Winter San Luis - West Ridge

A winter San Luis has been a tough one for me. This was gonna be my 3rd attempt, and with favorable weather and snow conditions I was confident I'd make the summit this time. I left Fort Collins late as usual and arrived in Creede well after Midnight. I found my usual pull-out on Bachelor Road just above town and got a good 4 hours of sleep. This was more than normal for me before a climb so I took that as a good sign.

I woke by 5:30 and started driving up Bachelor Road away from town. I turned left at Forest Rd 503. Bachelor dead ends here and I started driving up the 2wd dirt road towards the West Willow Creek Trailhead. In a normal winter this intersection with 503 and Bachelor is where you would park because the plowing stops there.

The road was only lightly covered in snow, so I preceded up it cautiously and got a little past a mile before parking. I probably could've kept driving, but there was a place to turn around here and I decided not to push my luck. I had hiked the length of the road a few years ago and was happy to be shaving a few round-trip miles off the day. I geared up and started booting the road at first light.

Day of Climb: Friday, February 6th, 2026

Peak: San Luis Peak

Trailhead: West Willow Creek

Mileage and Elevation Gain: Approximately 13 miles and 5400 feet of gain.

I came up on the Equity mine after a bit more than a mile and veered left up a steep hill to stay on 503. As it turned out I could've easily driven to the mine or at least very close to it. Oh well, I got a good warm-up in. This next section of 503 had more snow and wasn't drivable. Flotation was still not necessary though with the snow still plenty frozen after the cold night.

It was then about 1.5 miles from the mine to the 4wd parking area. The road turns west here (don't follow it) and I continued straight (north) now on the standard trail to San Luis. I put snowshoes on here and continued northeast to the pass.

After crossing West Willow Creek and a tributary, the pass is about 700 feet of elevation gain. I followed a nice snowshoe track which paralleled a skin track and reached the pass fairly quickly. The pass always affords a nice view of San Luis Peak itself and the conditions to expect for the rest of the outing. It's a good place to guage how the rest of the day will go, and it was looking like it would go well.

As expected, the West Ridge of San Luis, my intended route, looked pretty bare. This ridge is the typical winter route for San Luis because it's often windblown and climbable while the standard route usually holds plenty of avy danger. The Pointfest route is also a winter option. I had done this route in summer without an issue, but discovered in my previous San Luis attempts that it's another animal in winter.

After enjoying the views and a quick snack, I dropped off the pass heading towards the Spring Creek Valley below. Unfortunately, to climb the West Ridge of San Luis you need to first lose about 1100 feet of elevation, so reluctantly down I went.

There was still a nice track to follow and the snow wasn't too deep. Snowshoes were still very helpful though. It would've been posthole hell without them. Initially, I headed southeast staying close to the standard trail. Upon entering the woods, I turned away from the standard trail and went northeast, and then more north, following the trench down into the Spring Creek drainage.

The Spring Creek drainage was heavily wooded with deep snow. Luckily, the solid trench continued and I took full advantage. I progressed quickly through this section thanks to the slight downward angle of the trail as it followed the creek. After not long, travel turned northeast over a small ridge and I found myself at the base of the southwest slopes of San Luis after climbing out of a second creek bed.

There was some nice, climbable snow on the lower slopes, so initially, I kept my snowshoes on to utilize my heels lifts a bit on the steep incline as I started up towards the West Ridge. This didn't last long though and the snow quickly petered out. It looked like snowshoes would not be needed for the rest of the ridge, so I preceded to find a good spot to stash them and continued on up the steep slope.

It was about 3,000 vertical feet from the Spring Creek drainage to the summit of San Luis and I was just getting started. After dropping my snowshoes, there was a short, fun scramble section to get by a couple rock out-croppings and then a talus slope to gain the ridge at 12,800 feet.

The rest of the climb was just a long, steep grind up a mix of talus and scree. Surprisingly, there was occasionally even signs of a faint trail beaten into the rocks. There was some snow here and there along the ridge which was a welcome relief from the rock, but it was mostly dry, and I reached the summit after not too long.

I reached the summit by 12:30. It felt great to finally get my San Luis Peak snowflake❄️. This was a great route and it's easy to discern why it's the preferred winter choice. I can see this route working well in summer too if you want a more secluded option. I've been discovering over the years that climbing winter 14ers is a wonderful way to learn of the many interesting alternate routes to climb our great mountains.

The summit was practically windless and I spent much to long enjoying the fruits of my success. Hopefully this hadn't jeopardized my goal of finishing before dark. With this in mind, I quickly readied myself for descent and reluctantly departed the summit.

I retraced my steps down the ridge almost exactly and remembered to pick up my stashed snowshoes. I kept my snowshoes off going back up the Spring Creek drainage. I postholed a lot in there but, it was nice to be in boots to climb over all the deadfall. The snowshoes went back on for the climb to the pass and they stayed on until just after reaching the trailhead. The road walk back to my truck was uneventful and another winter 14er summit was in the books. Amazingly, I didn't see another climber all day. It was just me and the birds🐦.