Tabeguache Peak

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 9/22/2015, By: Sunshineof1985
Info: This is my 47th fourteener this summer. My goal is to climb 7 more peaks in the next couple weeks. You can read more about this hike and others at Sunshineof1985.com. Enjoy! The leaves are gorgeous right now! Distance: 16 miles with sedan, 8 miles with the help of strangers or your own 4WD! Elevation Gain: 4,000 ft. (8 miles) Time started: 8:00am End time: 4:00pm Time to Summit: 4 hours Time to Descent: 3 hours and 30 minutes Overall Pace: .9 miles per hour GEAR (to bring): GPS, extra socks, phone, SPOT Satellite Tracker, Map, Topo Map from 14ers.com, hiking boots with 2 pairs of socks on, long-sleeve, wind-guard/raincoat, light weight puffy coat, warm hat, lightweight gloves, day pack with water sack (64 oz), snacks. Road Condition: Once again, 14ers.com is accurate with their recommendations. A sedan or even a SUV or truck without 4WD will not make it far on the road after the Angel of Shavano Trailhead. Trail Condition: You will have to do a lot of trail finding on this route. The route is considered "abandoned" so it is very rugged and trails will start and then disappear often making it a difficult class 2 mountain. The trail from what I hear is also consistently very windy. Be prepared for that. When you reach the hill also known as Point 13,936 go straight up it and look for a cairn at the base (made by Anne and yours truly.) You’ll weave straight up it. There are two more cairns along the way to look for to help you reach the top as easily as possible. Expect the entire ridge to be windy and jagged with rocks and barely there trails. On your return, make sure to watch for your turn back onto the long ridge leading back to Point 13,936. There is a misleading defined trail that got us off track, so I hope you avoid it. 

Route: Via Mt. Shavano
Posted On: 9/14/2015, By: ericwolf88
Info: From the top of Shavano it an hour and 15 minutes going out and coming back. The weather was very warm with no threat of clouds anywhere. There is not really a defined path most of the way over (except on the saddle). You will probably have to do some scrambling the last couple hundred feet before the summit and just kind of pick your own way to the top. In my opinion the views from Tab are better than Shav so if you have the time and are feeling good, it‘s worth the trip over. 

Route: Via Mt. Shavano
Posted On: 7/26/2015, By: jmark
Info: Trail is not easy to follow when ascending and descending Tabeguache. Be careful of the loose rock. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/28/2015, By: ahrendse
Info: Route is 95% clear of snow. The few snow fields remaining (4 or 5) are firm, even in late morning heat. 

Route: Via Mt. Shavano
Posted On: 6/29/2015, By: awpalmer27
Info: Started at the Blank Gulch trailhead at 4:45 am. We summited Shavano around 9:15. Started hiking over to Tabeguache around 9:45 and summited it by 10:45 am. Shavano is in full summer conditions. There are currently a couple snowfields between the Shavano-Tabeguache saddle and the summit of Tabeguache. There are steps kicked into these slopes. Snoeshoes aren‘t necessary. We had microspikes and gaiters with us but they stayed in our packs the entire day. 

Route: Via Mt. Shavano
Posted On: 6/22/2015, By: zrgraf
Info: Ridge line from Shavano to Tabeguache relatively clear until you hit the bottom of the saddle. Snow is firm enough to walk on but there was some postholing after 1 pm. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/7/2015, By: Grover
Info: Trail is snow free from the road up to 11,500' in the basin. After that, there are some snowfields that can be walked across or skirted. Used ice axe and crampons to gain the West Ridge. Once on the ridge, the snow has melted away, and you can easily hike up to Point 13,936. After that, you will need crampons, poles and/or ice axe. The crux of the route is after the final bump in the ridge, before the Tab summit. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 5/25/2015, By: asarsam
Info: Snowshoes from 11,000 ft. Need Ice Axe and Crampons to navigate the ridge to the summit past Pt 13,936. 

Route: Via Mt. Shavano
Posted On: 11/1/2014, By: StarGirl
Info: The saddle and ridge up to Tab is patched with snow. It‘s mostly 6" deep but there were some drifts of up to 1 ft. Spikes and Poles or an axe to test the depth would be useful. Some snow was pretty soft. Other patches harder and could be walked upon. More snow on tab summit versus Shavano, but nothing past 18" in spots. Can still boulder hop for most part. Pics show snow on the saddle, ridge, and the place on the summit where the most snow was (on a ridge, summit proper only had a little snow. 

Route: Via Mt. Shavano
Posted On: 9/15/2014, By: Hiro
Info: Completely dry. Night temps were cold but not super freezing with wind chill in some areas (see below). We were able to stay on top of Tabeguache for 15+ minutes to make some hot food at 11pm, wearing a good set of base layers plus shells plus micropuff jackets & hoods. We were not wearing windproof pants. Started route at 16:30 for a night decent. Was excellent weather the entire day, so we had a mild weather ascent - most windblown was halfway up to the (first) Mt. Shavano peak until reaching the peak. The saddle and Tabeguache Peak were pretty calm conditions. Descending, lack of wind and increasing temps had us comfortably wearing base layers plus shell while moving. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 9/4/2014, By: Jump Roper
Info: Crazy wind but otherwise a perfect day. The trailhead is tricky to spot, just know it is about 50ft from the first creek crossing. The first mile is overgrown but still visable. The cutoff to avoid the southwest ridge is well marked. The tricky turn was when to cut across the valley but there is a big rock arrow that tells you when to turn. The rest of the time there really isnt much of a trail at all not too much scree either. There were a few wild flowers out but most of the tundra grass was turning. Road up is bumpy but good. 

Route: Via Mt. Shavano
Posted On: 7/1/2014, By: Andymcp1
Info: From Shavano there is no snow on the descent to the saddle. About half way up the ridge to Tab there is a small snow field that can be completely avoid by some talus hoping along a intermittent trail. Easy summer conditions! 

Route: Via Mt. Shavano
Posted On: 6/17/2014, By: WillRobnett
Info: Ice had steps didn‘t use campons or other traction. 

Route: Via Mt. Shavano
Posted On: 6/15/2014, By: OutbackDobbs
Info: It was extremely windy and even cold on the approach to the summit of Shavano. This caused a lot of people who were on the summit of Shavano to not do the traverse to Tabeguache. I decided to start the traverse and see if the wind conditions would improve. There is almost no snow along the rocky traverse and the rocks made for a good wind break all the way to the saddle with Tabeguache. It was very windy on the saddle, but the higher I got on Tabeguache the less the wind became. There is only one snow field that needs to be crossed on the climb to Tabeguache. There are good booted in steps in the snow that are easy to follow; no traction required. On the top of Tabeguache there was hardly any wind and it was just beautiful out. So for anyone that finds themselves in similar wind conditions on Shavano it does not mean it will be the same over on Tabeguache. 

Route: Via Mt. Shavano
Posted On: 11/10/2013, By: BrentRichter
Info: Similar to the last report, were a few inches of snow in spots between 10-13k and some between rocks on the ridge between Shav and Tab, then larger fields of snow along Tab‘s ridge (would have been good to put on gaiters as there as snow is up to 2‘ deep) but is avoidable if take an alternative, steeper line to Tab‘s summit.