Nipple option)
Posted On: 7/19/2023, By: JasonKline
Info: We basically followed Ben's route from https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=20871 except that we did it in the counterclockwise direction instead of clockwise. We also didn't do Lindsey due to the closure, so we covered Huerfanito->Iron Nipple->Huerfano->13555 in that order. We definitely saw the private property signs and fenceposts while trying to stay on the legal side when going between Huerfanito and Huerfano. It's summer conditions, with only a small amount of snow that is easily avoidable. We found the ridge between 13555 and Huerfano to be a bit slow and tedious. It mostly went class 2+ with some class 3, but required a lot more route finding than the rest of the day. 

Route: Huerfano - South Slopes (with Iron Nipple option)
Posted On: 7/5/2023, By: Mountainqueen
Info: Summited on July 3rd! Summer conditions. We saw a beautiful black bear that scampered away from us over the west ridge below Mt. Lindsey. Made it to the upper TH just fine in my Subaru forester. 

Route: Huerfano - South Slopes (with Iron Nipple option)
Posted On: 7/1/2023, By: emilysharpe24
Info: Summer conditions. No spikes needed and the few snowfields in the treeline are melting and pretty much avoidable outside of the one small stream crossing at 11,600' (about two-three steps over hard snow). There is a bunch of deadfall but again, we just walked around and back to trail. The basin is beautiful and wildflowers are really starting to come out! The approach and summit of Huerfano was completely straightforward based on the route description and got up close with some marmots. The summit approach to Iron Nipple was a short scramble and the baby knife edge was short and sweet. The views from both of these summits are pretty spectacular! 

Route: Huerfano - South Slopes (with Iron Nipple option)
Posted On: 6/12/2023, By: Istoodupthere
Info: After the river crossing, which was done over a log jam unless you want to get wet, the route to the gully is a mess. The trail will quickly disappear under deadfall and 5 feet of snow in the woods after about .1 miles. I just basically headed SE and took the path of least resistance to the gully at about 11,100. Youll see the trail on occasion. From here I stayed close to the edge of the gully, which is currently a waterfall, until about 11,500. This is more bush whacking on some lightly used trails. At 11,500, the gully was snowed over. From here the snow was perfectly hard packed (34 degrees at 2wd trailhead at 4am) which made for a super easy snow climb up to about 12,300. On the descent, I was able to plunge step .15 miles from the false summit that is right next to true summit. I then was able to walk on perfect snow from 12,500 to 11,500 that was still supportive at noon. A couple of wet glissades as well. Then back through the mile or so long awful section through the woods and back across the creek. Overall a great day in the mountains that felt more like May. Saw 3 people all day. What great views of Lindsey, Blanca, and Ellingwood! 

Route: Huerfano - South Slopes (with Iron Nipple option)
Posted On: 6/4/2023, By: Ssgustafson
Info: I was on trail at 515AM and made quick work of the lower trail up to the river crossing which is clear of snow. There are some small muddy areas and downed trees that are inconsequential. After dunking a boot in the river (ughhh) I strayed too far into the forest in the next section along the river which really sucked with a lot of postholing and bushwhacking . On the return I ruthlessly stuck to the river which was much, much, better! There is an avalanche section that looks bad, but as I got into it there were some pretty easy ways through it that were a million times better than the forest nightmare. The next section up to the Lindsey / Huerfano saddle was snow covered and was easy to get up in microspikes with poles Snow-free trail sections became evident ~12,500'. I proceeded to Iron Nipple from the saddle which was a quick and dry class 2+/3 jaunt up. From there to the Huerfano summit the downclimb was dry, followed by a mix of occasionally steep side-hilling on snow fields and tundra. I summitted at 9AM and didnt linger on the summit for fear of degrading conditions. The snow conditions were in fact quickly softening on the descent, but still supportive enough to stay in spikes all the way back down to the river. Suggest bringing microspikes, poles, and snowshoes (just in case the saddle to river section conditions warrant). Crampons are not needed IMO. 

Route: from 13555
Posted On: 5/29/2023, By: artemavovk
Info: The only sketchy patch of snow is coming off the first and second flat-ish bumps on the traverse. The rest of the way is relatively clear with nearly no snow. Last bit to get to the peak has somewhat stable snow that I used traction on to get to the top and avoid more scrambling. Coming off the peak is a small snow field down to the base of the Iron Nipple. A tiny bit of snow on the knife edge. The basin is full of snow but was relatively supportive, there were tracks up Lindsey without snowshoes; kinda crazy. Back to the trailhead is all postholing, used snowshoes and that kinda helped. The creek is covered with snow all the way down to the river, there's one spot where someone seems to have fallen through. 

Route: Traverse from PT 13,555
Posted On: 6/5/2022, By: halfapackofapache
Info: Traversed from summit of pt 13,555 to huerfano then over to iron nipple and down the standard “south slopes” route. Route was mostly dry above tree line. All snow avoidable up there. Trail was wet in some areas once in the trees. There were maybe 5 to 10 very small snow patches I had to cross in the trees. Nothing significant in my opinion. There are quite a lot of downed trees on the standard trail as well. It slowed my down a bit on my decent. And I lost the trail a couple times having to navigate through all the rubble. Makes it a bit more challenging for sure. Still downed trees on 4WD road about .7 mi from lily lake TH 

Route: Huerfano - South Slopes (with Iron Nipple option)
Posted On: 10/18/2021, By: Geckser
Info: The trail is getting sloppy and the road is getting icy. On some steep sections of the road it will be icy in the mornings or after dark. Be prepared. Wanna give a big shoutout to whoever did Huerfano before us, made the while trip much more bearable. It is snowy until 12,500 feet at which point you can essentially rock hop to the summit. The tracks were pretty icy, but there is a good track in place all the way to the pass with Lindsey. Good day, hopefully doesn't get covered with too much more snow