Horn Peak

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 4/7/2021, By: angry
Info: Booted from trailhead to summit. Snow is continuous from th to treeline and was supportive. Treeline to summit is wind scoured, intermittent snow patches of no consequence. On descent, snowshoes necessary from ~11,600 due to warm temps. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 4/5/2021, By: Tim A
Info: The warm overnight temperatures are making the Sangres a tough range to get into. 36F at 1:30am when I started up the rainbow trail from Horn Creek TH. Intermittent and patchy snow to the Horn Peak turnoff, and postholing regularly even in the packed-down trench. At the turnoff I put on snowshoes as the snow became consistent but was still postholing to the shin or knee even in the trench. Made slow progress about 1.5 miles up but the temperatures warmed up as I moved higher and the snow became less and less supportive. The summit is reachable for those willing to suffer. I'm fine with postholing on the egress but not for an entire day. Would wait for the cooler temperatures coming later this week. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 10/11/2020, By: Grover
Info: Dry as of this posting. Did the loop: Little Horn > Fluted > Horn. Good scrambling up the blocky south face. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/14/2020, By: joyfulwriter
Info: Road clear to trailhead. Trail up through the trees had some snow, some mud, some dry areas. Melted considerably between morning ascent and afternoon descent, so I expect it will be pretty clear in most places until the next snow. Above treeline there is a nice boot pack to the summit. It's possible to avoid snow in most places if desired. Ridgeline has both snow and dry areas. On Sunday the snow was slushy or firm, not ice, but as it warms and freezes at night that could change. No traction needed. Absolutely beautiful day with great views all around. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 6/10/2020, By: Jay521
Info: Summer conditions all the way. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 5/25/2020, By: bluegrassclimber
Info: Very little accumulation from Saturday's weather. With the exception of a couple small drifts near treeline, summer conditions. Did not get a look above 12,600 due to weather, but looked clear from the TH. Streams are flowing, but small and easy to cross. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 5/24/2020, By: Sbenfield
Info: Summer 

Route: From Fluted, North Ridge Descent
Posted On: 5/2/2020, By: supranihilest
Info: Entirely dry between Fluted and Horn. The descent off Fluted is steep and a bit loose but nothing awful and the views north are wonderful. The route from the tri-point of the Fluted/Horn/Comanche connecting ridge contains a boatload of scrambling, some of it on less than desirable rock, but it's all Class 3 or easier. It's all dry too, which is nice. Descending the north ridge is all dry until treeline, where the terrible, deep snow starts. This garbage is wet and prone to unexpected collapse to the waist or more. The snow does melt out some the farther down one goes but it's never far from the trail until perhaps a mile from the Rainbow Trail, so expect to spend a considerable amount of time wallowing in it. The trail where it widens to about the width of a car is all dry back to the trailhead. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 3/7/2020, By: rivrrapids
Info: Snowshoes needed till tree line. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/26/2019, By: Old Hickory
Info: Bluebird day for this peak and all across the Sangres. Summer conditions. In fact, I was so warm even at 13K that I wished for a little wind. 

Route: via N Crestone Lake
Posted On: 7/6/2019, By: nathansmithpiano
Info: Beautiful weather, totally dry, full summer on the horns and Fluted. Hiked Venable, Spring, and Comanche, same, all from N Crestone TH. Only downside: mosquitos meant BUSINESS until about 11,500 or whenever a breeze came through. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 6/21/2019, By: Kirill_Ivanov
Info: The trail is snow free except right at the edge of tree line. There are some 4-5ft snow drifts that cover the path at several points. If trail is lost, just navigate a short distance up the ridge until out of trees. It's passable without traction gear. Everything above the tree line is completely melted out. Creek crossings run a little high, especially the one on Rainbow Trail just before getting to the junction with Horn Peak trail. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 11/13/2018, By: Giant hills
Info: From trailhead to horn peak trail junction snow is patchy. From junction to treeline snow has an alright boot print/pack snow is ankle mid shin deep about 500ft from treeline the snow becomes about almost waist deep at times if postholing.snow shoes helped at this portion. from treeline to summit, ridge is just dusted with powder and very straight forward. This all may be different because huge storm rolled in and was dumping when we left. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 1/7/2018, By: ArtM
Info: Trail was essentially dry, with minimal amounts of snow in shaded areas below tree line. Stream crossing is solid ice, you can either try the trail crossing and throw dirt, sticks, or rocks on it to avoid sliding (what I did), or look for an area where there is snow on top of the ice to cross. Upper slopes above treeline were totally clear of snow or ice, along the standard North Ridge route. Wind started picking up on the upper slopes, above 11,800 ft., as a front came through. It was howling over the west side of the ridge line by the time I got to 12,400 ft, or so, and was gusting 20-30 mph at this elevation. By the time I got to the maximum elevation for the day, 13,037 ft (no summit for me!), I had to hunker down below ridge line, and didn't even dare removing my pack or phone for photos. It was hard to turn around, but I think I would have been on my hands and knees on the way up the summit ridge, and don't know what it would have been like on the way back from there! The trail through the trees is very recognizable, again it was dry, and this makes for easy route-finding, although I did lose it for a few hundred feet of elevation on the way up (see my trip report). It would have been possible to summit had I gotten an earlier start, maybe started in the dark, so consider this if weather is going to be coming in. By the time I got back to the trailhead (3:35 PM), and was on the way home after 4:00 PM, a number of peaks were obscured by the incoming weather at and I was glad that I turned around. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 6/15/2017, By: desertdog
Info: We climbed Horn and Fluted in summer conditions. Trail up to tree line was in great shape and easy to follow. We elected to hike out on the Dry Lakes trail. There was a fair amount of snow on the first quarter of the trail making route finding difficult. Fun day.