Quail Mountain

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 5/30/2026, By: Laxer04
Info: pretty much summer conditions. there are two small snow sections near the summit but they are easy to cross without any need for traction. summit register is in good shape 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 5/23/2026, By: cougar
Info: Summer conditions. Cornice just below summit is nearly flat, supportive, and will stick around. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 4/15/2026, By: SchralpTheGnar
Info: Quail mountain via Willis Gulch, trail dry for first 2 miles, then super icy (wore crampons) for the next mile or so, then skinned to hope pass. Skied from summit down to about 11,500 ft.
Descent had the usual mixed bag of snow, firm on upper slopes, punchy slab, corn lower, and mank at the very end. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 4/10/2026, By: rivrrapids
Info: Ridge is clear. Snow from about 11k to saddle. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 2/7/2026, By: Chicago Transplant
Info: Very dry overall, starts completely dry and transitions to packed patchy snow then a little more consistent near treeline but still packed out and shallow. A lot of it has a thin dry strip of trail along it as well that was muddy on descent. One gully to cross near treeline that was maybe a 30 degree slope, shallow and firm but could be a problem with more snow coming. Dry pass and the entire ridge is dry to the false summit where a couple of easy patches thatwill be future cornices if we ever get a real winter. No flotation, no traction, no gaitors. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 11/11/2025, By: LizWeiss
Info: Snow free except for a patch on the ridge that is avoidable. The trail from sheep gulch is 100% dry. The cabin on the summit provides great protection from the wind this time of year! 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 5/25/2025, By: cloudkicker
Info: Sheep Gulch to Hope Pass to Quail. Did the whole thing in my trail runners. Brought spikes but did not use. Leave the snowshoes at home.

Sheep Gulch TH to Treeline is 99% dry. From Treeline to Hope Pass is 90% dry with 1-2 mildly sketchy snow crossings (mellow but may give some pause). Poles recommended. From Hope Pass to Quail summit is 99% dry other than two flat low consequence snow crossings right below the summit.

The summit register is dry and sturdy with a beautiful and functional Pilot G-2 gel pen inside. It could probably use a few more pages of paper.

Special shoutout to Copernicus Browser for having the latest satellite imagery allowed me to cherry pick a route with 0 suffering and 0 postholing. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 1/28/2025, By: Will_E
Info: Beautiful day on Quail, started a little cold until the sun came out, 21 degrees and just a light breeze at summit. I parked a mile or so before Missouri Gulch TH, but honestly could have driven all the way to Sheep Gulch, the road is well tracked (I've had bad luck on that road so don't push it). I'd guess the road is tracked to Winfield.

I put snowshoes on at Sheep Gulch, took them off a short distance in, lots of breaks in snow coverage down low. The trenching through the middle and upper section of treeline was pretty juicy, a little tougher than average. From Hope Pass on the route is mostly dry. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 11/5/2024, By: sarahmariekirk
Info: Climbed Quail on Saturday - a surprising amount of snow despite the minimal snow totals overall, and we put the first tracks in of the season, although now they are sure to be completely covered! The snow started about 1 mile after the trailhead, and got to be about ankle-deep around treeline. There were some drifts that we had to trench in, that went to mid-shin and were forming wind slabs, but easy to navigate and did not need or use traction at all. The mountain will definitely be looking different after these storms. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 8/4/2024, By: cdgibbons
Info: Summer conditions. Pretty decent trail almost all the way from Hope Pass; it follows the ridge until 13,000', then cuts into the Southwest face until 13,200', then follows the ridge to the summit. Summit register was among the most robust I've ever seen- an indestructible metal canister bolted to the rock with a huge chain. In the event of an apocalypse or holocaust, written records of infrequent ascents of Quail Mountain will be well preserved. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 2/24/2024, By: Geckser
Info: Pretty dreamy conditions for a Sawatch Winter ski. I highly recommend this line if you are interested in a fairly mellow Sawatch ski on a yellow avalanche day. Did it with Arthurspiderman, a big step up from most of our Sawatch skiing so far this year.

We started at the Willis gulch trailhead, there was 99% continuous snow from trailhead to 12,100. At the start of the trail coverage is middling, but there was a solid trench. Once you get past the first mile the coverage gets fairly good. We reached about 10,300 before switchbacking through the forest and catching the ridge.

The ridge to treeline was about 20-25 degrees, soft snow and strong coverage. One of the best mellow forest skis I have had in the state. From treeline we put runners on and it was mostly dry, we made pretty quick work of that section.

Really fun descent. Definitely some caution required in the forest below the ridge toward the basin. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 11/17/2023, By: rachel
Info: Intermittent sections of snow, mud, and dry trail. Did not use floatation, traction or gaiters. Sunny, calm, and warm day. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 10/19/2022, By: Jan van Tilburg
Info: No snow on route to summit that I could see. (did not summit this peak) 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/10/2022, By: HikerGuy
Info: Summer condition from Sheep Gulch TH. 

Route: NW Slope
Posted On: 5/23/2022, By: jwin17
Info: Started from the Interlaken TH to get some more miles in, and took the Interlaken/CDT trail to connect with Willis Gulch. Trail essentially dry until connecting with Willis Gulch. Followed some faint bootpack and skin tracks up to around 11k, where everything disappeared. Broke trail from there until treeline, with a healthy mix of ankle deep snow and then spots of knee/hip deep postholing. I don't carry snowshoes, but due to spring conditions I doubt they would have done much good. Once at treeline opted to deviate from the typical Hope Pass route, and just picked a route up the NW Slopes (will add Strava track in photos) to gain Quail summit. Good snow coverage, allowed for some good kick stepping on the way up. Winds were howling at the summit, so decided not to try and push over to Hope. As expected, snow melting fast and turning wet and slushy on the descent. Tracked 17.5 miles, 4.3k gain.