Peak 10

Route: Mini 10 mile traverse
Posted On: 6/10/2021, By: blazintoes
Info: I decided to out and back the mini ten mile traverse via MTB and the CT segment 7 and was lured in, up and over because the west side was dry with minor snow patches. The out n back to Ten Mile was a fun dry scramble! Once I crossed the ridge and dropped into town the east side it was post hole hell. Bare skin on snow bites. Yes I was wearing bike shorts. It would've been smarter to bike down via Wheeler and Burro to Breck. FYI if anyone wants to hikeneer. I should've known better because of Mohawk Lakes conditions but stubbornness persists. At least the scramble was super fun! 

Route: From Peak 9
Posted On: 11/5/2020, By: Brian Thomas
Info: I recommend microspikes for the road from lower Spruce Creek TH. The road up Peak 10 from below the Peak 9 / Peak 10 saddle is holding some snow up to 6 inches deep. I descended the East Ridge direct back to the Wheeler Trail on talus with some snow that can mostly be avoided, trekking poles were helpful. 

Route: via Crystal Peak
Posted On: 8/9/2020, By: tcphoto87
Info: Adding on a 3rd 13er for the day, it was super easy to get over to Peak 10 from Crystal. Going from Father Dyer-Crystal-Peak 10 it was 5.94 miles and maybe around 1.4ish of those miles from Crystal to Pk 10. Great views of Breck and the northern tenmile range. I descended the east ridge route but got tired of all the loose talus and skipped over to meet up with the standard trail and took that back to the lake and from there down to the lower parking area. Total round trip loop with all 3 peaks it was 10.75 miles. 

Route: East Ridge from Crystal Creek
Posted On: 6/13/2020, By: moltar
Info: Very clear, some snow on South face, but not much that cannot be avoided 

Route: Southeast Ridge, North Slopes
Posted On: 9/21/2019, By: supranihilest
Info: Southeast Ridge from Crystal Peak: long with a lot of elevation gain. Loose. I sidehilled most of the ascent from the saddle instead of staying on the ridge crest, but it's probably about the same difficulty either way. There was maybe a touch of Class 2+ but it could be avoided with more careful route finding. North Slopes to Peak 9: incredibly loose, by far the loosest junk I've found in the Tenmile to date. It's also very steep. Bad combo. The upper third is almost entirely either dirt, scree, or scree on dirt. Another bad combo. Be extremely careful, a slip would be quite bad. Once you get past the scree the remainder of the route to the saddle with Peak 9 is talus, some of it big and blocky, some of it small and dinner plate-y, and all of it without exception loose as a goose and shifty. Don't trust anything. It WILL move. Three points of contact at all times on this one. Tedious and dangerous. 

Route: East Ridge from Ski Area
Posted On: 8/3/2019, By: madmattd
Info: Traversed from Crystal and descended the East Ridge. The upper ridge still has snow, though no cornice. Snow was firm under the top couple inches even late morning, easily descended without traction. One other snowfield we crossed down lower, easily managed as well. Otherwise the route is clear and dry and made for a good descent route and loop combo with Crystal's NE Ridge route. 

Route: Combo Helen /Father Dyer/Crystal/Peak 10
Posted On: 7/28/2019, By: penadam
Info: Climbed Helen, Father Dyer, Crystal and Peak 10 starting from the intersection of the crystal lake jeep trail and the wheeler trail. Crystal to Peak 10 had a few small snow crossings, but all could be avoided. Few areas of snow coming down off 10 towards crystal lake, but no traction necessary. Currently a very nice glissade from 13000 to 12400 that drops you right on the trail back to crystal lake. 

Route: Tenmile Traverse
Posted On: 7/14/2019, By: beachrya
Info: Did tenmile traverse on Sat 7/13. Crossed a couple small snow fields gaining peak 1 and another small snowfield somewhere between 4&7 (can't remember). None of them were of any real consequence. Ascended Peak 10 via north talus slope. Large snowfield crossing descending Peak 10 on east ridge. Snow was wide and soft enough on ridge that we were able to descend comfortable i trail runners and trekking poles. Another couple flat snow fields on the jeep road from Peak 10 down to Breck base. Carried spikes and whippet head, but did not use. Pic taken at ~12.5k' below Peak 10. Snowfield on east ridge can be seen above and right of my head. https://www.strava.com/activities/2531558340 

Route: Tenmile Traverse
Posted On: 7/9/2019, By: jfm3
Info: I summitted via the Tenmile Traverse. I went directly up the north face from the Peak 9/10 saddle. The face is completely dry. 4th of July bowl is still full of snow. Lots of ski tracks across the entire bowl. Depending on one's gear, ability and the quality of the snow, it may be easier/faster/more enjoyable to go east from the 9/10 saddle and ascend the edge of the snow to the summit. I descended by going directly east and eventually getting down to the Peak 9 ski trails. There is a mandatory snow crossing of the cornice/arete just below the Peak 10 summit above the radio building. The upper part of the drift overhangs the bowl and is sketchy. The 4WD road is mostly snow-covered above treeline. Photos: 1. North face and partial 4th of July Bowl from the top of Peak 9. 2. Peak 9 and Peak 10 from the top of Peak 8. 

