Culebra Peak

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 4/14/2025, By: tbedient
Info: Started at 630. Mostly crusted snow on the road which we hiked in boots. At treeline it's all snow but didn't need flotation. There are three sections at treeline. The first ridge you could zig zag to avoid snow and stay mostly on grass, no real trail. From the ridge its mixed snow and rock on the second section to the false summit. Then the third section to the true summit also just in boots on mixed snow and rock. On the way down terrible wind sustained with 80 mph gusts. Harsh to say the least so pay attention to wind reports. We knew it would be windy but was not fun. The snow got soft in the sun and the last section above treeline was post holing and hard for a bit. Then mostly able to stay up on the snow without flotation back to the car. Round trip from as high as you can go in a car on open road was 11 miles. Got back at 3 pm. There is very little snow pack in this area overall and unless there is new snow it is warm and melting fast and mostly should be able to hike up and back without flotation. Not sure how you could even think about skinning or skiing this as any snow is hard crust and not continuous. Also camped at the gate which isn't fancy but actually was ok. Brough some folding chairs (you'll want these) and enjoyed a nice sunset. You just park at the North Gate and they allow you to jump the gate and have a well signed camping area. Carlos was there and helpful and nice. Happy climbing. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 4/11/2025, By: tbonesaredelicious
Info: Shoutout to Bill for resetting my password! To Carlos at the ranch, and to Mrs tios in San Luis for having delicious food. Started hiking about 7:45, Carlos said 1.7 from the headquarters. Hiking boots until base of main northwest gully around 12,000 ft. Only a few gaps in snow until that point, but many more by end of day. Continuous snow in the gully was intermittently winter like and crust. I was on track to skin straight up left side to top but stopped a few hundred feet short to assist another skier who’d taken a 30-40’ slide with her partner. She was rattled so I kicked some steps in to get her off the slope. I’m 5’11 and 180? And firmer sections took a few good kicks to make something nice. Generally soft by the time i skied it at ~4:20, but wind kept it pretty firm overall. Put skis on for that part of descent on top of ridge ~ 13300’. Kept my skis on until 100 yards from parking area, which is not advisable or even possible for much longer. Low 60’s at my car at 5:15 at ~ 10250’. Brought my skis to the top to look at north couloirs, and they’re in decent shape with consolidated powder. Pushed a couple big rocks off to see if anything would go from last weekends storm, without results. More than a handful of wind slabs had released on northeast to northwest? aspects above ~13000’ from that event, generally 10-20” looked like, but don’t recall seeing anything in the north couloirs themselves. Basically dry over to red mountain. Wasn’t sure what to expect from the property, but it’s beautiful and seems very untouched ~13.4 miles, 6800’, 9.5 hours 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 3/9/2025, By: katielyons
Info: Wintery conditions on Culebra from the recent snowfall. The route was snow-covered from nearly Ranch HQ to the summit, but not more than a few inches (6-10) deep from around 13.2k to the top. From around 10.5k to treeline, the snow was somewhat deep and flotation was very helpful (I don't know that we would've been able to complete this route without it). Snow conditions were everything from powder, to windboard, to punchy/crusty. We were able to keep skis on from the big cairn almost back to the ranch (wouldn't recommend this if you don't want to scratch up your skis though). 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 3/2/2025, By: madmattd
Info: Spring conditions on this warm day, and anyone that's been in the Sangres recently know the range is pretty dry - similar here. There were only 2 of us signed up for this day. After a quick chat, Carlos offered us a lift up the road as far as he felt comfortable driving (the road was dry as far as he could see, and he seemed curious to see how it was), which ended up being 1.4mi to 9900' - mixed thin snow, ice, dirt (sticky mud in the afternoon) to there. Above there to 4-Way is well-packed by snowmobiles - both spikes and snowshoes worked fine in the morning with an overnight freeze, snowshoes needed in the afternoon due to soft, slushy snow. 4-Way to the 4WD TH is snowmobile-packed, but a little softer than below, snowshoes worked best both ways. Initial packed path for a little while above the TH until tracks disappeared due to minor drifting, but generally wind-packed snow with a few softer spots until ~13k - snowshoes worked great for traction and occasional flotation, and it stayed fairly firm even on our descent. Except for just above the trees, I'd say never more than ~1' of snow. It's a little thin from there to the ridge, but we stuck with snowshoes until the saddle on the ridge. From the saddle to the false summit we stuck to the rocks and thin snow in boots, and it's dry from the false summit to the true summit. Safe to leave the snowshoes at the saddle right now. Despite the head-start, we passed on Red - but it looked like a fairly dry run over, definitely didn't look like snowshoes would be of any use. Clear skies, temps in the mid-30s on the summit, and we never had more than 5mph of wind, and generally no wind. Great day out, and a great way to check this one off for both of us! If anyone here goes up next week (or after), I want to know how my impromptu snowman at the cairn just above the 4WD TH is faring! 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 2/3/2025, By: masonzastrow
