Cronin Peak

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 6/21/2025, By: sehessler92
Info: Peak is basically summer conditions. All snow can be avoided or skirted around. The willows are very short lived. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 6/14/2025, By: terribletigzy
Info: I did a loop of Cronin, White, then Antero. I ascended the North Ridge and descended the east ridge. North ridge was almost entirely snow free. No trail through the woods (unless I missed it). So it’s a bushwhack to willowbash and stream crossing. Once you get past treeline it’s straightforward. One or two easy snow crossings that were relatively flat. East ridge had some snow, but it’s easily avoidable, the ridge is very wide and flat, no mandatory snow crossings. First photo shows snow on the north ridge, but you can go around on the right. Second photo shows some of the East ridge on the right of the photo. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 5/26/2025, By: TakeMeToYourSummit
Info: I truck camped just uphill from Baldwin Creek (I coulda driven higher but this spot is pretty nice). A maschoist's delight starts as soon as you leave the road & navigate the downed tree section (also full of every sort of variety of snow, rocks, bare ground, etc...). The basin creek crossing is pretty straight forward & after trying to skin some funky snow on the other side, opted to suffer a few post holes to link dry patches to treeline. Above this patches could be skinned, but I went with booting as it felt more direct. Some fun, optional scrambling on the ridge & the snowy sections were overall nice for kicking steps. Many couloirs are still in from the summit, but the apron is showing plenty of recent wet slides & is getting hollow in spots already. Most of this will improve if we return to better overnight freezes. I took Jcinco's idea for the exit & even with a little bit more vert was able to reach the standard Antero route right at treeline. 

Route: NE Face
Posted On: 5/22/2025, By: Jcinco
Info: Still in good fat ski condition and will probably stay that way for a while. Some of the flats below are melting though and it’s getting hard to find continuous snow in the egress. I chose to traverse across the basin to hit the Antero jeep road. The North Ridge ascent is fully caked for the last few hundred feet of vert, and has a little bit of a “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore” feel for the Sawatch. Both this and Antero are big days from the low TH. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 4/7/2025, By: aksean22
Info: The 4WD road up Baldwin Gulch is still fully covered from the bottom. I trenched the road up to around 11,800' then cut right and more or less followed the summer route. Skinned to the ridge at 13,500' and switched to crampons the rest of the way. Lots of wind drifting on top of loose rocks on the ridge made for slow going. Really good skiing down the east face. The snow stayed cool up high, but was really starting to warm up lower down. There's a good track if anyone goes, but I'd expect conditions to change quickly with this warm spell. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 11/30/2024, By: Laxer04
Info: Put a nice trench in up the road and directly to the ridge. We opted to take the ridge the entire way to avoid any potential avy risk. There are some easy class 3 sections lower on the ridge. The winds were absolutely brutal today but both of us were able to summit. Mixed conditions, lots of snow and loose rocks on the ridge. Microspikes would have been helpful. Snowshoes were an absolute must, there is a ton of fresh snow. 

