Kit Carson Peak

Route: Via Challenger Point
Posted On: 9/20/2024, By: can021892
Info: Summited via Challenger Point. Upper gully leading up to Challenger was filled with snow and ice. Kit Carson Ave also filled with snow. We were the only group able to summit Kit Carson that day as we brought microspikes and poles. Would highly recommend! 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/12/2024, By: skyrme17
Info: Summited via the North Ridge and descended via Challenger Point. The North Ridge was in great conditions. The descent via Challenger Point on the other hand was very precarious, because of loose rock the entire way from the ridge to the Willow Lake. I saw big rocks tumbling down multiple times. A couple of things to note: - The GPX route on 14ers.com differs from the GPX on the Hiking Project between the Willow Lake and the right turn towards Outward Bound Couloir. The Hiking Project keeps low, along the creek, while the 14ers. com goes higher on the right side of the slope. I followed the 14ers.com route which avoids most of the willows. - The exit to the Avenue is visibly marked with a big cairn, and a red marker. - Long day for a one day hike. Start early! 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/2/2024, By: Habret
Info: Lovely summer day with light winds. Packed into Willow Lake evening of 8/31, and started up solo at 6:45 AM. I turned up after the first cliff band at 8:00, but encountered a steep gully since I started up a bit too early. Despite being off route, I checked topo and climbed this gully anyways reach the north face. From here, it's everything the route description states - steep, exposed, but with amazing holds and nearly no loose rock all the way to the crest at 14,050'. I descended from back over Challenger, whose trail is eroding quickly. Be seriously careful when you're heading down - there's so much loose rock and dirt. **With the first gully after the cliff band, I encountered C3/4 climbing for 400-500ft with two low-C5 moves in a dihedral near the top (LEFT crack pic#3). I strongly discourage this route up to the north face if you're in a group - if you kick a rock down, it's gonna launch down this gully onto anyone else. Also, always check your topo map before committing to something like this, or you can get cliffed out pretty easily. Follow the route description instead. 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 8/14/2024, By: j12miskin
Info: Rain overnight meant low mosquitos but water crossings were high. Three or four crossings you would get wet in trail runners but not in waterproof boots. Summer conditions other than that. I cut up early on the summit scramble and did not regret it, rock is very good and generally stable until the summit ridge. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 8/13/2024, By: Kbrown321
Info: Lived up to its reputation in every way, but being in no fall zone for so long was still a big mental game, more than I expected. Stayed to the right in OBC which kicked off the scrambling sooner vs loose crap in the middle. Crux felt like when the ridge starts to look like a triangle, which also felt like the biggest exposure section. Above the hardest bits could be bypassed just to the right of ridge proper. Rain the night before kept the skeeters away, but made the grassy sections between the rocks wet which definitely upped the sketch factor 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 8/7/2024, By: Ariella6
Info: 8/6/2024 Tuesday Pit toilet at trailhead. No trash cans. Plan on packing out what you pack in. Its around 4.5 miles and 2800 feet of elevation gain to willow lake. Its very well done trail. There are 2 tent sites on way up that have a fire ring and a nice area for set up. It took us about 2 hours 15 minutes to get to this point. There are several stream/river crossings on this trail. 3-4 bigger ones. It would be helpful to have a pole. one has a fairly solid log crossing and the rest just had some rocks. On the way up you could cross on the rocks , on the way down the rocks were covered with water. No way to get across and not get your feet wet. After the lake, the trail gets to the not fun part. It is a steep loose rock gully. There is not really a clear trail..... there are several goat trails and only a handful of cairns along the route. Study the 14er.com pics beforehand and also have the map downloaded from all trails. Know the gulley is long, steep and tricky. My friend was really appreciative of her poles. from the gulley to the top of challenger is not too bad. nice plaque on top of challenger. Be sure to check your forecasts. We had checked rain was not in forecast until 6 pm. It started dumping rain and hailing at 2 pm. Come prepared. We were soaked all the way through even with rain gear. On the way down the trail was just pure water. It was literally a stream pretty much all the way down. Just had to walk through it. Time from lake back down to trailhead was 2.5 hours. Saw marmots, pica, and big horn sheep! Loved seeing the sheep! Oh the mosquitoes before the lake we put on our mosquito spray - mine was natural and my friend used deet spray. I had 2 bites and my friend had 0. 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 8/4/2024, By: Beccadoe
Info: Officially leaving Willow Creak TH mosquito bite free! I have plans to finish the 14ers next weekend, so these two were a must this weekend even though its advised to wait until fall for the mosquitoes to die down. The day before I sprayed down all our clothes with Permethrin (shoes and packs included) then in the morning I put picaridin lotion on all exposed skin (no head nets needed). In the morning (for reference we started at 3:45), the only interaction with mosquitoes was when we opened our car door for 5 seconds and there were instantly 10 inside. They were definitely worse at the trailhead and near the willows by the top of the waterfall above lake. It was about 9 hours car to car and I think opting out of backpacking was the way to go to avoid mosquito exposure. I believe they are starting to die down and will probably be almost nonexistent in the coming weeks. If properly prepared, the mosquitoes are a non-factor :) 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 8/1/2024, By: chelsluckb2
Info: Hiked on 7/30. I went up the North Ridge of Kit Carson then over to Challenger and down the standard route. Route finding in the basin to the base of the Outward Bound couloir is pretty easy. I think I stayed higher than the official "trail", but if you just keep an eye on the pointy rock at the base of the cliff bands and head that direction, it's tough to get lost. When you reach the base of the cliff bands, be sure not to go up between them. You want to continue past the second cliff band and then head up the right side of the OB couloir. The climbing is a ton of fun! Super solid rock and the route finding is pretty obvious once you are on the ridge proper. At about 13800, there is an avenue on the right side you can take if you want to avoid some of the final class 4 moves. Coming down Challenger is a sufferfest of loose rock. If you are comfortable with class 4, I highly recommend going up the North Ridge so you avoid doing Challenger's standard route twice. No snow encountered all day. Overall an incredible day!! Edit - Quick mosquito update - there are still plenty. I reapplied bug spray 3 times throughout the day, and that helped keep them at bay. I didn't notice them at all in the morning (I started around 3:30 AM). Coming down I only noticed them getting especially aggressive for about the final mile or so of the hike. In all, they were a pain but for me, not enough to ruin the day or warrant a bug net 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 7/28/2024, By: MidsizeAl
Info: Went prepared for battle with the mosquitos, yet even with constant reapplication of bug spray and head nets, I still am covered in bites. I was astounded to be still swatting them at 13.5k on the ascent of challenger. There is also a pair of aggressive deer that hang around at the campsites near Willow Lake. They are not afraid of people. Had to guard my stuff while setting up camp and heard them rummaging around our tent late into the night. We opted to break down camp early in the morning and stashed our packs out of reach to avoid having to replace chewed-on gear. Side note, why is the more-direct alternate route up KC not the standard? It felt barely class 3, lacks any loose rock, and makes it almost impossible to miss the Avenue. Edit: Added a screenshot of my route (red) vs. standard (green) pulled from the GPX on the route description here, along with a couple of photos of the gully 