Info: Only three people on the mountain yesterday. Carlos had packed down the road up to four way, then we had to trench from there to to about 12,5. Trench should stay good until the 4wd trailhead, above then it had filled in even in the time it took us to get back to it. Ridge was mostly windblown but plenty of snow between rocks and some ridiculous wind made it slow going. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 2/3/2025, By: jacolc
Info: My 2 cents about making reservations. If you successfully went through reservation process and pay, you DO NOT have either email or massage confirmation. I make mistake and start process again. This was probably the reason, Carlos computer show him: order failed. Even I have massage from my bank about recent payment. Fortunately I call Carlos before my drive to ranch and he allowed me to enter the ranch next morning. Without this phone agreement, I probably will be not allowed to enter the ranch. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 2/3/2025, By: sean23
Info: Mason and I climbed Culebra from the HQ yesterday morning. Carlos had packed down the road from the HQ to fourway. We booted up it without issue. From Fourway to the base of the ridge, we found up to thigh-deep unconsolidated snow and put in a decent trench. The recent storm seems to have destroyed any existing trench. We encountered horrific winds on the ridge but managed to tag the summit and get down. There was a third climber on the mountain who skied from the ridge base to HQ. There was continuous snow coverage to make it feasible, but the bottom of the trail is melting and likely will be mud in another day or two 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 7/26/2024, By: marcusmartin
Info: Perfect day on Culebra. The 14ers.com directions are spot on. Use them. The camp site at the main gate is outstanding. It's flat, a nice fire pit and portapotty. At exactly 5:57 am, two ranch vehicles show up at the gate. Be ready. One goes up to HQ. The other will check your ID at the gate. The HQ briefing takes less than 5 minutes, and then you can drive to the upper TH. Road in great condition - 2WD ok. Make sure to bring a GPS to find a route to the summit since there is no trail. We used ours a lot. The marmots are sneaky. One grabbed my pole on the summit and tried to run away with it when I wasn't looking. Overall, an amazing mountain very special to experience it. Tomorrow (Sunday July 28) is the last day this year it's open for hikers. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/23/2024, By: dwoodward13
Info: Summer conditions 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/10/2024, By: Dan Kearney
Info: On the way up I chose to head for Punta Serpiente to gain the ridge, and this route was 100% snow free. Once on the ridge there is no mandatory snow to the summit. Coming down I took the standard route, which still has some snow fields that can be avoided with a little creativity. I chose to plunge step/skate through it and the conditions were perfect for it. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/14/2024, By: asorbera
Info: There were a few snow fields that can be easily avoided as you gain the ridge. On the descent be sure to use those snow patches for a nice glissade down. Summer conditions. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/1/2024, By: megandahlstrom1
Info: The 4WD trailhead is open! Yay! We brought microspikes and snowshoes. We used the microspikes in the hard snow for just a few minutes when we first started out, but most people did not have them and were fine. The snow was soft at the bottom coming back down and I did posthole a little, but it wasnt worth bringing the snowshoes. We debated not doing this hike today based on previous condition reports, but it was a great experience. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/1/2024, By: emself
Info: Darn near summer conditions. First/last quarter of a mile still has snow, but it's not worth carrying floatation for. Firm/icy in morning, some postholing in afternoon. Some patches of snow on the remaining route that are mostly avoidable. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 5/31/2024, By: Dayute
Info: Everyone still parking at 4-way, road is clear but trailhead parking area had a lot of snow still. Only one unavoidable snowfield right past summer trailhead and it is short. Supportive at 7am and calf deep postholed a few times on the way back. Most remaining snow avoidable. Never put spikes on, snowshoes would be pointless. Trail runners and gaiters and my socks stayed dry. No portojohn at gate anymore and sparse coverage nearby. 

Route: Northwest Ridge to N Face Ski
Posted On: 6/2/2024, By: slawrence2011
Info: No update to previous comments on standard route. I had a fun adventure on the N face ski route with a little cliff downclimbing. I looked through all the trip reports, and I saw two accounts of this being skied, Jared Luttrell and group, and SnowAlien. In both cases, the cliffs had to be downclimbed. Posting this to make sure if you do this you are well prepared for that, and the long skin out, tough to finish by 6 with the challenging egress drainage.