Looping Mt Antero with White and Cronin

Mt Antero was high on my list this summer because I had only climbed it once. I did it back in 2019 as a winter climb and wanted to revisit it in summer conditions as well as hit some nearby 13ers. I probably would've preferred to take the Raspberry Gulch route or Browns Creek since I had already done the West Slope on my previous ascent, but this loop worked a bit better from Baldwin Gulch. I was not looking forward to driving up that road though.

Day of Climb: Monday, June 15th, 2026

Trailhead: Baldwin Gulch - Stream Crossing at 10,850

Peaks: Mount Antero, Mt White and Cronin Peak

Mileage and Elevation Gain: Approximately 13 miles and 6,454 elevation gain.

I left my home in Fort Collins late for this one, the night before, at around 9 pm. When climbing in the Sawatch it's always a toss up for me between choosing to sleep at the trailhead or leaving super early in the morning. I was a bit worried about the road for Antero, so decided to go the night before for my own piece of mind and to ensure I made it safely. I'm usually able to get an earlier start, as well, if I leave the night before.

My only previous experience with the Baldwin Gulch road was when I walked up it for my winter ascent, so I did a bunch of research for this road. It sounded like any vehicle with clearance could make it to the stream crossing at 10,850 so that was my goal. I wanted at least 3,000 feet of gain anyway so that was good enough.

I started up the 4wd road at around midnight. I had heard that the first 100 feet or so was the worst part. It wasn't bad though, but I definitely wouldn't do it without clearance. The rest of the drive to the stream crossing was slow and tedious, but there were no tricky obstacles to worry about. I parked in a large pullout just after the stream crossing and went to sleep.

I woke up early (although I had wanted to get up earlier) and started my climb at 5:35 am after getting ready. It was just getting light and very quiet out. Surprisingly, I had not yet seen another car or individual coming up the road. I ended up having the entire mountain to myself until descending down the South Slope of Antero on my way to Mt White later that morning.

The Baldwin Gulch road is easy hiking with only a moderate incline so the miles went by quickly. Once above treeline the views were always great, especially that of Cronin Peak to the west. I passed a nice Jeep Wrangler abandoned with a flat and also a side by side with a busted rear wheel.

After going through a series of switchbacks I left the road at 12,800 feet and headed directly up Anteros West Slope. This exit was right before the road makes it's big sweeping turn towards the South Slope of Antero. The West Slope direct from here is a steep talus grind, but it cuts down the mileage some and there is a rough climbers trail to follow that helps a bit. After about 500 feet of climbing and angling a bit north I joined an exploratory road that comes down from Point 13,800. This nice road took me directly to the summit ridge allowing me to skip a lot of talus hopping. It's not on any maps, but you can see it clearly on satellite imagery.

I crossed the summit ridge quickly and then went up the final talus pitch staying mostly on the east side of the ridge crest and summitted at 8:10 am. The crest itself was super windy while straying a bit east I found it windless. I had not seen anyone yet and had the summit to myself. The beautiful, bluebird day presented wonderful mountain views. I took these in quickly, snapped some photos and began descending. I still had a few more peaks to get.

My descent down the ridge and back to Point 13,800 went well. I then walked through the mine area and descended off Anteros South Slope following a mining road down with switchbacks. It was here at about 13,200 feet I first saw another climber that was heading up. I also saw a group that had driven that high and chatted with them for a few before continuing on.

Not long after I reached the saddle at 12,800 feet and started climbing 13er Mt White up yet another old mining road. This road abruptly ended at 13,200 feet and I continued up Mt Whites West Ridge towards the summit. There was a climbers trail to start but it petered out quickly and transitioned into all talus. I found it better to stay ridge crest, and the middle section even had some bomber rock you could probably run up. Then, more steep talus climbing followed by a sub-summit before the actual summit. Mt White was a nice, peaceful climb. I think it might be a bicentennial peak. It occupies a nice spot though for views as it's sandwiched in between Shavano/Tabeguache to the south and Antero to the north.

I had a short stay on White before descending back down it's West Ridge and then the mining road to the saddle with Antero. Next, I headed across the high basin towards 13er Cronin Peak on, you guessed it, more mining roads. Several connecting roads eventually dumped me out pretty close to the base of Cronin Peaks Southeast Ridge, and I started climbing from an elevation of 12,800 feet. This would give me about 1,100 feet of climbing to reach it's summit.

Cronin's Southeast Ridge is a very pleasant climb. It's not too terribly steep and although there's plenty of talus, there's also an occasional climbers trail and nice grassy sections. The views of Antero while climbing were fantastic, and all and all, this ridge was a relaxing climb which I would do again. The summit came quickly and featured a cool windbreak to shelter in. This was not needed on this particular day though with it being nearly windless. The view of Antero from the summit with it's twisting, winding road going up was very picturesque.

I took a little longer summit break on Cronin with this being the final peak for the day and the weather was beautiful. I had kicked around the idea of adding Grizzly Mountain, Mount Mamma and Boulder Mountain to the loop but decided I didn't have the time. I really should've started earlier. I didn't want to get home at midnight, plus I had a 5 o'clock appointment at Melanzana in Leadville which I didn't want to miss (and those appointments can be very hard to come by), so I headed down Cronin's steep North Ridge back towards the trailhead.

This was a nice ridge to descend and I followed this class 2 route until about 1/3 of the way down where I dropped into the valley and made my way back to the Baldwin Gulch Road. I followed the gpx track listed on this site as the standard route for Cronin. It worked out well and I found the road without trouble and made my way back to my truck. Overall, it was another fun day in the mountains climbing 3 interesting peaks.