Challenger Point

Route: North Slope
Posted On: 4/17/2018, By: Mountainadventur3
Info: Not much snow in the approach to Willow Lake. Definitely some use for traction near the end of the lake approach where areas are iced over. Snow in the basin was light for the season due to a soft winter in the sangres but traction definitely required for the Challenger ascent. Enough snow was windblasted on the avenue of Kit Carson to look unnecessarily dangerous. A regular hiker of the basin I met said when the avenue on kit is like that, it can take months to thaw. I wouldn't plan on doing Kit Carson right now unless you have some serious snow and ice climbing experience. 

Route: North Slope
Posted On: 3/26/2018, By: JakeHouseknecht
Info: Willow Creek trail head is open, barely any snow on the approach up the willow creek trail. Starting at roughly 10k there is several inches of well packed snow for most of the way to the lake... doesn't look like it has snowed here in a long time. No need for flotation at any part of the trail but the loose snow on the upper part of the mountain made for a long day and an intense down climb. 

Route: From Kit Carson
Posted On: 1/29/2018, By: bmcqueen
Info: Did KC from the South first and decided the Avenue, while spicy looking, would go to allow us to get to and from Challenger as well. Crampons and axes are a necessity. I carried a 30-meter rope as well just in case we needed to give each other a belay. In each third of the Avenue, there are 1-2 sections that get your heart pumping a bit. We never pulled the rope out - just took it slowly and carefully and followed Wilderness Jane's great lead. 

Route: North Slope
Posted On: 1/18/2018, By: LiveAndLetDie
Info: Snow from lake all the way to the summit. Was a very difficult ascent/ descent - much harder than the kit traverse. There was no trail as it had not been climbed recently. I stuck to the right side which was a little bit steeper, but had rocks that were easier to climb than the snow. Stuck right until I got on the NW ridge. Took the NW ridge all the way to the summit. Hardest part was the middle of slope as it held bad snow that was not packed and difficult to get any traction on. Made for a difficult descent. There was also a large ice patch in the middle on the descent that must have melted/ re-froze with the current temperatures. Forced me to do a self arrest. The NW ridge is holding good snow and makes for an easy ascent outside of the notch you have to climb through. The stream that feeds the waterfall at Willow lake is currently frozen. There are notable cracks in it and ice made a large cracking noise while I was crossing on descent. Be extra careful on crossing as ice may not be completely stable with current weather. Bring ice axe and traction if planning on doing. Would not do in current winter conditions. 

Route: North Slope
Posted On: 11/22/2017, By: bmcqueen
Info: To expand on latest CR with a couple pics, trail is dry to 10,900, then switches to snow and even an ice flow around 11,300. I did Adams, not Challenger, but here is a pic of the route above the lake. See mountain man's CR for route beta. 

Route: North Slope
Posted On: 11/22/2017, By: Mountain Man
Info: My buddy and I hiked the switchbacks up to Willow Lake. We hit snow around 10,000' and were on it for the duration (including camp). Class 1 hold true for the approach to Willow Lake- there were a couple spots that were so icy we cut a switchback or walked adjacent the trail for a few steps, but the trail is easy to find and in great condition. With sunrise Sunday morning we headed up towards the North slope of Challenger Point. Navigation and finding the "rock rib" are easy once you locate the obvious shoot. After a good pace up to about 12,500', we came to a near halt and postholed for a couple hundred feet. Finally approaching the notch, we hit some good crusty snow/ ice and could easily walk with crampons. Once on the ridge, the finish was easy (although the exposure and awkwardness from walking relatively flat rocky ground with crampons was a little sketchy). Took about 3 hours to climb from the lake to the summit with perfect weather. Beautiful, blue sky day with views of the Crestones, dunes, valley, Pike's Peak, and the whole world it seemed. The avenue to Kit Carson was visible but looked quite skinny and exposed in one spot. On the way down, we were able to glissade the majority of the chute with frequent self-arrests (we both slipped at least once and legitimately had to self arrest before zooming away down the shoot). Conclusions -Crampons and ice axe are a must. We saw a couple parties had made it to the ice around 13,400' by postholing and then turned back. -We probably would have found crunchier snow pack in the shoot for the ascent and could have made better time than postholing on the other side (near the rock rib). -There were 2 layers of snow on the face. Any deeper or added layer would come with serious avalanche risk. Check snow conditions and recent storm history if climbing in early November. -This is a lot of elevation to climb down back to the parking lot. Very satisfied with the decision to hike in and camp rather than day hike. 

