Pacific Peak

Route: Southeast Slopes
Posted On: 5/24/2025, By: infinitealpine
Info: See Atlantic Peak for condition update and photos 

Route: E Ridge Var to North Rocket Couloir
Posted On: 4/24/2025, By: ericahlstedt
Info: Started the day with a bright and early alpine start of 645am. Conditions were firm on the approach but no need for ski crampons or boot crampons. Summited at 1030am, descended at 11am, back at car at 1215. The clouds and light breeze kept conditions pretty decent. The entire descent was nice corn, but there are several long flat areas that are easily free heeled on skis. I did not climb the couloir, i opted to gain the east ridge by scrambling up a bunch of snowy icy boulders and snow patches far Looker left of the couloir. An easier way would be take the skin track to the top of the HI chutes and follow the east ridge from there. On a sunnier day I wouldnt want to be much later as conditions were rapidly getting too soft even by 1130a today. Could keep skis on from the top of the couloir all the way back to the car. The couloir you can get your skis on at the very top, so I guess it doesnt "count" as a summit ski, but whatever, the line is steeper and tighter than San Jauquin. I made one jump turn off the top and then carefully sidestepped my way through the upper choke which had me precariously balanced on tiny rock flakes just on the tips and tails of my skis 184cm. There is solid webbing at the top, and a rappel to better snow would be much safer. The upper half of the couloir had been side stepped by some people already, it was firm and chalky. The lower half was premium steep corn. RT - 8.5 miles. 3500ft, 5.5 hrs. Atlantic and Crystal peaks looked like you could get continuous snow summit descents off of. Crystal Peak south slopes looked like itd be a fun open corn run. Cameron, Lincoln and Democrat also looked in from a far possibly. HI chutes on lower pacific east ridge are also in 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 4/8/2025, By: EmmaClaire5280
Info: Summited Pacific peak via the West Ridge yesterday! Mayflower gulch road is packed until the turnoff just before the cabins. It was a beautiful bluebird day and I had a wonderful little ski down. There is a bit of a cornice along the whole ridge-line, which makes for some sick pictures. Looks like someone recently climbed and skied the north couloir and there are several sets of turns down Atlantic. Great conditions and a wonderful day out!! 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 10/20/2024, By: SimplePole
Info: Not much snow in northern part of Tenmile Range: intriguingly the west ridge of Pacific had almost no snow today 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 9/14/2024, By: madmattd
Info: Snow free, but some frost in the basin in the morning and a chill in the air - fall is coming! West Ridge is lots of fun, and other than the first tower that the route info here has you bypass, you can stay pretty much ridge proper the whole way for more sustained scrambling (and generally solid rock), or almost everything can be bypassed on talus on climber's right at lower difficulty. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 9/7/2024, By: Troyister
Info: Climbed Pacific's west ridge, then crossed over to Atlantic Peak and descended Atlantic's west ridge. Willows are muddy but can get through dry if you can see (first crossing was at night and headlamp light was misleading so I go muddy). The West ridge up was fun. The photos on 14ers were spot on and helpful. Definitely some class 3 and scree in spots. Much better to go up than down I would say. Lots of loose rocks so test before putting all your weight on them or pull hard with you hand. The class two route to Atlantic and down Atlantic's west ridge also had a lot of loose rocks so check each foot placement before putting all your weight on the rock. Highly recommend this hike. I saw 16 people total till the 4x4 road. Could see the masses on Quandary. 4x4 road to mine had a couple of sections that would challenge a Subaru, if one is not a skilled driver. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 8/5/2024, By: __brandonwhite__
Info: Snow free the whole way up if you are willing to do some light class 3. It's more solid anyway. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 8/5/2024, By: MidsizeAl
Info: Combo with Atlantic - Pacific East Ridge up, SE Slopes on the way down. The numerous campsites/pulloffs after McCullough Gulch TH were all full by the time we arrived around 9PM on Friday night, including the unmarked lot described on this site as "McCullough Gulch N." We were able to find a flat-ish shoulder before this lot and car camped there. Ascent to the ridge is a steep bushwhack, but we planned our route with satellite images and were able to minimize some of this. One minor willow/marsh crossing that we got through without issue. If we repeat this route, I'd start climbing closer to the Wheeler TH, as on the return trip, it was clear that there is probably a way up the ridge that avoids the aspens altogether. Ridge is long and very fun! I had read multiple TRs that describe thinking that the ridge is over, only to have there be quite a ways to go, and even with this as the expectation, I still found myself surprised at the length. No major route-finding challenges, rock is mostly stable; an overall awesome route! The real reason for this condition report is the crux downclimb of the SE Slopes. We came prepared with ice axes and microspikes to downclimb snow, and there was indeed snow, but the angle was greater than I felt comfortable on with just micros, and the runout was bad. I descended about 10 feet or so facing inward on slush (soft enough that I could plunge the entire shaft of my axe in up to it's head with little force) before reversing course. There is a snow-free slope on the north side that, while steep, was relatively stable (see picture, much steeper than it looks). The rockfall potential is still pretty high, but it wasn't the sketchiest thing I've downclimbed. I had also spotted a longer, but lesser-angled slope/gully just to the south that we didn't try, but that might be worth checking out to avoid this dangerous area (green line in last pic). 

