Ice Northeast Ridge + North Apostle

From Leadville: Drive 20 miles south on U.S. 24 and turn right on the Chaffee County 390 road.
From Buena Vista: Drive 14.5 miles north on U.S. 24 and turn left on the Chaffee County 390 road (dirt).

On 390, drive 12 miles to Winfield. Turn left and measure from here. Drive 0.1 mile to reach the lower, 2WD trailhead in south Winfield. There's a large parking/camping area or you can park on one of the many pull-offs a bit further up the road. 0.4 miles after Winfield the road turns to 4WD and good clearance is required to drive to the Lake Ann trailhead. The road is rough and narrow. After 0.7 mile, stay right at a junction. Near 1.7 miles, the terrain opens up and you'll find parking and along the road in several areas. Continue to the end of the road and Lake Ann trailhead, at 2.1 miles.

Pass the trailhead kiosk ( 1) and walk south on the trail which leads to Apostle Basin and Lake Anne. After a mile The Three Apostles (North Apostle, Ice Mountain and West Apostle) come into view to the south - 2. After 1.5 miles, reach a trail junction and stay left ( 3). Continue 0.1 mile into the trees to reach an unmarked junction ( 4) and turn right to continue towards Apostle Basin. Cross a couple of small streams and follow the trail all the way to the creek below The Three Apostles - 5. Cross the creek, turn left to gain the other side and pass through willows to reach the forest on the east side of the creek. The trail peters out in this area. Now, instead of willow-bashing along the creek to reach the upper basin, hike southeast up into the forest ( 6 and 7) and bushwack your way up through the forest to reach tree line near 11,900', in a flat area above the east end of the creek - 8.

From the flat area ( 8), your next goal is to reach the upper basin below Ice Mountain. Hike directly south up a rocky slope to reach 12,200' and a view of the remaining route to the saddle between North Apostle and Ice Mountain - 9. Continue across some talus, ascend another loose slope between 12,400' and 12,700' and work your way up through some rock outcroppings (Difficult Class 2) near 13,000' - 10. 11 looks down on the rocky terrain. Continue east up the rock glacier ( 12) to reach the North Apostle-Ice saddle - 13.

Taken from various angles, 13, 14 and 15 show the remaining route up Ice's northeast ridge. From the saddle, turn right and continue southwest up the ridge. After climbing about half way up the first bump, swing around the right side to reach a prominent notch on the ridge - 16. Drop into the notch and scramble along the ridge to right side of a small chimney seen in 17. From the top of the chimney, cross to the north (right) side of the ridge to see the remaining route - 18. Drop slightly and follow ledges below the ridge crest until you intersect a brown gully on the left. Look for some green, jagged rocks to the right (center of 19) and locate a crossover point to reach a rocky gully up to your right - 20. This gully is the crux of the route but it's probably the easiest/safest way to reach the summit from this area. Cross to the right side of the gully ( 21) and climb exposed Class 3 rock ( 22) to pop out on easier terrain just below the summit - 23. Turn right, scramble to the summit ridge and walk over to the top - 24. Descend via the same route.

If you'd like to summit North Apostle ( 25), return to the Ice-North Apostle saddle to reach the base of North Apostle's southwest ridge - 26. Rock-hop up the Class 2+ ridge ( 27) to reach the summit - 28. Adding North Apostle makes this route approx. 9.5 miles RT.

Some route-finding is required on this route since you'll need to bushwack your way to tree line once the trail ends. Above tree line, expect long stretches of rock-hopping on Difficult Class 2 terrain. Tedious.