9/1/2018 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 9/4/2018, By: cochsman Info: FYI - I lost a rain fly for a back pack in my haste to get down from Windom before a storm rolled in. If anyone grabs it, please message me! Thanks! |
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7/20/2018 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 7/21/2018, By: alyannkar Info: Summer conditions. I summitted Windom after Sunlight, so I cut across the basin between the two and descended the West Ridge. I backpacked into Chicago Basin from the Purgatory Trailhead the afternoon of 7/19 and then summitted all four peaks the morning of 7/20 and backpacked out later that afternoon. Not quite sure why the longer route to the basin gets a bad rap. It was a gorgeous and mellow trail, easy hiking. There are several trees down towards the end of the Animas River Trail in the mile before the bridge and register where the trail intersects with the Needle Creek Trail and the train stop. The Needle Creek Trail has even more trees down. Otherwise, both trails are in great condition. In Chicago Basin, insects and goats are in full swing. The lower you camp in the basin (or just before the basin), the less you will have to deal with the goats swarming. The trail up to Twin Lakes is beautiful (thanks Colorado Fourteeners Initiative!) and is in summer conditions, as well. |
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6/23/2018 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 6/24/2018, By: Beas Info: There are a few small patches of snow along the route above 13,500'. You can avoid them with some scrambling or cross them without much difficulty. |
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6/6/2018 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 6/8/2018, By: RWSchaffer Info: There is no snow below Twin Lakes. Above Twin Lakes, snow fields continue up the north face of Windom; see picture taken from below Sunlight's summit. Windom's west ridge is free of snow, though the route again crosses snow fields where it heads onto the north side of the ridge to skirt difficulties just below the summit. With a freeze the night before, snow was good for climbing and glissading in the late morning. I used ice axe and spikes. |
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5/6/2018 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 5/7/2018, By: RobLowe Info: From Purgatory Flats. Purgatory flats to Cascade/Animas junction -- no snow. Cascade/Animas junction to Animas/Needleton junction -- no snow. Animas/Needleton to Chicago Basin -- above 10,000k variable drifts of 2-6" of snow. 12'000 above -- snow. Continuous snow to the summits of Eolus, N. Eolus, Sunlight, and Windom. |
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9/13/2017 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 9/15/2017, By: chicagostylehotdog Info: Clear weather all day on Wednesday. Routes were dry on Eolus, N. Eolus, Windom, and Sunlight, with the exception of a tiny amount of snow blocking the trail between the lakes and the headwall leading to Windom and Sunlight. Thursday was good weather until noon when the clouds started spitting at us. Driving out Thursday afternoon you could see the storm rolling in. Ominous black clouds. With snow in the forecast, we may have seen the last of the dry, summer conditions in Chicago Basin. Only saw 3 goats, all together around 12,000' on the trail. One was digging at a wet spot where somebody had probably peed. Please keep your peeing off trail and on rocks so the goats don't destroy vegetation or the trail. Bagged all 4 14ers in Chicago basin in 9.5h camp to camp (camped at 11k). Leaves are starting to turn. |
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9/5/2017 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 9/9/2017, By: kayleenann8 Info: Dry and clear! |
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9/2/2017 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 9/5/2017, By: STIBungy Info: Dry the whole way. Alot more scrambling than what I was expecting. The bottom half of it from the saddle has a bit of loose soil to contend with. |
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8/14/2017 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 8/21/2017, By: Marmot96 Info: Very little snow left, at most 50 feet of crossing at low angle and low risk. No need for axe or traction, and we did it easily without poles. |
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7/16/2017 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 7/19/2017, By: metalmountain Info: There is still snow to contend with on the way up Windom. The amount to contend with depends upon how you approach the ridge. Folks made it up and down without axes or traction, but we were happy to have axes on hand. |
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7/5/2017 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 7/9/2017, By: EZsummits Info: Still lots of snow from Twin Lakes to the saddle of Windom on July 5th. We were comfortable with microspikes and trekking poles early in the morning when it was frozen. The snow was much softer on the descent, around 11 or noon. Post-holing wasn't an issue, but it probably will be in the near future. |
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7/4/2017 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 7/7/2017, By: glenmiz Info: Ridge is dry. Still much snow from lakes up to ridge. Early, firm with steps and snowcups make crampons not absolutely necessary. Later, much more slippery coming down and using an axe and crampons made me feel better traversing to Sunlight on north slopes below the rocks. |
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6/27/2017 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 6/29/2017, By: pmeadco Info: Dry from the saddle to the summit if you stay high on the ridge. From the notch above the saddle there are two cairn lines: one that goes on the north side of the peak and another that stays on the ridge line. The north side still has some snow but the ridge is clear. See picture. As usual, there is snow from Twin Lakes up to the saddle. |
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6/29/2016 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 7/3/2016, By: thebeave7 Info: The approach to Twin Lakes is snow free and the trail is just damp in places. From Twin Lakes there is quite a bit of snow, but by sticking to the ridge in the middle of the basin I was able to avoid most of the snow until 12800ft. From there I used microspikes and an ice axe to traverse a few short snow slopes to do an ascending traverse to the Windom low saddle. From there to the summit there was no snow. I descended the NW face, part way on talus, then down hard pack icy snow (around 7a) to just below the South face of Sunlight Peak. I did this with microspikes and an ice axe (not glissadable) which I would not recommend doing. Crampons would be more appropriate for this face. Snow is no longer continuous to the summit. |
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9/21/2015 Route: West Ridge Posted On: 9/23/2015, By: WillRobnett Info: Climbed N. Eolus, Eolus, Windom, and Sunlight. Fall colors are mostly holding back in the basin. Starting to show pretty well on the Silverton-Durango train. Fall colors are near peak coming into Silverton from both Durango and Ouray. Hwy 550 south from Ouray has construction road closures. Hwy 550 is closed Monday-Friday 8:30AM to noon and 1PM to 5:30PM. Last night (9/22) it snowed in the Silverton/Chicago Basin area. Climbed Sneffels today 9/23. Sneffels was clear of snow on the standard route. From Sneffles we could see Chicago Basin, Pigeon, Turret, anything near Chicago basin had snow down to at least 13,000 on north aspects in the morning. Sneffels had snow on the north face as well. Thin layer most likely melting fast. |