Route: Baldwin Creek Tour
Posted On: 6/29/2024, By: QuietBear
Info: Cronin is in summer conditions. A few large snowfields remain on north-facing and heavily shaded areas, but can be avoided without too much trouble. There is an abundance of muddy, slick, and sinking ground at lower elevations, especially near the lakes and willows. The creek is running very strong and Baldwin Creek 4x4 Road (Forest Service Road 277) has a good amount of water running over it in places. Mostly 1-2 inches, but perhaps 8-10 in one spot. Mosquitoes are in full bloom in the forested areas. Getting out of my car for a second resulted in 10-15 intruders. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 6/16/2024, By: ryansunshine20
Info: Basically summer conditions. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 6/10/2024, By: Istoodupthere
Info: No spikes, snowshoes, axe needed. Snow is completely avoidable except a 30 foot section on the ridge. The creek is high. Fell trying to cross the first crossing. Wet boots immediately. The road below the creek is a stream. Gets better soon after that. Went barefoot across the stream at the 4wd trailhead. No other way across. This wasnt an easy crossing either with the high water. On descent I stayed on the snow as much as possible above treeline to avoid the loose scree talus crap that is Cronin peak. Plunge stepped most of the time with some postholing in the rapidly melting snow. Perfect morning followed by a thunderstorm that sat right overhead and followed me back to the trailhead the last 2 miles. Not one of my favorite mountains. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 6/8/2024, By: chasing_sun
Info: Our Toyota Tundra was able to drive to the upper 4wd trailhead. Its a gnarly road, a few water crossings. Hike was 7:30a - 2pm. There are still snow patches in various places high and low. We brought snow shoes but ended up ditching them half way up. Hiking boots, gaiters, and 1 trekking pole was totally fine. We had a blue bird day with some wind. It was a big big day for our dog- first high peak! 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 1/20/2024, By: Cereal
Info: My partner and I wore snowshoes from car to treeline, then microspikes from treeline to summit and back to treeline, and then snowshoes from treeline back to car. We followed this route, though we stayed on 277 a little bit longer (before angling to the right) than shown in the TR: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=19291 The road went quickly, not much postholing, and now some good tracks (another pair of hikers were going for Antero today). From 277 turnoff to treeline was tough, postholing to below the knees. Treeline to summit was mostly windblown, but spikes were worth it. 

Route: FR278 to E Ridge
Posted On: 9/16/2023, By: coopergould
Info: Crazy amount of snow in the Shav/Tab, Antero, Princeton region. Remarkably less on Yale and further north up the Sawatch. Harvard looked bone dry while we were swimming in 6inches minimum just a few ridges south. Ran into snow on the road all the way down at 9.5k. Lots of postholing once I split off of FR278. That to say, Cronin is a fun and aesthetic mountain, N Ridge looked like a great route too just not worth the bushwhack with all the snow 

Route: Little Browns Creek up/Browns Creek down
Posted On: 8/3/2023, By: backcountrybrodes
Info: Summer conditions. A little windy when I got to about 13k but wasn't bad at all. If you go down via Browns Creek (south of Mt. White) be sure to stop at Browns Lake and Browns Creek Falls. Nice spots to hang out for sure. And free water bottle for the next person who summits because I left my ~20 oz squirt bottle on the summit. Smh 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 7/16/2023, By: wondering_hough
Info: We parked at the upper trailhead and made our way to cronin today. The forest has plenty of options but we found minimal deadfall when contouring in at 11700. The willows were nonexistent and route was dry. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 6/25/2023, By: _coloradical
Info: Cronin > "Lo Carb" > Grizzly Mtn C > Mt. Mamma > Boulder Mtn Started at the Baldwin Gulch 2WD TH, one small water crossing about .5 from the start of the TH that can be bypassed with some trees. The road is clear up to the 4WD TH and you'll need to do another creek crossing before gaining the actual trail. Today, two different people fell in at this point, it's best to take an extra pair of socks and just walk through it barefoot if your comfortable. For Cronin, I gained the ridge at it's lowest point (~11,000') and it went smoothly with minimal snow, and a little bit of deadfall within the trees. There's a couple patches of snow that can easily be avoided. Dropped down to grab "Lo Carb" and headed to Grizzly Mtn C. Prior to climbing this, I was told it's class 2, but didn't have any beta. I was able to keep it 2+ with one class 4 chimney I down climbed before reaching the saddle. I'm sure it can be kept class 2, I didn't really search for an alternate path. After that, it was your typical class 2 garbage rock to the summit. The ridge to Mt. Mamma was pretty clean, a couple small patches of snow that could all be avoided, and the ridge to Boulder Mtn was also clean. Stats for reference... Total Time: 10 hours, with a break at each summit Distance: 18 miles Elevation Gain: 7,300 The ridgeline is long... I clocked 9.5 miles from the where I started to the top of Boulder Mtn. If you go for the full thing, make sure you've got a solid weather window.