7/10/2025 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 7/10/2025, By: wwdonaldson Info: Summer conditions. A little bit of snow obscuring the path around 13,000 feet, but it’s very affordable with a little of very easy bouldering |
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7/8/2025 Route: Ellingwood Ridge Posted On: 7/13/2025, By: kylieblair317 Info: Did the ridge 07/08. Trail to the ridge start trough the woods, before reaching the boulderfield is absolutely horrible, just impossible to find 90% of the time, at least before sunrise. Not bad up to the ridge from there, but the ridge itself is the worst thing I have ever done in the mountains-- I highly do NOT recommend, and I normally LOVE ridgelines :(. All is dry, and from trailhead to la plata summit took me 6.5 hours, total day was about 8.5. For example, I'd call the Bell's traverse 10/10, I LOVED it, but I'd call this traverse 1/10, just absolutely NOT worth it. Might do a trip report in the future, for now this warning will suffice. |
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7/5/2025 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 7/14/2025, By: andy_legrunge Info: The route above the mine at 12,400 is extremely degraded and eroding rapidly. It is unpleasant to ascend and descend and it is clear that hikers are beginning to blaze new foot paths around the carnage, which will just lead to new erosion channels forming. The Forest Service has indicated they will not maintain this trail. So, unless CFI or someone else jumps in to reroute and stabilize this section, it is going to continue to get worse. It is highly recommended to use the northern approaches to avoid further resource damage. If you do choose this route, please stay on the established path (crappy as it may be). |
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6/28/2025 Route: Ellingwood Ridge Posted On: 6/29/2025, By: samfarmer789 Info: The ridge is great & super challenging. The rock is solid but test all your holds and definitely budget for way more time than you think. And it’s a lot longer than what is listed. We did it in 12.7 miles, 10 hours & 45 min car to car & 6060 feet of gain. We got cliffed out a few times so had to climb down & back up a lot which is where the extra elevation comes from. We had a blast though!! Crazy ridge line, we definitely ended up doing a few class 4 moves and down climbs and one class 5 move that brought our vibes down lol. But once we got to East LP vibes were back up and the traverse to the summit was sick. Perfect weather, two snow patches that we had to crawl across on the left side of the ridge that weren’t very fun but they were short. When in doubt, cut left and climb down & then back up. Super fun route all around! |
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6/26/2025 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/26/2025, By: ny30mil Info: Summer conditions, microspikes not needed. Started at 4am, about 5 cars already at La Plata trailhead. Hike initially start out on a jeep road. Look for a sign on left that starts with Attention. Easily avoidable snowfield starts at 13.5k for a few hundred feet. I actually preferred snow cause it was solid in the morning and the sun cups made for 1,000s of makeshift footprints. Good amount of boulder hopping. Summit at 7am, temps in high 30s. Took different way down via blackbear trail down, no snow, easy to lose trail in boulder field without gpx nav file or trail run project app. Trail was a bit muddy around 12k. |
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6/15/2025 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/16/2025, By: BillMiddlebrook Info: Still some snow up high but can be used for efficiency if you have microspikes. The first large snowfield is after the boulder at 12,300'. Once you're on the NW Ridge, it's dry to and up the buttress to the flat spot at 13,500'. Then there's a lot of snow along the left side of the ridge where the trail is located. Hike the snow or follow the talus along the ridge, which is still Class 2. Above 13,800', you can stay mostly off snow to the summit. There's a bit of snow across the summit area. |
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6/14/2025 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/14/2025, By: jhills2 Info: camped ~ 2 miles in at 11k feet - left camp at 430am with my corgi. dont get greedy and go further as there wont be any spots. There are some snow fields but you can mostly get around them but still postholed through (even at 5/6am) - i'd highly recommend poles - crampons are nice if just drudging straight up/down the snowfield. snowshoes not needed (saw some people with them). |
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6/10/2025 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/10/2025, By: MNHikerguy Info: Great day on La Plata. Left TH at 5:30am for a somewhat early start. Beautiful day with basically perfect conditions. Some snow on the trail, but it really did not make a difference. The largest snow field is mainly avoidable by staying on the right and hiking on the trail that goes up through the boulder field. Submitted at 8:15am and hung out at the top for 15 mins before heading down. Reached the trailhead just after 10:30am. Good to see lots of other hikers out there today! |
