11/10/2023 Route: Lake Como Approach Posted On: 11/12/2023, By: Watermelon Mountains Info: A light dusting of snow (0-1in) over the final 3ish miles. No traction required. |
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10/18/2023 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 10/19/2023, By: 6c2cd6fde4f40811 Info: Conditions are still solid - some patches of ice / snow, but easily avoided. Traction not necessary. Class 3 traverse and Ellingwood Point are completely snow-free. |
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10/14/2023 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 10/15/2023, By: buddapilot Info: Summer conditions with minor snow near the top but easily avoidable. No traction needed. |
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10/8/2023 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 10/9/2023, By: Abowser7 Info: Summer conditions on Ellingwood, very minimal snow on Blanca. Snow free all the way until the Blanca ridge and most of it is avoidable. Beautiful conditions on the lake Como peaks, but this is sure to change soon. Get it while you can. |
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9/30/2023 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 9/30/2023, By: taylorharris50 Info: Spikes would be helpful for the final pitch. Otherwise summer conditions. |
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9/19/2023 Route: Blanca and Ellingwood Posted On: 9/20/2023, By: clando Info: Conditions for the good ole lake como peaks 09/19/23 Little bear: -5/10 Blanca: 6/10 Ellingwood point: 8/10 Hourglass is covered in ice and til it melts, its a death trap. Little bear side of the traverse is pretty sketchy with the melting snow. Blanca half is fine. South faces are dry, north faces are highly variable. Hopefully it melts out, but Im not holding my breath. Blanca has a some snow on the ridge but there isnt much sloping rock, so its not an issue. Ellingwood had maybe one patch of snow. |
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7/30/2023 Route: Blanca and Ellingwood Posted On: 7/31/2023, By: MrWaanderful Info: Complete summer conditions. No snow crossings at this point. Some water on trail along road and at headwalls but nothing to be concerned with. |
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7/4/2023 Route: Blanca and Ellingwood Posted On: 7/17/2023, By: ashleyelizabeth0312 Info: We summitted Blanca and Ellingwood on 07/04. Perfectly summer conditions besides two snow fields, no spikes or anything needed. Best sunrise ever once on the ridge. Highly advise the traverse from Blanca to Ellingwood, not sketchy and easy to follow. Going back down and up Ellingwood looked like it would be a slog. I left a brand new green Patagonia jacket that folds into itself on the trail somewhere, if you happen to find it, please let me know! |
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6/28/2023 Route: Blanca and Ellingwood Posted On: 6/30/2023, By: Cadorade4403 Info: More or less summer conditions. Neither peak requires any snow gear for summiting and any snow is entirely avoidable. Spikes may have been nice for some small snowfield crossings near crater lake early in the morning, but it was doable without. |
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6/26/2023 Route: Blanca and Ellingwood Posted On: 6/27/2023, By: jen022789 Info: Hiked Blanca and Ellingwood via the traverse. A few snow crossing on the approach, but spikes are not needed. Currently, have to make some tricky moves on Blanca near the summit to avoid ice/snow (think it will be melted out in a week or so). The traverse was straightforward and clear all the way to Ellingwood. The nasty 4wheel drive road up/down is an awful, hot, slog, but other than that it was a fun day! |
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6/25/2023 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/25/2023, By: NickMoline Info: Dry through Lake Como and large patches of snow above tree line. Nothing crazy though. You can get this done with micro spikes easily as these patches are low angle for the most part. It can be very icy in the morning so be careful. Ridge along the saddle is pretty dry but be careful because there are still cornices hanging over the east side of it. If you step on snow while along the ridge be sure you know there is rock directly below it. There is still a big patch of snow that runs almost directly to the summit from the upper basin. This can be climbed like a steep couloir in the early morning if temperatures allow (it did for me!). Top has a little scramble to gain the upper ridge. Though I used crampons for the climb up, I was able to manage the descent along the ridge without any traction. I wouldnt recommend leaving traction at home though quite yet. Also, bring bug spray. I couldnt stop for 5 seconds below the lake without being eaten alive. I slapped my calve and killed 6 misquotes at once all trying to rob my blood of the energy gel I just inhaled. |
