West Spanish Peak

Route: Southwest Ridge
Posted On: 11/20/2017, By: Chicago Transplant
Info: Broke trail through 2-4" of snow in the trees, above treeline was mostly dry with very shallow patchy snow. Viewing it from across the valley the next day it looked completely dry above treeline. 

Route: Southwest Ridge
Posted On: 10/22/2017, By: hellmanm
Info: The route is still dry all the way to the summit (minus tiny, very avoidable snow patches). 

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Posted On: 10/16/2017, By: Uffda
Info: Route still dry/summer conditions. 

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Posted On: 10/7/2017, By: Flips
Info: Southwest Ridge from Cordova pass is completely dry. 

Route: standard route
Posted On: 6/6/2016, By: swosu29
Info: Trail is clear till about 100 yards before summit, then its an icy mess. The entire summit as of 6/3/16 is covered in snow (3-4 ft at times), with ice on top. I turned around at the ice due to time. Very easy hike to summit, I compare this mountain to Mt Sherman in difficulty overall. Took 4 hours from car to car overall after a late AM start. Will be back to gain summit later this summer. 

Route: Std. Route
Posted On: 11/17/2015, By: sdkeil
Info: Kyle and I hiked West Spanish Peak this past Sunday and ran into no difficulties. The road to Cordova Pass was snow packed and icy in spots, but a passenger car did make it to the summit. On route the greatest amount of snow was near the TH as the route passed through the trees. Once we broke treeline there was little to no snow. Gators and traction were not necessary and the trail was easy to follow, even where it was snow covered. 

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Posted On: 10/25/2015, By: JasonF
Info: Cordova Pass accessible via higher clearance vehicle in the morning. By early afternoon, was accessible with 2WD vehicle. As the route is western facing, it is melting out nicely. Above 12,000 feet snow depth ranged from 8"-16" but most could be avoided by staying on ridge line. Other aspects (including nearby Sangre range peaks) will likely be more problematic (see second pic). 

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Posted On: 6/28/2015, By: jmd_10
Info: Route is dry all the way to the summit. There were a couple of pockets of snow here and there but they are likely gone by now (writing on the 28th). Part of the reason I post this is because there was significantly less water and snow for my dog than I had anticipated. Beautiful, but difficult, summit. 

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Posted On: 10/20/2014, By: ChrisinAZ
Info: There‘s a bit of snow up there right now, but it‘s far from winter conditions...road to Cordova Pass had almost continuous snow for the last two miles to the pass, but I got up it in a car with some care. Below treeline, snow is patchy and generally no more than two inches deep. Above treeline, mostly bare, with a few patches of trivial snow if you stick to the ridge proper. The final ridge has drifts up to a foot deep, but if you‘ve made it this far, nothing that will stop you! Only snow gear used was trekking poles 

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Posted On: 6/14/2013, By: desertdog
Info: No snow until the summit, but easy to avoid. We completed this in 4.5 hours. Nice peak to do in an afternoon. When the trail ends look up and follow the carins that take you to the left of the gully you see. Car Camping at Cordova Pass was very nice! 

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Posted On: 4/22/2013, By: FireOnTheMountain
Info: Able to drive to ~2miles from Cordova Pass with 4wd. No trench for me but was far from wallowing fest. last 1600‘ climb to summit from valley floor mostly wind blown but some snow to contend with. Good tip here: going south on Highway 12, go 1 mile past Cucharas Pass and the normal Cordova Pass turnoff. Take the first left and follow this road. Avoids a snowy section that we helped a guy get unstuck from for 1.5 hours after the hike. 

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Posted On: 12/16/2012, By: Corn
Info: The road up Cordova Pass is starting to get filled in with wind blown snow. I got stuck for an hour in a huge drift. I was able to use a snowshoe and dig out the jeep. Made it up to the trail head but the winds were brutal! Having breakfast instead, no climb today. 

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Posted On: 12/1/2012, By: CarpeDM
Info: Companion TH status update: http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/threport.php?recnum=2973 Virtually no snow on the route. We encountered more snow on the drive up from Cucharas Pass to Cordova Pass. No need for gaiters, spikes, or anything like that. The wind forecast for this area was just about the best in the state (San Juans were better but farther away than I wanted to go). The winds were at their worst at the trailhead. But you start out in the trees, so no wind there. Once above treeline, the wind was occasionally a bit strong, but manageable. It was a beautiful day really! Afterwards, we ate at La Veta Loco (in - where else? - La Veta). Delicious green chile burger! I've got a few pics. Really not much to show, though. It's just very dry. So I'll just make them available on request. 

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Posted On: 7/9/2011, By: Monster5
Info: Via the std route. Trailhead (Cordova Pass) easily accessed by most 2wd vehicles. Pretty sure nearly nobody paid the fee (your call). Dry, easy to follow trail until treeline. Talus/dirt social trails straight up from there. Not epic or anything, but some nice views and scramble opportunities. Trail got a bit crowded with the "jeans" type. The prominent cliff band right of the trail is doable with a fun, c4 ledgy route traversing up and right. It looked like there was a decent c3 mini-arete with scrambling potential in the gully left of the access ridge. 

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Posted On: 5/9/2011, By: mikefromcraig
Info: The road to the trailhead is fine if you come from the west. There were a couple of muddy parts but no way you could get stuck in them no matter what you are driving. Technically the road from the east is closed but there‘s no gate on it. If you come from the east there are two arches that you drive under and one of them is really amazing. It‘s an arch carved into a natural wall. Do a google image search for "apishapa arch" to see it. There are some snow drifts up until tree line but it‘s not bad. I think I postholed maybe 4 times and only about a foot deep. On the sign in sheet I noticed that there was only 6 people who have hiked it this year but there were two yesterday (5/8) which really helped me find my way in the snow drifts. Under the comments in the sign in sheet I like to put things that would help someone who may need to rescue me such as "drives a white ‘11 forester." The people who hiked the day before me just put "fuckin awesome." It certainly is an awesome mountain. It‘s the eastern most 13er in the state which I believe means that there is no point in the nation east of that mountain that is taller. The views are at least as good as any 14er I‘ve been on. There‘s a nice campsite at the trailhead with a restroom but it was locked the whole time I was there. If you are wondering it‘s class one to the base of the mountain and then class 2 the rest of the way to the top. If you are planning on doing this mountain let me know because my window in Trinidad faces this mountain and I have a high powered telescope and I would love to see someone on the summit. Let me know if you have any questions.