Humboldt Peak

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 8/12/2024, By: ColoNativeGal
Info: Summer conditions. Lots of rain this week and a heavy rainstorm early morning 3-4am made all the vegetation very wet, we wore gators to keep our lower legs dry. The road up was like a running stream from all the rain, but was drier on the way down. Rocks higher up were dry, dirt was wet. No issue. Lots of social trails on the upper portion to the false summit and we made it harder than it needed to be, had 30+ mph winds with gusts up to 50mph so that wasn't much fun, but otherwise great day. Mosquitoes on the pack trail were not much of an issue in the afternoon even after all that rain. Fog/clouds hid the Crestones, but made for some great photos. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 7/15/2024, By: Miles P
Info: This is a pretty straightforward class 2 hike. I was able to get to the upper four-wheel-drive trailhead in a stock Jeep Wrangler. I wouldnt try that road though in anything less than a strong pick up truck, wrangler, bronco, 4 runner or other type of heavy duty four-wheel-drive vehicle. There are a handful of campsites at the upper four-wheel-drive trailhead with flat tent pads, and a metal fire ring. Im not sure but I think there are about 6 to 8 of these campsites. The hike up is pretty straightforward. As of July 14, there is no snow on the trail. There are a few small stream crossings, but they are very simple to navigate. the upper Lake, which is about halfway up the trail is a great place to stop and replenish your water supply if you have a filter or iodine tablets, so didnt need to carry more than 2 L at any given time and was able to move quickly 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/29/2024, By: AndrewJCraigie
Info: A bit muddy from the upper trailhead to lakes, but no snow - dry up to the peak. Beautiful day. In my huberus I thought my outback could make it to the top trailhead - made it halfway before I turned around. Left lower trailhead 315am, summited 730. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/28/2024, By: Tommy Burke
Info: Perfect conditions. Almost no snow. Dry above the tree line. I drove my Tacoma TRD to the 4WD TH. No issues 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/27/2024, By: Androzs
Info: Hiking conditions are great. There is still a lot of shallow water on the road portion of the trail between the trailhead and the junction at 11,100', but I had no problems getting wet feet wearing gore-tex boots. Near the lakes, there are a few small snow patches left on the trail, but nothing to think twice about. Just keep walking. After that, It's completely clear, summer conditions. I will note that the mosquitoes are really bad right now! I got tore up camping near the upper trailhead. On my way down from the summit I was getting swarmed long before I even got close to the Upper South Colony Lake. It was bad. 7 hours total. Started at 3:30am from the upper trailhead. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/25/2024, By: Novicewhofailsmore
Info: This peak was my most challenging. Final 600 feet, class 2 which took me 2 hours in itself. Stay to the middle and right side. I saw many people descending from the left side which is more steeper. Took 7 hours up from 4x4 TH and 7 hours back. My best advice is to start as early as you can too avoid heat exhaustion which made me carry more water and hydrate at the many streams. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/23/2024, By: tlgold1990
Info: Two smal snow patches below tree line that are completely fine without spikes. Lots of water on the trail from run off. Otherwise, summer conditions. Had a few mosquitos, but got away without bug spray. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/24/2024, By: andy_schlichting
Info: Here's my report from this weekend that included Obstruction Peak, Kitty Kat Carson, Columbia Point, Humboldt, Crestone Peak, and Northeast Crestone... Packed in Friday evening to South Colony Lakes and ran into a big thunderstorm about half way up the trail. I parked 0.8 miles below the 4WD trailhead in a Subaru Crosstrek--not sure if it's just me, but this road seems worse than in years past. It was an absolute adventure just to get there. A big wind and rainstorm hit about 7:30 pm and lasted for about three hours. I suspect this was the precursor for yesterday's mosquito infestation... Saturday morning hiked up Obstruction Peak, KKC, and Columbia Point. Summer conditions all the way. Sticking to ridge-direct after reading the Humboldt saddle works really well. You can keep it at class 2 this way, albeit with some exposure. Nothing to report on Obstruction--that's a really easy class 1 peak after that ridge. The descent to the saddle with KKC is just a choss pile, but mostly stable rock. Ascending KKC was fun. The rock was still wet from Friday's rain and that made it a bit more challenging when we chose to stay in the middle of the gully and climb the class 3 rock band. Descending, we stuck more to the ridge (skier's left) and nothing exceeded class 2 over there--it's just steep. Once we made it back to the Humboldt saddle, we decided to head up there (that's a new 14er for my sister, who was my partner for the weekend). Nothing to report here except there are SO many marmots up there. I don't think I've seen more marmots anywhere else in this state. I will say I forgot that route finding is a bit challenging about half way up Humboldt. We missed a cairns somewhere and ended up cliff'd out on on the left side of the summit and had to traverse back around to the ridge direct and right side of the summit to find the trail again. When in doubt, go right on Humboldt. Sunday we headed up Crestone Peak. Ice axe and crampons are a MUST on Broken Hand Pass. Very helpful for the ascent in the pre-dawn hours, but absolutely needed for the afternoon descent. We watched two climbers have a difficult adventure heading down behind us on the soft snow with just microspikes and an axe. Right now, there's a fun, sporty/mixed move to get off the snow and onto the rock feature on the pass. It's easier than it looks--just stem the rock and the snow. On the Cottonwood side, it's summer conditions, but crampons and