Gladstone Ridge

Route: Jonesy gulch
Posted On: 10/25/2024, By: rachel
Info: Dry for the majority of the route except for 1-4 snow segments in the trees. 

Route: Ptarmigan Lake TH
Posted On: 6/24/2024, By: cloudust
Info: Approached Gladstone Ridge from Ptarmigan Lake TH. Ptarmigan Lake Trail is a mix of conditions - dry, mud, snow - nothing impassable, however. Gladstone Ridge is full summer conditions. 

Route: Jonesy Gulch
Posted On: 6/13/2024, By: tjf242424
Info: Summer conditions. 

Route: Ridge
Posted On: 10/4/2023, By: WildWanderer
Info: I took the ridge up this morning from just above Ptarmigan Lake. It was still snowing as I was hiking. Windblown areas and patches of snow about a foot deep were common. Some larger drifts are already forming as well, but I never postholed past my knees. Where there wasn't snow there was a slick layer of ice. Microspikes were helpful. Snowshoes would have been overkill. A new summit register is needed. 

Route: SW Slopes (Jonesy Gulch)
Posted On: 9/23/2023, By: cloudkicker
Info: Dry to summit. Relentless winds above treeline, Id guesstimate wind chill in the teens, but the route is so short it was bearable. No more summit register but the PVC lid from last register still up there. Fall colors beginning to really pop along the road and on the first slope up to treeline. This would be a great peak for leaf peeping in about 5 days. As I was coming down I ran into mtngoatwithstyle going up (comment if I got your username wrong). Super nice to meet another friendly face on the mountain! Trailhead: easy 4WD. Totally subaruable. Nearly all the campsites were empty once you get past where it becomes 4WD. There are bears around. At 1:30am a bear bounded into my campsite (0.2mi past trailhead) and was reluctant to go away even with the car alarm and my yelling at it. I think it smelled the dressing from the salad I had for dinner, even though I ate it in the car with windows up. I ended up packing up my tent at 2am and sleeping in my car near cottonwood lake the rest of the night. Just be bear aware and dont leave remnants of blue cheese dressing in your car at this site. 

Route: From Ptarmigan Lake
Posted On: 7/24/2023, By: Kitten
Info: Kudos to the anonymous hiker that encouraged me to go get Gladstone Ridge after doing Jones Mtn B and the spicy ridge to Chalk Rock (round-trip). My legs were gone when I was finished, but it was worth it! Picture shows most of the ridge from top of pass. 

Route: Jonesy Gulch
Posted On: 6/20/2023, By: HikerGuy
Info: The elk herd referenced in prior conditions report was hanging out on the north side of the mountain, opposite of the ascent basin. Almost all snow save for a few small snow banks is avoidable with good route finding. We started from a dispersed camping site off CR 344 at 10,570. Threaded through the aspens on an ascending traverse until meeting up with a seasonal creek below the unnamed lake. Stayed high around the west side of the lake on ascent and skirted the east side on descent. Nice route, scenic. 

Route: Jonesy Gulch
Posted On: 6/14/2023, By: malogos
Info: Note: On descent, I noticed a large elk herd with several calves behind me. Considering that it was a rough year for elk, it might be best to give them some alone time up there. Moderate bushwhacking to 11.2k ft, where you can sync up with an avy path that clears the way (38.76828, -106.35183). Many easy routes to summit avoiding all snow from there. 

Route: North Slopes from Denny Creek
Posted On: 2/4/2023, By: Geckser
Info: First want to say thanks to Sbenfield who put a fantastic trench for us. This made the day much faster and more pleasant. We will have to make a trench for you as repayment. Pretty nice day on Gladstone Ridge, sunny for most of the morning. It was quite windy on the summit ridge. Arthurspiderman and I used our classic winter technique of skiing to tree line and popping on trail runners to the summit. Worked great today. We brought both skis and snowshoes to the trailhead but the well groomed road convinced us to ski (sorry Steve) We were surprised to see 2 other people up there and if they both summit, the number of winter ascents on Gladstone Ridge would have been doubled in the last week. Skiing was surprisingly great, the trees has good powder and the road was totally skiable. Skied directly from 12,150 back to the trailhead. Thanks again to Steve for setting the trench. It should be a true super highway after the two snowshoers descend today. 

Route: Denny Creek
Posted On: 2/2/2023, By: Sbenfield
Info: Started at the Denny Creek Trailhead (same as Mt Yale standard) and started hiking up the cottonwood pass road. Turned off onto road 346 and took a few of its switchbacks before trenching up through a steep forest until tree-line. Wind blown from there on the north facing ridge and then simple walk to summit Overall a pretty reasonable winter route. There are a couple steep open areas in the forest to watch out for and avoid. Snowshoes recommended 

Route: W ridge from Ptarmigan
Posted On: 6/10/2022, By: Trotter
Info: Basically summer conditions. A few short snow patches, quite swampy in areas with willows. Ridgeline is entirely clear of snow. No summit register, someone took the pipe away. 

Route: Jonesey Gulch
Posted On: 10/16/2021, By: Jan van Tilburg
Info: Road to trailhead mostly snow free. Up Jonesey Gulch the forest had intermittent snow. Once out of the trees snow easily avoidable. Did wore micro spikes on the way down for the steep parts. (it was steep at times) 

Route: Jonesy Gulch
Posted On: 9/23/2021, By: angry
Info: Alpine start of 1pm. Looking at the topo, heading toward the tarn is inefficient so I skipped it. Took a direct line from parking area which brings you to a clearing with grassy tundra that you can cruise up all the way to summit. This is a nice and easy stroll, especially if you're short on time. No summit register. 

Route: From Jonesy Gulch
Posted On: 5/29/2021, By: ScottLovesRMNP
Info: This is a really good, short spring route on an easy peak. Thanks to supranihilest for the inspiration to try this! My Corolla made it to 9800 feet on the road beyond Cottonwood Lake (Chaffee County Road 344). From my car, I walked the road 1.5 miles to 10600 feet, then bushwhacked north straight up the steep slope to the small tarn at 11700 feet, and then up to the summit of Gladstone Ridge. A little bit of soft snow in the trees near the tarn, but all snow above treeline is avoidable. I brought snowshoes but should've left them in the car. I was joined by five mountain goats near the summit! 

Route: Jonesy Gulch
Posted On: 5/24/2020, By: supranihilest
Info: An incredibly beautiful ascent; thanks to Paul Stratmoen for the inspiration. There's a small parking area at N 38° 45.6885', W 106° 23.0428' on Chaffee County Road 344. From there simply hike directly north into beautiful aspen forest and directly up the steep hillside. You may want a GPX track to follow just in case because there's no trail here whatsoever and the many, many small creeks cascading down the slope quickly become impossible to keep track of, but essentially just go up the hill. Once above treeline the highest point of Gladstone Ridge is to the right and not visible until nearly on top of it; continue your steep uphill march in that general direction and it will become apparent. There's some snow below treeline but not much and most of it is avoidable. It did snow and rain today so there was a small accumulation of snow above treeline and the rocks were wet. I doubt anyone will ascend this peak for a while, but if for some reason someone goes up in the next day or two be aware the rocks could have verglas on them and the overall ascent could be extremely slick with moisture.