4/22/2023 Route: Hopeful Couloir and East Ridge Posted On: 4/22/2023, By: stomblin7 Info: Willis Gulch TH: Started about 4 am due to road conditions traveling there. Took the cut off trail - was snow covered with some drifts making the path narrow with steep drop offs in many locations. Opted for snowshoes starting around 10,600 ft - began punching though knee deep frequently. Reached the lake area around 7 am. Couloir had soft snow. We were able to get some decent steps in for 3/4 of the couloir. There was a lot of evidence for some older slides likely last week on the easterly facing parts of the couloir, and the snow crossing through the debris was a mess. Climbed couloir to the top and exited center - small cornice to the right side. Descended the east ridge to the saddle - ridge is snow covered and difficult to navigate with spikes or crampons (snow was balling up). Opted to down-climb a snowy section to avoid the talus as able. |
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1/23/2023 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 1/23/2023, By: Will_E Info: Did Hope from Sheep Gulch TH today, I started at the snow plow turnaround, approximately 4.5 mile road walk to the Sheep Gulch TH. Road is well packed to Missouri Gulch, after that just a skin track. I put snow shoes on at Sheep Gulch and broke trail to the top of Hope Pass, I'd call the trail breaking "average", thin in spots, deep in spots, but never particularly difficult, not much post holing. From Hope Pass to summit I didn't use traction, but used crampons on the way down the ridge to speed up my descent to Hope Pass. Cold day, started at 17°, summit temp was 8°, when I got back to the car just after sundown it was 12°, but not much wind today. Fantastic way to spend a Monday, didn't see another person all day. |
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11/25/2022 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 11/26/2022, By: Ssgustafson Info: Mixed dirt and patchy snow on the continental divide trail to the Hope saddle. Little need for micro spikes yet IMO. The ridge was mixed snow and rocks. About 30 degrees with light wind on the summit - a perfect day! P.S. Plz IM me if you find some black diamond mittens on the trail. |
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10/18/2022 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 10/19/2022, By: Jan van Tilburg Info: No snow on entire route |
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9/17/2022 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 9/17/2022, By: PikaSteve Info: Summer conditions, except for wind chill at Hope Pass and along the ridge to the summit. The Aspen leaves next to the trail were almost all green. There were a few stands with yellow and orange near tree line. Still some open parking spots at 7:30am on a Saturday. Five other parties on the mountain. |
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9/2/2022 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 9/2/2022, By: truekyle Info: Great day on hope! Saw one person on the co trail and that was it! For anyone climbing this peak I took my dog with me and there is one low class 3 move that she struggled with but made it up! You could probably avoid it if you dip down below the ridge to the left. |
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8/27/2022 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 8/28/2022, By: daway8 Info: Great little workout peak with variable terrain available. Did from Willis Gulch Trailhead just past Twin Lakes after first hiking up Quail. If you take the standard route it's difficult class 2 but if, like me, you're looking to get a little extra conditioning in, if you stay entirely ridge proper the whole way you can find better scrambling and even a couple real short stints of low 5th class. I found one rock face maybe 10 feet tall that looked pretty flat but actually had great holds and a rocky cliff maybe 15 feet tall - both trivial to walk around if so desired but both fairly solid and fun to play on to get a little extra conditioning/practice. Total hike just over 12 miles and GAIA says it was 5,276ft gain. |
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6/11/2022 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 6/11/2022, By: ekalina Info: Any remaining snow near the ridge is now easily avoidable, summer conditions. Some loose rock on the upper part of the climb but not too bad. The view from the summit is exceptional. |
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6/4/2022 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 6/5/2022, By: malogos Info: There are multiple spots of steep, loose snow above 13.3k. I did it without traction, but did use my poles as anchors (there is a little bit of exposure on two of these spots near the top). |
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5/28/2022 Route: Hopeful Couloir Posted On: 5/28/2022, By: rivrrapids Info: Couloir is good. Some cornices present to climber's right to watch out for. |
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5/28/2022 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 5/29/2022, By: kyrawhitworth Info: Insanely dry from the east ridge and west ridge on Quail. No traction needed as only very small spots of snow to deal with on the route. Had a nice glissade down from Hope before heading to Quail. |
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4/30/2022 Route: hopeful couloir Posted On: 5/1/2022, By: cottonmountaineering Info: route is nicely filled in and was a fun ski, no snow for about a mile, then patchy, then consistent snow past the CT junction. the main branch has a bit of a cornice at the top, you can enter on either side, or take the left branch which has no cornice |
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12/4/2021 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 12/4/2021, By: Carl_Healy Info: Beautiful day! Temps in 30s and 40s and wind no worse than 10 mph (15mph a few times). Entire route essentially summer conditions. Whatever snow there is is avoidable or not a problem. No gators or traction used, and definitely no flotation. This is a copy of the Quail report, which is just as applicable. |
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8/3/2021 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 8/3/2021, By: GordoByrn Info: Campsite at 11.2k above Sheep Gulch. As Bill notes, better to stay left/North from the pass. I didn't but a laid back chimney got me back on track. Gully sucked, as promised. Skipped it on way down with a CCW loop, which didn't suck. More details and captioned pics in my Strava. https://www.strava.com/activities/5732670418 |
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6/18/2021 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 6/18/2021, By: brauda02 Info: Planned on the East Ridge and descent of the Northeast Ridge, but realized I didn't have enough water when I got back to the Pass after Quail. I ran down the south side of the pass to the first stream at 11,200. I only had a picture of the map from the GR book for the SE ridge but went for it anyway. I ended up making a few class 3 moves to gain the ridge. This route is very steep. I descended the NE ridge as planned. This route has a lot of talus and is slow going. The only cairn I saw marked the correct slope to descend back to the lake. Snow not an issue on either route. |
