6/27/2025 Route: From Mount Ouray Posted On: 6/27/2025, By: brian4328937 Info: Went up Ouray, then down the ridge and across to Chipeta. Some snow on the ridge to Chipeta. I decided to drop down (hikers right) to avoid the snow but then had to make a steep climb back onto the ridge. After getting a little higher up Chipeta it was clear I should have just gone through the snow section and then hung hikers left and I would have been fine. Looked like a lot more snow was on the "trail" but swinging left on the ridge would have avoided most of it. |
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6/29/2024 Route: Marshall Pass Posted On: 6/30/2024, By: denvermikey Info: Summer conditions. Marshall Pass rd in really good shape. Mosquitos were pretty damn annoying. Super easy route on a super nice mountain. |
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11/4/2023 Route: From marshall pass Posted On: 11/4/2023, By: yaktoleft13 Info: No snowshoes or traction needed. Typical post-first-snowstorm snow at places. Never more than ankle deep, but enough to make the talus slick the northern sides |
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7/4/2023 Route: Marshall Pass Posted On: 7/5/2023, By: kwhit24 Info: We parked/camped at the cabin off Marshall Pass. Awesome place to stay the night after being in tents the lasts 3 nights. No snow to worry about. Took the standard trail for Mt. Ouray to 12,700' and then turned north to take the up and down ridge all the way to Chipeta. As described in other reports the last saddle has you 830' from the summit. After 3 days of hiking this was a little mentally demoralizing. We took a long summit break to message friends and family since it was the 4th. When we headed back down we decided to traverse the the slope directly to the CT/CDT trail and made quick work back to the cabin. If I did it again I would take the CT/CDT to start and then up the 484.1 trail to the ridge and do something similar back down. This would save a few hundred feet of gain and it would still be good trail. (9.34 mi; 3,502' gain; 5:16:04 time) Start at TH 6:00am; Chipeta Mtn 8:50am (30 min break on top); Back to TH 11:15am |
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6/2/2022 Route: Marshall Pass Posted On: 6/3/2022, By: zootloopz Info: Plenty of snow but it's all avoidable! No traction or flotation needed. Return via the CDT. Lots of blowdowns and patches of snow on trail but no major obstacles. 9.7 miles / 3.6k gain |
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9/3/2021 Route: Marshall Pass Posted On: 9/3/2021, By: angry Info: Still summer. Lots of mountain bikers on the CDT. |
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6/8/2021 Route: from Marshall Pass Posted On: 6/8/2021, By: ScottLovesRMNP Info: Much less snow than the previous report. I took snowshoes but didn't wear them. Chose to post-hole through a couple of brief stretches of snow that were hard to avoid but not too deep. But most snow is avoidable. Soon, the entire route should be clear of snow. Haze from wildfire smoke developed by the time I was coming down and got progressively worse as time went on. Otherwise, good conditions all around.... |
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5/29/2021 Route: From Marshall Pass Posted On: 5/29/2021, By: WildWanderer Info: Marshall pass is open and mud/snow free. First mile of the trail dry, then snowshoes needed to treeline. I was able to get away with microspikes on the way in, but needed snowshoes on the way out. Ridge was dry. |
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6/17/2020 Route: South Ridge from Marshall Pass Posted On: 6/23/2020, By: MC.Ikema Info: CDT/Colorado trail approach up to the Chipeta/Ouray saddle snow free and dry. South ridge from saddle to Chipeta snow free and dry as well. |
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5/31/2020 Route: South Ridge from Marshall Pass Posted On: 5/31/2020, By: supranihilest Info: The CDT from the pass is quite wet and muddy. There are numerous snowbanks en route to the upper trailhead, all of which can be avoided. After the upper trailhead the snow becomes essentially impossible to avoid. There's at least a dozen if not more posthole-filled drifts still across the trail, and the snow is sopping wet. Dilemma: do you wear heavy waterproof boots in warm temperatures in which case your sweat will soak your feet, or do you wear lightweight footwear (i.e. trailrunners) and let the snow soak your feet? Eventually you'll enter a wide open area with a large talus field/grass slope to your right (east). This is the key to avoiding snow; go straight up it until you're on the ridge crest, then follow the now completely dry ridge to the summit. Return the way you came if you value your time, energy, and sanity, since descending too early back to the trail means snow. |
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5/30/2020 Route: Modified CDT/CT Posted On: 5/30/2020, By: mikemalick Info: Already been up Mt Ouray so decided against that approach and instead opted for the CDT/CT trail and hang a hard right to head east up to the saddle and from there on to Chipeta. However, around 11,400' where the mine shows on the TOPO maps, the snow drifts across the trail started getting worse. Put on gaiters, but still decided to alter my route. Where the trail meets the "rock glacier" around 11,600', I decided to head up to the ridge from there. You could clearly see there was no snow and the way up seemed reasonable. From that point to the summit of Chipeta you do not have to touch any snow at all so the gaiters came off. Of course the snow on the CDT/CT was soft on the return. Gaiters came in handy again. Overall a very nice day, but had to hustle to stay ahead of the quickly building storms. Rain/hail started shortly after getting back to the pass. Pics 1/2 show some conditions past the mine. Pic 3 is leaving the trees and coming out to that clearing where the "rock glacier" is that I headed up. 4 is looking diagonally down towards the clearing I came up. 5 is on the ridge looking at the entire remaining route. 6 the final summit ridge and 7 summit shot looking to Mt Ouray with Antora in the background. |
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6/30/2019 Route: from Mt Ouray Posted On: 7/1/2019, By: Trotter Info: If taking the ridge from Ouray, entirely in summer conditions. If taking the colorado trail from Marshal pass, about two dozen snow crossings, none dangerous, but need gaiters and/or waterproof boots if want to keep feet dry. |
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6/7/2019 Route: Marshall Pass Posted On: 6/10/2019, By: RWinters Info: The road to Marshall Pass is still blocked with snow about a mile from the pass. 2-4 feet of snow still exists from about 10,500 ft to treeline. Once above treeline and on the south ridge all the snow can be avoided mainly by staying just off the ridge. |
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9/30/2018 Route: South Ridge Posted On: 10/3/2018, By: highcountryhiker Info: Clear and dry from Marshall Pass along Colorado Trail to turnoff, then east to saddle south of Chipeta Mtn South. Also clear and dry along ridge over Chipeta Mtn South to summit of Chipeta Mtn. Aspen at their peak along the Marshall Pass road. These conditions will probably change due to the weather that is forecast for this coming week. |
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5/20/2018 Route: Via Marshall Pass Posted On: 5/20/2018, By: dwoodward13 Info: Headed over to Chipeta after Ouray's West Ridge. It looks and a loonng ways over there and it indeed is. Good weather is paramount. Route is pretty easy to follow...just follow the ridge. There are sparse trail segments here and there but nothing official. What few snow patches there are, can easily be avoided. There is quite a bit of up and down with various points. Sometimes I tried to say below the points to save some vert but I'm not really sure it was worth it on semi-loose talus side hilling. On ridge crest, rock is pretty solid up until the last little bit to Chipeta. |
