Wetterhorn Peak

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 6/19/2016, By: jmsibert
Info: Route is clear of snow to just before the summit ridge. Large snowfield covering the ascent to the ridge and patches of snow in the gullies after that. 

Route: East Face
Posted On: 5/16/2016, By: Tim A
Info: Didn't climb the face, but got some images of it on the way to Unc. Lots of wet slide debris across the face. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 10/25/2015, By: XterraRob
Info: Snow from TH to Summit. 6"-8" of snow until you reach the Wetterhorn trail turn off above tree level. 8"-15" of snow until you reach the rock field. 10"-36" of snow crossing the rock field, gaining the ridge towards the peak. Between 10" - 48" depending on whether you are in a gulley or traversing over to another gulley. 10"-36" of snow in the final summit pitch gulley The snow became fairly wet, amd heavy yesterday due to the nice weather. As the sun was setting, there was a good 2"-3" hard top that began to freeze over the surface and was difficult to travel through when descending towards sunset. Expect more of that on the following Sunday (expected clear/sunny weather). 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 10/23/2015, By: alargereddog
Info: TH has some mud; rest of route, prow, and summit dry. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 10/12/2015, By: Beas
Info: The trail has a few muddy spots, but is snow-free from TH to summit. The Prow is bone-dry. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 9/27/2015, By: Blue6String
Info: Just an FYI, 2nd Street in Lake City is currently closed for construction and you can‘t get through. You can just drive one block back to 3rd and circle back to Engineer Pass that way. Plus, you get to see a little more of old downtown Lake City. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 9/21/2015, By: careyjd
Info: weather from 9/18-9/20 great. Clouds hit Wetterhorn Friday morning, but were benign. Sat and Sun totally bluebird. All dry on the peak 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 9/5/2015, By: WillRobnett
Info: Started from upper 4WD Matterhorn Trailhead and climbed Wetterhorn. Driving in, the Aspens were just starting to turn. Still mostly green. More fall colors showing here than near Telluride/Wilson Peak two days before. Free of snow and ice, still dry. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 8/22/2015, By: Sunshineof1985
Info: This is my 30th fourteener summit this summer! My goal is to climb them all this summer. You can read more about this hike and others at sunshineof1985.com. Enjoy! Time started: 7:05am at main trailhead End time: 12:30pm? (GPS died, forgot to look at time- sorry!) Time to Summit: 2 hours and 45 minutes Time to Descent: Around 2 hours *GEAR (to bring): Helmet (I didn‘t bring it, but people new to class 3, could use it), bear spray, 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 (didn‘t need), lightweight gloves (didn‘t need), day pack with water sack (64 oz), snacks. *Road Condition: The road is easy until you make a turn up North Henson Road. Alix stopped here, and I was able to take us to the Matterhorn Creek sign (.7 miles short of trailhead). It gets impossible for sedans past this part. *Trail Condition: The trek through the forest is short. Luckily someone etched into the first junction sign which direction to take towards Wetterhorn. Pay attention to the directions at the junctions. The trail gets really skinny which gets obnoxious, but it‘s easy to follow. Once climbing up the side ridge, there is a really long, steep, slippery section of scree (yellow rock). Once past that, the trail is well marked with cairns, but we still paid attention to the directions given by 14ers.com. The last 150 feet are class 3, it‘s steep and you are doing more vertical climbing here; but it‘s doable and easy if you aren‘t consumed by the exposure below. Those afraid of heights, I recommend a helmet here. Also wait your turn going down to avoid rocks falling on people below you. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 8/5/2015, By: addrock528
Info: Conditions were perfect. Summer standard in full effect. Most enjoyable. Quintessential 14er experience. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/24/2015, By: trinkner
Info: Wetterhorn was true to its name today, as grey skies covered the whole area throughout my hike and drizzle fell off and on throughout the day without any thundercloud build-up or thunder. I started at 5:27 AM and finished at 11:50 AM, taking it easy all day as this was my third 14er in as many days and I had hiked Uncompahgre from the Matterhorn TH the previous day and San Louis the day before that. I was pretty sore when I awoke, but the beauty of Wetterhorn called me. What a fantastic peak! Be ware of the zillions of marmots in the rock field below the southeast ridge. A few of them just moved their tails off the trail as I passed. I saw several families of mother, father, and pups. There was even one just before the Class 3 section at about 13,200 feet. He didn‘t even budge when I crossed his path. I‘ve climbed 34 14ers and have never seen so many marmots in one area. This