"Leaning North Peak"

Route: From Trinchera
Posted On: 5/21/2025, By: Istoodupthere
Info: Windy conditions all over the state today messed up my plans. Headed back to the TH for Trinchera since the winds here were only supposed to get to 30mph, as opposed to 45 further north. From treeline I took a pretty direct route up to the ridge below Trinchera. I didn’t use crampons but probably should have. For the first time in 3 times being here I had some visibility on this bluebird day. I didn’t realize until now that I had to climb Trinchera for the 2nd time in 3 days to get to the Leaning Peaks ha. Put crampons on and headed up the couple hundred feet to the summit. It is pretty steep and the snow was softer than a couple days ago. Wind was fine until the summit. From there to Leaning North summit the wind was pretty brutal. Felt closer to 40mph sustained. I decided to bail on Leaning South. Decided to go straight down the face at the saddle between Leaning and Trinchera. Turned out to be a great decision. It’s quite steep at the top but the snow was in great shape for a descent. Snow was mostly supportive just above treeline at 10am where I ended up making a loop and getting back on my trail at 11,800. If I knew it was going to be this easy, I would have hit Leaning South too. Postholing below treeline wasn’t quite as bad as a couple days ago. Mostly because I could step into the postholes I already created. Loved spending a few days in the southern sangres. Never saw a soul. There’s a bit of a crappy trench/trail now to take advantage of. The snow is going to be disappearing quickly now though…Perfect foot soaking stream 50 feet from TH 

Route: Blue Lakes
Posted On: 6/25/2021, By: angry
Info: Trinchera > Leaning North > Leaning South. Summer Conditions. No summit register. 

Route: Trinchera to Maxwell Traverse
Posted On: 7/21/2019, By: JasonKline
Info: Loop involving Purgatory Campground, Trinchera road, Trinchera to Maxwell traverse, and Maxwell ridge back to Purgatory Campground is almost entirely free of snow. Only had to cross one small snow field just below the summit of Trinchera, and microspikes/poles were more than sufficient. You can easily bypass the cornice on the Trinchera summit just to its north/hiker's right when ascending. It's probably easier to bypass the remaining snow on the ridge when traveling Maxwell->Trinchera than Trinchera->Maxwell, because the clear route is much more obvious going south to north.