5/26/2025 Route: NE Couloir from Blue Lakes Posted On: 5/26/2025, By: slawrence2011 Info: Started from the gate below the dam at 5:50, snow became continuous at 11,8 right after the upper lake, started skinning from there, to 12,5. Switched to crampons and made it to 13K up the apron before getting the ice axe out for the ridge push to around 13,5. The summit scramble felt a bit stout in plastic boots, but it would probably be class 2+ or 3 without snow, took around an hour both ways with some exploratory up and down attempts to get through. Got to ridge at 9:50, Started skiing right before 11, back to car at 12:30. Saw a couple skiers on Cristo dropping around noon. |
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10/5/2024 Route: South Ridge Posted On: 10/7/2024, By: nedryarson Info: Route still completely dry. Was able to summit with my dog, this is definitely the top end of what I'd bring him on. Another climber went for the northern "summit" shown on some GPS maps while I topped out at the summit described in the 14ers route (above the white Y rock). It did seem slightly higher. The Wheeler Lake road is really something else, a couple obstacles had us laughing out loud. Plenty of impressive rock-crawler vehicles made it to the lake in the afternoon. |
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8/20/2024 Route: South Ridge Posted On: 8/20/2024, By: jpacheco1982 Info: Went up the ridge direct from the saddle as opposed to following the route on 14ers.com that traverses the west side. The ridge direct route had fairly sustained class 3 scrambling with a few class 4 moves one can do if they choose (we did these). There were some very narrow areas with good exposure if stay ridge direct. Rock on this route was pretty solid. |
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8/4/2024 Route: South Ridge Posted On: 8/4/2024, By: dwoodward13 Info: Summer Conditions. Only 5 or so spots on the road where you need to bail into the trees/willows to escape the water. Steeper section of road heading up to Wheeler Lake has water running down, but minimal enough you can just walk on rocks. Scramble portion was a bit longer than I expected, but good cairns for route finding. Some bigger loose stuff so check your foot/hand placement. |
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7/30/2024 Route: Wheeler to Traver Posted On: 7/30/2024, By: 14er101 Info: Road still has lots of water, but it was all easily avoidable. Route is in summer conditions. Lots of fun class 3 between Wheeler and Clinton. |
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7/14/2024 Route: South Ridge Posted On: 7/15/2024, By: edmdais1 Info: A lot of the road to Wheeler Lske is still full of water. Lots of bypasses through the willows. One section is a flowing creek. That is the most tricky bypass over heavier flow and it was hard not to get wet. 2 or 3 snowfields between the upper lake and the saddle. Like previous report-ridge is snow free. Lots of loose rock tho. Beautiful area and peak |
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7/6/2024 Route: South Ridge Posted On: 7/6/2024, By: stomblin7 Info: Road is full of standing water on and off almost from trailhead. Nearing the basin, the road is a raging river that it is difficult to cross without getting wet. We opted to bushwhack a bit for much higher ground to safely cross but others just walked through it soaked feet. We were able to find better crossing on the way back for us. Trail has quite a bit of snow moving up into the basin above the lakes to the saddle. We did not end up putting on spikes, but they wouldnt be a bad idea. Most of the snow was supportive but it definitely was softer and slick afternoon. Another party had a few post holing steps. Ridge was completely dry and easy scrambling. Some loose rock but nothing too crazy. The basin was absolutely gorgeous and so fun to hike. |
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11/18/2023 Route: South Ridge Posted On: 11/18/2023, By: artemavovk Info: Road to the lakes is mostly clear with a few spots that require selective foot placement to avoid the worst of the ice; Postholing starts just past the lakes; microspikes kinda help once you're on the saddle |
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9/17/2023 Route: Traverse from North Star Posted On: 9/18/2023, By: CarpeDM Info: The snow that fell toward the end of last week had largely melted in the key places for the North Star, Wheeler, Clinton loop on Sunday. Most of what remained was between Wheeler and Clinton and was not a problem. No winter gear was used (spikes, axe, etc). See Clinton conditions report for pics. |
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7/22/2023 Route: South Ridge Posted On: 7/22/2023, By: cougar Info: Similar to previous report. A couple snowfields remain but are flat and non-issue. Pretty wet otherwise. Took the route below the ridge which was tedlous and unpleasant, seems like most people prefer ridge direct up and down. Road is a river but the deep puddles have wide worn trails. Expect a bit of wet feet throughout. |