Route: From Atlantic - SE Slopes
Posted On: 7/8/2024, By: good jorb
Info: Downclimb from Atlantic was snowy, avoidable but spikes made it easier. Several snowfields headed up Pacific, mostly avoidable sticking to ridge but one large was easier to cross with spikes. Summit clear as was traverse across notch to sub peak. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 7/3/2024, By: Istoodupthere
Info: Started at Mayflower Gulch 2wd th. Willow/creek crossing was easier than normal. I agree with previous post that you should cross downstream of normal crossing. On the way back I went the normal way and it was way worse. 1st class 3 section was easy class 3. Soon after there were times I wasnt sure I was on route. Do I go up the steep loose rock or the slightly less steep scree gully? A couple moves felt like class 4. The last class 3 section is steep. There are 2 gullys here. Pic on this site shows to take 2nd one. Im 5 foot 6 and one of the moves was challenging for me. On the way down I took the other gully and it was easy, at least going down. Summit was windy and cool. On the descent I went straight down the face for the most part at 13,500. 50 percent dirt/scree skiing, 40 percent steep talus/boulders, 10 percent heel stepping in snow. Turned out to be a good decision. Dont do it if you arent comfortable in these conditions. Overall a great day in the mountains. Zero chance of storms allowed me to take my time on an unfamiliar route. Only person in the basin. Wildflowers are booming, especially in upper basin. A challenging route. Id say the tougher class 3 sections are more difficult than say Wilson Peak. Check every rock! Way too many that looked solid but were loose with a good pull. I stayed close to Atlantics base up and down so I could travel on the snow that was still firm at noon. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/30/2024, By: leandra_nikont
Info: Standard gully route still holds snow - enough for us to detour and start up a gully around 13000. Easily jumps to class 3. Beautiful day! 

Route: North Couloir
Posted On: 5/24/2024, By: Jcinco
Info: Climbed and skied this today. About 2 inches new snow on top of the storm from earlier in the week, but much deeper wind drift in the couloir. Stiff and wind affected so not very good for climbing or skiing. Although the recent layer was stable and reasonably bonded to the base layer, there was some chunky sluffing off the stiff base, thus not ideal ski conditions for something this continuously steep. Hard to get the stars to align for this one, but after bailing at the notch a few years ago, I was not going to come back again. Guessing that other super steep shady aspects will be in similar safe-but-not-fun condition for a while. The lower more east facing part had better skiing. Super windy and cold at the notch. I dont recall being that uncomfortable all season. A previous party left a rap sling w locker at the notch if you want to haul a rope up there to descend the gnarliest section at the entrance. Not worth it, IMO. Just bring your ice axe to get in there. Attaching some pics of other area peaks. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 4/15/2024, By: Alexarcher
Info: Mostly dry, only one snow crossing that gave me a little pause. Traversed over to Atlantic rock hopping basically the whole way. Nice trench/boot pack from the top of Atlantic. Snow was supportive the whole day, no signs of instability but I was done by noon. Awesome day 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 11/4/2023, By: Logan5280
Info: Climbed Pacific today via the West ridge, traversed to Atlantic, then descended Atlantic's west ridge. And wow, Pacific's West ridge is an excellent climb with snow (especially the middle third of the ridge). The road is packed all the way to the mining structure, then there are some faint boot packs up to the Pacific Creek basin, but it's mostly chose-your-own-adventure. Snowshoes not necessary yet, but don't forget the gaiters. Once in the Pacific Creek basin, it's a very tedious traverse of snowy talus, trying not to fall into the gaps between rocks, hidden by snow. Pacific's West ridge currently has some snowy talus scrambling sections, couloir-style climbing sections, and a few rather tricky mixed sections. Crampons and axe are mandatory for this ridge right now. Some of the narrow snowy sections on the ridge top are unbelievably beautiful right now and provide some aesthetic climbing. I also found the infamous slabby section a bit crux-y. The wind picked up a lot on the false summit, but the actual summit pyramid wasn't too difficult to navigate. The ridge to Atlantic has some rather annoying post-holing, even on its windward side. Progress was slow-going, but it eventually turned to easier snowy talus-hopping near the summit. Atlantic's west ridge is currently a somewhat -exposed, mostly class 2 snowy walk on the ridge crest, where traction is probably advantageous. Near the bottom of the ridge, I decided to descend the south face of the ridge, which ended up being an extremely frustrating steep, punchy, snowy talus descent. The standard route near Pacific Creek seems much better. Thanks to Daway8 for the condition photos yesterday. Overall, excellent autumn climb! 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 9/28/2023, By: gmarcotte
Info: Fully snow-free as of 9/28. The use trail that starts next to the black sand patch at Boston Mine leads through a section of the willows that is extremely muddy/swampy. I left the road about 100ft early (near what looks like a firepit) and was able to find a pretty easy path through without any mud -- if you do this, it's worth reconnecting with the trail as soon as possible, as it's much nicer than bushwhacking through the forest. The ridge itself I found pretty much exactly as described -- a bunch of interesting class 3 sections, but very suspicious rock quality and a lot of steep scree and talus. I also traversed to Atlantic, and that ridge is snow-free on the Pacific side, and has some snow on the Atlantic side but it's not too difficult to weave around it.