an axe are really helpful on Crestone Peak. Lots of snow in the gully still and it's a lot of effort to avoid it. I added Northeast Crestone to this and that was super fun, but a bit sketchy. There's some snow in the north couloir down to the saddle that I planned to use my crampons and axe for, but needed to downclimb a bit of class 3/4 to get to the snow and decided to just downclimb the rest and stay off the snow. There are some low class 5 moves going down/back up this couloir if you stick to rock. Northeast Crestone itself was mostly class 3/4 with maybe a couple class 5 moves that I was able to avoid on the descent, but it can be very exposed. This completed my Crestones massif summits :) I cannot understate how bad the mosquitos got on Sunday. They were mostly fine on Friday and Saturday and it's like all the rain from Friday breeded a million mosquitos by Sunday. I grew up in Minnesota where we joke that the state bird is the mosquito and I have honestly never in my life been attacked like I was on the Sunday--continuously from Cottonwood Lake, to the top of Broken Hand Pass, and all the way down back to the car. TL;DR--bring crampons and an ice axe for Broken Hand Pass and Crestone Peak, and do not forget bug spray. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/22/2024, By: MaryinColorado
Info: Humboldt is completely dry apart from a couple of minor (almost not worth mentioning) snow patches at treeline. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/17/2024, By: blonde_dinosaur
Info: Beautiful and fun trail. Summer conditions. A couple of minor, short snow crossings, but spikes are not needed, be free and leave them at home. I'd guess all snow will be gone within a week. Trail is still pretty wet and in spots muddy down low, but nothing deep. I'd still say waterproof shoes but my friend wore trail runners and her feet didn't get wet. Enjoy! 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/14/2024, By: taylormac8
Info: Started at the 2WD trailhead as I didn't want to risk it with my car. Headed up the gradual incline of a road passing the Rainbow Trail and then eventually making it to the 4WD TH. I noticed several trucks parked there along with a Nissan Xterra & 4Runner so should be good to go if your vehicle has a bit higher clearance and you choose your lines right. After crossing the bridge from the 4WD lot the road/trail started to get a bit wet with snowmelt streams running down. It's easily avoidable and wearing trail runners on this hike I thankfully avoided the dreaded wet socks. There are currently a couple of snow crossings throughout the treeline but nothing dramatic to where snowshoes/spikes/etc are called for. I imagine the snow will be melted off completely in the next few weeks. It was firm heading up but coming down I postholed up to my knees a few times. After treeline chonky marmots welcome you as they are out casually sunbathing and making their marmot sounds. Once you get to the saddle the "trail" is easy to follow towards the left with cairns off in the distance here and there. Once you get to a certain point before the ridge you'll want to stay to the right and scramble to the top. Nothing hard at all. Really sick views of Crestone Peak and the lakes throughout the entire hike and just all around great scenery! Wildflowers were abundant and wildlife was out. A very curious herd of Bighorn sheep startled me as I was heading back down through the back country campsite areas. They followed me for a bit and then continued on. I also saw a deer, a very big rabbit, a snake (Garter or either Ribbon), & of course big ole' cute marmots everywhere. Great day on the mountain and one of my favorite, pretty chill Colorado 14ers due to the views and solitude. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/14/2024, By: Hayleygaertner
Info: Pretty snow free! On the way up, the trail is pretty much a stream until about 11,000 feet. Totally manageable and shallow, but wear your waterproof shoes. Once we got to 11,400 is when we hit our first patches of snow. These were pretty short stretches, most you could skirt around, and no post holing early in the am! The snow cleared up after you hit the upper lake and it was dry until the top! 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/9/2024, By: qkuech
Info: Trail is pretty wet right now. From trailhead to south colony lake its a mix of streams running across/ down the trail. Intermittent snow patches start around 11300, they are short and very soft. Had no need for micro spikes in the morning, but did have minor postholing on our way back after the sun had been out for a bit. After the lake its dry and snow free to the summit 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 6/2/2024, By: Ptglhs
Info: Went up the east ridge and down the west today. I think the person posting the conditions report from 3 days ago hiked a different mountain. :/ East ridge: No snow was even visible until 11k. There was maybe 300ft of vertical with snow which couldn't be bypassed. 200ft just below treeline, no special gear required. 100ft going up the 13.5k bump. Used microspikes and an axe since we brought them, would have been fine with just spikes. West ridge has considerably more snow below treeline, from the lake to about 10.5k. kept putting snowshoes on and off, or postholing. Trail is in rough shape: loose, steep, downed trees, just poorly laid out IMO. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 5/31/2024, By: PaulineAnna
Info: The road up towards the 4WD lot was dry and rough as always, though no problem for my Ranger FX4. I found a parking spot by Rainbow Trail Junction and started my hike up the east ridge from there. Snow started appearing in the trees at about 10,500ft, and route finding was difficult, just like the route description said it would be. Lots of downed trees added to the challenge, so the GPX track definitely help a lot! Once above tree line the I aimed for the ridge and followed it to the peak. There were fields of snow along the route, post holing a-plenty. I'd say the route was snow-covered 65%, peak was 70% snow-free. As I was passing the 2wd lot on my way to town dark cloud came in from the west, so the landscape up towards the peak may or may not have changed.