Route: North Slope
Posted On: 11/13/2017, By: grahampa
Info: Went up to about 13,500 on Challenger's standard route yesterday. Snow was relatively easy to manage up until about 12,700 when the slope starts to get very steep. The fresh snow on top is powdery and gives way to a virtual sheet of ice on the entire slope. Our trail was very difficult to gain traction on even with microspikes, one of our members did not have an ice axe and my dog was terrified by the slippery ground so we went down. Be prepared for waist deep snow in spots up top and a long, difficult day if you plan to climb Kit Carson via Challenger. We started at 6 am, made willow lake by 845 a.m. but didn't return to the car until 6 pm. 

Route: North Slope
Posted On: 11/10/2017, By: kentmw
Info: Good amount of snow above 13K. Be prepared for class 3 scrambling on snow covered rocks if you do this route. The trail is covered in snow and very difficult to locate especially if you are up in the clouds like we were that morning. I am sure this route received more snow in the storms that rolled through on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Route: North Slope
Posted On: 10/30/2017, By: donkrier
Info: We climbed from the Willow Ck TH to the base of Challenger on this cool, clear day. There was (last week's) light snow covering well above us (~13,500') on the Challenger/KC Peak ridge, and the usual gullies were snow filled. We turned back ~300 ft below the Challenger due to ice and poor footing on the steep slope. Tried the gullies but the "snow" was hard ice and dangerous without the proper gear. Micro-spikes didn't cut it. We retreated to climb another day. We'd summited before in better conditions, so we knew which way was up. We saw two climbers descending the couloir from CP. Don't know if they had axes/crampons but they looked pretty wobbly, cautious, and slow, and they made it. Loose rocks flying down are a real danger. Making an enjoyable overnight at Willow Lake, summiting the 2nd day (CP and Kit Carson), then packing out is a great idea. It's a long day otherwise. 

Route: North Slope
Posted On: 8/27/2017, By: Thevirtualsherpa
Info: Route from top of waterfall to summit is just s--t, no other way of putting it. If you are starting from the lake, pass the top streams and locate a small rock cliff, this is where the new trail starts. You will notice yellow/orange trail markers here, DO NOT continue on old trail unless you are hiking different way to summit. You can follow these markers about 1/2 way up Challenger and it will make your life much easier. Once you leave that, you are on your own...god speed and bring hiking poles. Feel free to message me on IG for more details about either mountain. @thevirtualsherpa 

Route: North Slope
Posted On: 8/19/2017, By: sibyllec
Info: We hiked up challenger Point and Kit Carson on Friday, Aug. 18, in ideal weather conditions. We hiked in to Willow Lake on 8/17, and camped below the lake. the RMFI crew is building a new (re-routed) trail, and has occupied a large site below the lake. A sign jsut past their site says: "No stock or camping past this point". We hiked up both peaks on 8/18, and hiked back out. On our hike out, we encountered numerous (more than 5) parties coming in to climb the peaks. A popular spot this weekend! The road to the trailhead looks like it's been graded, has new gravel, and is passable with a 2WD car. However, some of the camping sites off to the side of the road require 4WD, as they are deeply rutted. There's also a new toilet at the traihead. 

Route: North Slope
Posted On: 7/17/2017, By: Bombay2Boulder
Info: All snow on the route can be avoided. Don't be a total bro and kick down rocks on people, especially when you can totally be nimble and avoid kicking it down. Yes, the slope is loose, but all rockfall can totally be avoided if people take some extra effort. RMFI is doing trail work on the route, there is a sign that marks the Kit-Carson trail just before the lake that will put you on the right trail through the trees to the lake. 

Route: North Slope
Posted On: 7/16/2017, By: zinj
Info: Snow is melting out and while several lengthy fingers remain, abundant route choices allow you many options of making the notch at the ridge without having to do very much on snow. On descent, Pencil Couloir provides an excellent option to avoid some of the worst scree slop. We did the Pencil without traction, but an axe would have been preferable and probably worth the extra weight. Crampons would have been overkill (in afternoon, anyway) 

Route: North Slope
Posted On: 7/9/2017, By: metalmountain
Info: Only one small snow crossing of about 20 feet or so is required near the top of the slope before you gain the ridge. We didn't feel the need for traction or an ax, but a slip without arrest there would send you a long ways down the slope. Also, the mosquitoes are still abysmal from the TH to the lake. We also saw some trail work going on which is going to be great, because the trail past the willows is in pretty awful shape. It looks like they are re-routing the trail around above the willows. 

Route: North Slope
Posted On: 6/17/2017, By: Yalegirl09
Info: Dry to Willow Lake. Bottom half of the north slope was dry. Then snow to 300' from the summit ridge. Wore crampons on the snow. KC avenue is still impassible.