Route: East Ridge from Crystal Creek
Posted On: 4/9/2019, By: Chicago Transplant
Info: Ascent of east ridge and ski descent of south face. If not on skis, snowshoes recommended. Route was skinnable the entire way from car to the summit, we went over PT 12408 which required removing skis for the short downclimb of the backside, but you could contour across that face on the Wheeler Trail (snow covered). With firm snow that might be tricky to sidehill. Note that snow on the ridge above the radio towers gets narrow for a stretch, but it was soft on Sunday. May want traction if its firm so you don't slide off down the 4th of July Bowl. Descent off the south face was fun, and continuous all the way to the trailhead. Head slightly west off the ridge to avoid some rocks, don't drop too early to avoid sharks. Mellow skiing right off the top, then rolls over to about 30 before another mellow stretch. Then you have options near the bottom depending on how steep of a finish you want. Skiers right takes you towards the creek out of Upper Crystal Lake, then down that head wall at about 37. Right down the middle hits the low 40s for maybe 200' through some rock bands and made for a fun finish. Skiers left goes at maybe 35. There are a lot of options for ski descents if you go back down the east ridge, ranging from low to mid 30s to upper 20s farther east. Sunday the skiing was on the storm snow from Saturday night, about 2-3" of creamy snow as it started to warm in the sun. Below that was really firm winter snow pack, no real give from jumping on it and stabbing it as hard as I could with my poles, but we didn't dig any pits. Seemed to be setting up to a nice stable spring snow pack. Image 1: Overview from near the Francies Hut, the rocky sub-summit to right is PT 12408. Image 2: Upper ridge, the skin track goes right of the mini cornice then crosses left before it gets bigger. Image 3: Ski decent from the summit (initial traverse west to avoid rocks not visible) Image 4: Options in the lower basin, you can see the upper slopes of Crystal as well. Image 5: Looking down 4th of July Bowl, two guys skiied it right before our descent, looked in good shape. Image 6: Crystal Lakes Basin overview, you can see Herbs Bowl on Father Dyer to left, Crytal in the Middle and the vast options Peak 10 affords to the right. 

Route: Tenmile Traverse
Posted On: 7/2/2018, By: AlexeyD
Info: Traverse is clear of snow except for about 200 feet just below the summit of Peak 10 (huge steps kicked in, no traction was needed). Long day but great route! Never did find the Class 4 route on the Dragon, but the west side bypass is very obvious. South Park fire was very visible, but the smoke never made it over Hoosier Pass. Great day! 

Route: East Ridge from Crystal Creek
Posted On: 6/17/2018, By: Dan_Suitor
Info: Had to pass through a few snow fields before the radio tower, but no need for traction or floatation. From the radio tower to the summit there is sill a big snow field to hike. It was later in the day, so it was soft. I only punched through once. 

Route: Helen/Father Dyer/Crystal Combo
Posted On: 6/1/2018, By: JasonKline
Info: Only one extremely brief snow crossing going up Helen. Route from Helen to Father Dyer to Crystal to Peak 10 was easily done on dry rock. Came through lots of snow descending from Peak 10 to back to the Aqueduct Road. It was more like a normal June 30 than May 31. 

Route: East Ridge from Ski Area
Posted On: 6/22/2017, By: Doubro
Info: Drove to top of Mercury Lift and the road if fine. Above the lift there are still large snow fields on the road and it is not passable. Hiking up to the ridge the snow was soft but avoidable. In the upper basin below the peak there still is a lot of snow but it was easy to walk over without any special equipment and we didn't posthole at all (around 9 am) Switchbacks to radio tower all snow was avoidable and road mostly dry. The upper ridge was all snow and again no postholing. Skied 4th of July bowl in near perfect corn snow. Great morning up there. 

Route: East Ridge from Crystal Creek
Posted On: 11/5/2016, By: madadraw1
Info: 85% snow free on the way up. Light snow started when we were on the summit. There was a dusting of snow on most of the trail on the way down but got by just fine without any traction. Around 12.8K they mention to go around the right to avoid a rocky section. However, we went up the left side of this rocky section and it was not bad. Pretty stable / not horribly steep and a little more direct route.