is truly the place for marmotophiles. (I feared encountering a vicous, vicious gatekeeper marmot who might ask me the average flight speed of a swallow to allow me to pass. Certainly they wouldn‘t expect you to answer with a European or African swallow... maybe a Violet-Green Swallow, which is the common one at elevation in Colorado?) The Class 3 portion of the climb was a joy to climb. It‘s well marked with cairns. I felt no need at all for a rope. The rock was solid. I could see using a rope for a group of teens or boy scouts, but if you‘ve done any technical climbing, Wetterhorn will seem like an approach route rather than a 5+ climb. It was really fun. Unfortunately, with the weather socked in, I tagged the summit and descended quickly. Be sure to notice the notch in the ridge rib you need to pass through. I found it easily enough on the ascent, but descended below it on the descent, and had to climb a bit back up to find it. If you haven‘t climbed Wetterhorn, put it on your shortlist. (I wouldn‘t recommend climbing this peak in sneakers, which I saw some late-morning hikers attempting. With the rock slick with drizzle, I was very glad to have stiff Vibram soles.) 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/20/2015, By: emgordon
Info: Great conditions up there. Two small snowfields that were enjoyable slides on the way down. No ice on rocks up high and no trouble with stream crossings down low. About 3.5 easy hours to the summit and under 2 hours down, parked at the 4wd turnoff and walked the last section of road. Watch out for the marmot and handful of chipmunks preying on innocent snack food at the summit :) 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/5/2015, By: rachelv63
Info: It was my 30th bday and wanted to start my year with a bang. Wetterhorn was my 21st peak and by far my favorite. We started super late around 7:30 because when we drove to the trailhead at 4:00 AM there was a lot of lightening in the distance. The sky was covered in clouds but it never rained on us. I drove up the 4WD road with my 2012 Subaru outback and it did well. We made the mistake of turning left at the first junction to follow the Matterhorn cutoff and stumbled upon a bear which was rad! Mistake well worth it! Toward the saddle there were still some snow patches but it was well tracked and no need for gaiters or snowshoes. The Class 3 rock scramble was a blast but I wouldn‘t recommend it for someone afraid of heights. This was my 1st class 3 but I thought there were plenty of hand holds and the rock was solid. I never worried about slipping. I didn‘t wear a helmet but it‘s not a bad idea for the fellow hikers above who may accidentally knock a rock loose. Just be sure to yell "ROCK" if that‘s you. I LOVED it! We finished the route by 12:30, clear of all thunderstorms. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/1/2015, By: Chris and Mindy
Info: We hiked the Southeast Ridge of Wetterhorn 6/30/15 with absolutely perfect weather. We were able to drive our Camry to the "lower" trailhead at 10,300 which is 0.7miles from the official trailhead. There are a few slushy snowfields along the trail just below the ridge that caused us to posthole ~10 times. We found gaiters to be helpful but neither snowshoes nor crampons/ice axe were needed. We brought helmets but didn‘t use them as there were few other climbers and we were never climbing below them. The ridge itself and the class 3 sections up higher were completely snow free and the rock was very stable. We carried our drone with us and filmed a few sections of the route. We met a few fellow climbers that wanted to see the footage and we promised to share the videos on a trip/conditions report here. So, as promised, you can see the videos which have nice shots of the conditions at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMjyQ3OsCfM or youtube search "Wetterhorn Drone" and see 5 videos posted by MTS Drone. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 7/1/2015, By: B_2
Info: Route is close to summer conditions with some scattered mud and snow. We read the report from last week and we were hoping for a snow climb but the hard freeze is over and snow too soft and wet - there was plenty of wet slough activity in the high basin. High alpine meadows are starting to bloom and are really beautiful. I am not sure which flower it is that is so fragrant, but this route really smells great too! Met Mindy and Chris up there, as well as several aggro marmots. The summit scramble wall is solid and fun, but as all this just thawed out in the past few weeks, take care on the entire class 3 section below. We found several loose boulders and rocks. We actually had a close call with a boulder about the size of a cooler - all my husband did was touch it with his hand as he passed by. He injured his hand trying to deflect it to keep it from running him over, which luckily gave me a second to jump to the side and take cover as I was directly below. We also witnessed a massive rock slide from a distance on one of the lesser area peaks the next day while climbing Uncompagre. The 2 mile 4WD trail to the TH does require 4WD, but is not anything out of the ordinary if you have that available.