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6/7/2025 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/8/2025, By: Zhuoying Huang Info: June 7 ,Started at 4Am, A few snowpacks above 11,300 feet , didn’t use spikes until 13,800 feet . Didn’t experience a lot of posh holing . Had a blast of glissading . |
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6/7/2025 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/9/2025, By: kbuckland Info: Crashed in the car at the trailhead. Started at 4:40am with board and boots on my back. Some snow on the trail before 13,400 but easy to avoid. Put yaks on for the snow field summit push. Some trap door crusts, would imagine those will transition to full on post hole corn with warming temps. Gators and water resistant shoes might be helpful for that section the next week or two. Wanted to drop the main couloir but went with a backup route after seeing that pretty much everything had avy debris in it from the previous warming cycle. Glorious weather on the summit. Stayed up there well over an hour to let my secondary route soften up a bit. Followed the northwest ridge down at then dropped into the La Plata basin around 13,480. Found one of the last entry points that hadn't slid out. Most excellent run but the exit was about 3hrs to where I met back up with the trail around 11K. Wet willows bush whacking then a combo of loose talus and snow field snowboard traversing, a little climb for good measure capped off with a steep descent through the woods with many downed trees. I'd estimate a solid 2K of snowboarding followed by 2 miles of technical bush whacking. Worth it. 10 miles, 4,500 vert and 12hrs total including lots of stops to take photos, talk to new friends and a wonderfully long summit hang. Working on plans for my next SKT (slowest known time) S/O to the fellow shredder Micky, my homie with the gushers at 13k, parking lot frands, the trail runner that looped all the way from Hope Pass and the Sol Paddle Board amigos. Crab deck FTW! Rode Iowa Gulch Sunday 6/08 on the way home and checked out the alt route up Sherman... think Basin 6/15 might be the last shred day of the season. Time to bag some more peaks and wait for the snow to start falling again! |
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6/1/2025 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/2/2025, By: zackj99 Info: Started at 3:30 to avoid post holing. Brought snow shoes but didn’t use them. Would recommend bringing them if starting much later. Snow field at 12.3k and then from 13.4k up. Ridge is pretty much totally dry until 13.4k. Could feel the snow on the ridge getting softer even as I headed back down with the sun on it. Back to the car at 9:30. |
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5/31/2025 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 6/2/2025, By: rmcpherson Info: Started from the trailhead at 6:00 AM, summited by 9:45. Snow was solid all the way up, softening on the descent but still no postholing. We glissaded the snowfield below the ridge on the descent. Only required microspikes and gaiters. With soft snow the route on the final ridge would be tough so an early-ish start is recommended. |
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5/31/2025 Route: Southwest Ridge Posted On: 5/31/2025, By: Ryan987 Info: Trailhead is dry all the way and the two water crossings are only 1-2 inches. Multiple snow drifts in the way to willows that requires some creative movements. A few steep snowfields requiring spikes going up and one requiring kick steps at 6-7 AM. Nothing of major to report from saddle to summit. Willows on the way back down at 10 AM was a total suck fest. Sinking everywhere and you'll end up stepping in a surprise creek. 10/10 views though, surprised at how beautiful the area is |
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5/25/2025 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 5/25/2025, By: sehessler92 Info: Peak is in good shape. Microspikes were all that was needed. Started at 3:30 and back to car by 12. Get started early to avoid postholing |
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5/18/2025 Route: Northwest Ridge Posted On: 5/19/2025, By: Suley888 Info: Summited sunday, may 18th. There were two other parties who also summited. As thr avalanche forecast was low for all aspects, and we had read the trip report from the 12th we took thr summer route. I fear conditions will be quite different after the snow that was predicted for last night, but here goes: Started at 6 am and made it to the summit around noon. It was dry for the first mile and a half, patchy through the tree line and up to the ridge, then solid from gaining the ridge to the summit. Didn't post hole hardly at all on the way up. We made jt with just spike and poles, though i admit crampons would have made that last mile and other parts easier. Started breaking the crust on the way down, but that actually helped gain purchase. Below thr ridge snow turned pretty slushy through the end. 27 down, 31 to go! |