Route: Via Challenger Point
Posted On: 7/25/2024, By: 14er101
Info: Mosquito Update: Blood sacrifice is still required between TH and about halfway up Challenger. Otherwise, summer conditions, as previously mentioned. 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 7/18/2024, By: Curleyjo67
Info: Hiked Challenger and Kit Carson. No snow to be concerned about. Steep climb after Willow Lake. Mosquitoes were overly abundant and aggressive past the lake and at least half way up to Challenger. Cairns were difficult to see/follow on the way down and lots of scree and loose rocks. But, the lake was beautiful and wildlife abundant. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 7/12/2024, By: AsTheDuke
Info: Pretty much summer conditions for both the North Ridge and Via Challenger Point (and the traverse to Columbia Point for that matter). The only snowfield is below the gully to Challenger Point, which can be avoided. No snow in The Avenue. The mosquitos were quite active in the afternoon, but weren't noticeable early in the morning (or that was just my bug spray). 

Route: Via Challenger Point
Posted On: 6/28/2024, By: john curtis
Info: The mosquitos were horrible. I've seen previous reports about how bad mosquitos are in this area, but none of them could have prepared me for just how bad they actually are. Any description I could think of writing would undersell how bad they are. If I were to do Challenger and Kit Carson again, I would wait until fall. Aside from the mosquitos, the water is still flowing deep and fast through the water crossing areas. Trekking poles were helpful for balance on the slippery logs and rocks. There is one small snowfield covering the trail towards the bottom of the gully on Challenger (maybe 10 steps). No micro spikes needed. There is another snowfield at the entrance to The Avenue on Kit Carson (maybe 10 steps again) but no spikes are needed here either. There are several areas of snow along The Avenue but they are all avoidable. A small snowfield is currently at the bottom of the alternate dotted line for the ascent up Kit Carson (a great marker). I ascended via the alternate option and the rock was solid with plenty of hand and foot holds. I'd say it was a fun class 4 climb. No mosquitos were encountered on Kit Carson! For the descent, opted to glissade 1,000 ft down the Challenger gully instead of climbing down the loose scree and choosy terrain beside the snow. When I got back to my tent, I discovered that a marmot had chewed a hole into my tent. It chewed some more holes once inside and decided to pee on my gear. I had no food in my tent, so it must have been going after sweat. 

Route: Outward Bound Couloir
Posted On: 5/20/2024, By: climb2ski
Info: Skied off the summit on Saturday May 18th at 11am. Still lots of snow up there. Pics of the upper face, OB and summit for reference. 

Route: Outward Bound Couloir
Posted On: 5/3/2024, By: One Sierra Charlie
Info: The trail is mainly dry to 11,000 then mostly continuous snow. There are several dry sections in the basin above Willow lake and the snow will be thin and likely collapsable on your way out from about 12,000 to snowline. The OB couloir now has dense wind-affected powder with some sections of breakable crust. Good turns here and there but quite variable. The SW face/Cole Couloir was super icy for us, but may be softer on a warmer day. Lots of rocks and sharks on the upper 1/4 of the descent so don't plan on an exact summit ski unless you are really into billygoating and don't care about your skis. Hard to tell how long the SW face will hold snow but the OB Couloir is fat and should hold snow for a few more weeks. Our two GPS logs varied somewhat, but the average was 15.25 miles, 5,200 vertical.