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7/15/2023 Route: South Ridge Posted On: 7/15/2023, By: sarahmariekirk Info: Climbed Wheeler today along with Clinton, Traver and McNamee! Super fun class 4 sections if you stay ridge proper, and loose terrain below the ridge that was mostly class 2/class 3. I would personally recommend sticking to the ridge proper even if it is more technical and exposed, it was way less loose and had pretty solid holds. We descended via Wheeler and it is mostly entirely snow free, only like 1-2 very short 30ft snowfields to cross. We didnt use traction at all for Wheeler. I will post condition reports separately for the other peaks. |
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7/14/2023 Route: From Clinton Posted On: 7/16/2023, By: kyrawhitworth Info: No snow to worry about when traversing from Clinton. A fun pick your own line scrambleespecially if you stay higher on the ridge. We picked a line that had maybe two class 4 moves staying high on the way up but otherwise 3 or 2. The summit ridge had a few points that looked higher that we explored but I believe the true summit is accurate on LOJ. There are some cairns along the route as well. We descended back down into Wheeler lake and there were a few small snow spots. The higher lake was amazing! |
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7/11/2023 Route: South Ridge Posted On: 7/11/2023, By: nilaoire Info: Some snow fields at and above Wheeler lake, all avoidable if you wish to do so. The peak itself was snow free. |
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6/21/2023 Route: South Ridge Posted On: 6/21/2023, By: -wren- Info: happy solstice! climbed wheeler, clinton, mcnamee and traver today from montgomery reservoir. gist: still a lot of snow, but you can get by with just an ice ax and maybe spikes. 4wd road is very wet. lots of standing water, some spots that could be called small ponds, and higher up there are some sections that are flowing quickly with 4-6 inch depth. Usually there are bypasses but not the best approach for keeping your feet dry, and worse on the way back. One stretch a dozen or so meters long near the final switchbacks has become a segment of another major stream and has 2 feet of whitewater ripping through it. Then a few 50-100 ft patches of snow on the last switchbacks (mostly supportive even at 10-11 am on a warm sunny day) fully prevent vehicle access to wheeler lake. From wheeler lake to the ridgeline you will be on snow at least half the time, and that's if you zigzag your way up on dry patches. Could also definitely climb snow the whole way if desired. (Skiers, this whole area is very much in still...lots of pretty couloirs and bowls) I climbed the ridge direct to wheeler which was nearly 100% snow free and has some fun class 4 bits. The standard route you will still definitely want traction for as most of the gullies between rock ribs had plenty of snow leading all the way down into the opposite basin. Highly recommend just sticking to the ridge, fun route. Over to the other 3 peaks there's plenty of snow (70-80% along obvious route) and most likely some postholing unless you start very early. Postholed a couple dozen times but nothing too enraging. A day with no freeze would be quite miserable up there. Still some huge cornices in spots going to clinton and mcnamee that might kill you if they failed while you were standing on them, so give them room to breathe! Descent from traver was mostly dry until the final 300-400 feet of descent back to wheeler lake. Couple of safe options for glissading but i just cherrypicked a few dry grass ledges to get most of the way down. Postholed quite a bit from here back to the car on most of the snow I encountered, but lots was still supportive and definitely not worth bringing snowshoes. Never deep enough to strand someone. |
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6/14/2023 Route: Blue Lk/Monte Cristo drainage Posted On: 6/16/2023, By: Wallowa Info: Traveled up the Monte Cristo drainage the morning 6/14. Snow coverage is surprisingly good for this time of year. New snow had fallen above ~12,000' the previous evening, resulting in a mix of old and new snow. The new snowfall appeared to have insulated the snowpack and a hard freeze did not occur despite overnight temps falling below 32F. Skinned from just west of the lake to the large couloir immediately north of Wheeler. Then skied another couloir trending NW off the ridge between Northstar and Wheeler. Fun skiing, but extremely sticky snow on the way out due to the new/old snow mix and lack of hard freeze. More fun to be had in this basin for a little longer...... |