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6/11/2023 Route: Little Bear-Blanca Traverse Posted On: 6/12/2023, By: andy_schlichting Info: I did the Little Bear-Blanca-Ellingwood traverses. The approach up to Lake Como is a long, hot slog. Honestly Saturday going up there with a 40lb pack was harder than Sunday doing the traverses. I started up the standard route of Little Bear around 2:15 a.m. and encountered the first real snow as soon as I left the road. The talus is absolutely brutal, steep and loose, but fortunately the first gully is probably 80% snow still and that made it safer and easier with crampons and an ice axe. After exiting the notch, the ridge is snow-free until several hundred feet below the Hourglass, minus one snowfield that required crampons again. The Hourglass is awesome right now--it's a straight couloir climb full of good, hard, packed snow, but it's melting quick. I bet it's got maybe another week or two before the snow breaks up in there. Above the Hourglass, it's almost all talus with a few icy rocks and small snow sections. I wouldn't want to climb below someone up there because there's so much loose rock. After summiting Little Bear at about 6:45 a.m., I started the traverse over to Blanca. It's in really good shape right now--no snow on the ridge (although it's so narrow I don't see how snow could ever accumulate there!). Most of the gullies that you have to cross between the little peaks on the ridge have some snow. Most of them I was able to cross without crampons, but a couple of them were too steep and long to risk it. I was surprised at how straightforward that route is--there aren't many options and most of the time you really just go up over the ridge crest. And it sure is exposed! The last bit up Blanca was pretty easy and didn't even require crampons in the snow up there. I summited Blanca at about 9:30 a.m. The descent towards Ellingwood was really easy and quick with crampons and an ice axe. The snow on that side hadn't seen much sun yet since it's more west/northwest facing. But as soon as I started ascending Ellingwood, that had all been baking all morning and it was a posthole fest basically the entire way up. I finally gave up on trying to snow-climb it and headed up to the ridge and rock hopped. I'd recommend that unless you're doing it first thing in the morning right now. I topped out on Ellingwood a little before 11 a.m. and then descended shortly after due to the forecast (although no storms ever came). The descent down Ellingwood was as brutal as the ascent was. Mashed potatoes snow and postholing to my waist at times, I finally decided the only way I was going to make it without breaking a leg was to glissade, even though I didn't have snow pants, and that was successful, but wet and cold. The standard trail up Blanca and Ellingwood that I took back to Lake Como was intermittent snow fields, but for the most part, it was packed enough that the postholing wasn't bad. The Crater Lake is still 95% ice, but looks like it's about to melt, and the lower lakes are ice-free. I was back to camp around 1 p.m. making for almost an 11-hour round trip. The weather could not have been better. It was warm even in the dark on the way up and hot once I was in the sun after Little Bear. I switched to shorts midway through the LB-Blanca traverse and didn't put my light trekking pants back on until the descent of Ellingwood. Camping by the lake was great and I did not encounter another person all weekend until I got back camp Sunday afternoon. Going down the road, which is the spiciest road I think I've ever seen, I encountered two Rubicons and an ATV very close to the lake. Hats off to those folks. I parked my Crosstrek at about 8,150 feet, and shortly after starting up on Saturday, saw a 4Runner bottom out only about 100 feet higher than where I parked. That road is something else. |
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6/4/2023 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/5/2023, By: Brandon0135 Info: The road to Como is completely dry. Snow starts right after the lake but isn't a problem until about a mile after Como, then snowshoes are recommended. A snow storm Saturday brought 2-3 inches of fresh snow to the peak. Because of the snow I probably was not able to find the proper route along the ridge to the summit. With this snow this is absolutely not a class 2 route to Blanca. I got caught in some high class 3, or possibly class 4 sections trying to summit. Ice axe and crampons were essential. This one was sketchy, so I cancelled my plan for Ellingwood. Wait for some of this snow/ice to melt off the summit area if you are planning for class 2. If you are comfortable with ice axe and crampons on class 3-4 then go for it. |
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4/14/2023 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 4/15/2023, By: Will_E Info: Got up Blanca and Ellingwood yesterday. Lake Como Road is dry about halfway to the lake, then snow is intermittent until just before the lake, there's a pretty good trench in the snow covered sections. Snow was pretty good yesterday, on the way up I followed Josh's trench, didn't need snowshoes until around 12,200, had them on for maybe a mile on ascent. On the way down I used them from 12,800 to just past the lake. Pretty cold above treeline and not much sun out, I showed 18 degrees at summit. I used ice axe for security on a few slopes, crampons wouldn't have been a bad idea, but I'm kinda lazy. |
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4/12/2023 Route: Lake Como Approach Posted On: 4/13/2023, By: joshgrundy Info: Lake Como road is totally dry until around 10,300 when the road takes a dip into the trees. Shortly after that, there are a couple flooded sections due to snowmelt, but there is dry ground to walk around. The stream crossing is going pretty strong and the snow is no longer strong enough to hold weight, so expect to get wet feet. From 10.5k-11.5k, there are a decent amount of dry areas depending on sun exposure, but there will still be slushy snow at times. Above 11.5k as you approach the lake, the snow gets consistently deeper and post-holing starts to be an issue. As of this writing, the snow is so slushy it cant hold any weight in this area. Snowshoes dont really help. Past the lake, I seemed to be the only one to attempt this peak for a while. The snow was horrible. Deep postholing in many areas with large areas is snow collapsing when you step on it. Really tough and slow-going, again snow shoes didnt make much difference most of the time, the snow is just too soft and slushy. I turned around at 12.4k due to this, but my guess is conditions would have improved above 13.5k. The ridges looked to be drying out. |
