Quandary Peak

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 2/24/2025, By: abhinav7241
Info: Conditions were great.. i dint use my snowshoes even though i took it with me. The snow was well packed all the way up till the tree line. From the tree line up till the flat part there patches of deep snow but you can maneuver your way.. Very windy at times other than that great hike great views.. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 2/22/2025, By: ajtrezco
Info: Skied Quandary today, conditions were great. Floatation is pretty much mandatory, especially below/near treeline when things warm up. The last big storm really filled in the east bowl, though still a bit sharky; definitely cautious skiing in that upper bit if you care about your skis. Nonetheless, was able to ski all the way from the summit to the car without taking them off. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 2/18/2025, By: algryno
Info: Blustery summit. Remnants of trench from TH until open-ish slope at 11.8k. 4-8" trailbreaking until there. Kept snowshoes on the entire time. There were a few short sections of windboard/windscoured, but most of the route still had a good 6"+ fresh snow. Thanks to the skier who helped break trail for a bit! On the way down, my tracks were already filled with wind-transported snow. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 2/14/2025, By: Will_E
Info: Cold, windy and blustery day. There were 4 or 5 cars in the parking lot when I arrived, so I gambled and left my snowshoes in the car. There were a handful of areas the trench disappeared and I post holed pretty bad, I pushed through, not the worst postholing I've suffered through. Above treeline no traction needed today. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 2/6/2025, By: Jake6350
Info: Summited via standard winter route. Trail is well trenched, packed firmly, and obvious all the way to the summit. Wore microspikes on the way up and down and that was plenty sufficient, especially in some of the wind blown exposed spots above treeline. A handful of people out there today with a mix of snowshoes and spikes as well as one person skiing from the 13K point down after hiking to the summit. Windy on the ridge but overall great conditions while they last! 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 1/30/2025, By: Mario Correa V
Info: Summited via the standard winter route today, very windy but overall, very well trenched as of today. I did not use flotation; only micro spikes and it worked just fine. Be sure to stick to the ridge proper where the "trail" is, snow levels are up to around 4 feet in certain places elsewhere (I found out the hard way, postholeing sucks). I believe I was the only person on the mountain today, but hurry and go get er done! 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 1/31/2025, By: macballman
Info: Beautiful morning, clear and warm. Skinned up to the bottom of the upper bowl (~13,200'). Winds picked up faster than expected and some clouds rolled in. The bowl looked pretty bare, so headed back down. Wind blown skiing above the tree line. Lots of powder and good snow below. Our group was the only one on the mountain. Fun day outside! 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 1/27/2025, By: madmattd
Info: Solid trench to treeline with a few scattered postholes (knee-deep) - I booted up in the morning without issue. From treeline to the summit (and back to the TH) I used snowshoes, though others were booting. Generally 2-6" of powder above treeline with plenty of wind-packed sections, really excellent snowshoeing actually. 2 skiers skinned up to the summit and were last seen booting a little ways down Cristo in preparation for skiing the lower portion. Snow is effectively continuous to the summit along the trail, but the upper bowl looked too thin and sharky too ski. The lower bowl (below the 13.1k shoulder) looked excellent. 7 total people on the mountain today - clear skies, 5-10mph wind from 13.1k to the summit, temps in the low double digits. Pretty darn nice day! 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 1/1/2025, By: econner
Info: Summited today with the use of skis. There was a well trenched trail to 11,700' that several hikers were using without snowshoes. At 11,700' as the trail climbs to the first ridge (~12,500') the trenched trail disappeared and flotation was definitely required. All hikers behind me without snowshoes seemed to have turned around at this point. It was also extremely cold and windy with low viz which was probably a contributing factor. It seemed to me that if you made it to ~12,500' without snowshoes you'd likely be ok from there on the ridge with only spikes (but why not have flotation?). The wind was fierce above treeline and seemingly has been for several days. It was so cold the upper third of my nalgene froze and I had to put it in my innermost layer to get any water. Multiple face coverings, hand warmers, toe warmers, multiple jackets, goggles etc etc. All was necessary. In terms of skiing: the upper bowl is pretty much wind stripped all the way to rock. You could possibly link patches down it skiing, but I did not consider it. In near whiteout conditions with low visibility I only considered gingerly skiing the line of ascent. The snow was bad for skiing until reaching treeline (but it was skiable aside from the odd shark or two). It was a mix of wind compacted dense snow and rock hard sastrugi. I was fighting to make turns the whole way down and stumbling through sastrugi in near 0 visibility. Below treeline was blower powder. I was able to skin pretty much the whole way. There is a section of wind stripped rock in between the two ridges maybe 100-200 yds long where I had to carry the skis, but otherwise I was able to skin all the way to the summit. Happy New Year y'all! Another fun day in the mountains. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 1/1/2025, By: zsmeton
Info: As the first people on trail for the day the trench was barely visible after the first half mile even in the trees. Didnt bring floatation as other reports hadnt used them. Would have been much easier with. The wind was powerful enough to blow away our trail above treelike before we even came back down. Bring a gps and have some flotation for a much easier ascent. Micro spikes were nice for final ridge line. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 12/24/2024, By: acctforfun
Info: Snow essentially from the top to bottom of this hike but as of today well trenched. Snowshoes not needed but highly recommend microspikes at this point. As another recent report indicated, there are two developed trench lines coming out of the treelines and you want to keep right at the fork. Its the one that looks like it is going straight up the mountain. ***Lost ice axe 12/24 afternoon - orange Petzl 59cm.*** Likely slipped out of my backpack straps on the 13k ridge line or below Just got it for an early Christmas present so pretty sad to lose it on its first outing... If anyone found it would be happy to pay a finders fee - please DM. Tempted to retrace my steps 12/26 to try to find out of frustration . Would be going back tomorrow but that idea got vetoed! 

Route: South Gully aka Cristo Couloir
Posted On: 12/22/2024, By: Veory
Info: Cristo doesn't connect to the summit (big surprise) and held every snow condition known to mankind. Required some skis on/ off with intermittent chossy down climbing and glissading shallow snow. Once in the main section continuous turns can be made for quite a while. Mix of icy, punching through to the bottom, choppy, powder, etc. I did not ski it well but it was a fun adventure, and rare to ski in winter. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 12/22/2024, By: jbealer
Info: The trail leading out of the trees is not the true winter route, the route should be going to the right, as it is now it heads up the avy slope. Did this route 3 weeks ago and the trail was closer to the correct route, not sure what happened. I hope someone can put the correct trench in next time they head up, or a good snow will fix it. Otherwise just needed spikes on the way down. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 12/16/2024, By: Timk396
Info: Pretty easy trench/trail to follow the whole way up at this point. Might change after another storm. Very little postholing just past treeline before the ridge. Snow shoes were not needed in my opinion. Saw some others using them, but if you stayed on the main trail you weren't sinking much. Microspikes were very helpful from the ridgeline up to summit. Very glad I had them on the decent. Soul crushing winds at 40mph made me toughen up for a summit push. Between the bitter cold and hellacious wind, there was no time enjoying the summit or taking pictures of the non existent completely cloud covered views. None the less great day on the mountain! 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 12/7/2024, By: Skimo95
Info: Could you hike quandary in a summer fit today, sure, would it be a good idea.. probably not! I enjoyed gaiters up to the final ridge push before using micro spikes. Shoutout to the Asian American deaf gentleman I was able to push with to summit, youre tougher then Ill ever be man. Cheers P.S crappy skiing from summit is there but I dont have interest in something of that quality