El Diente Peak

Route: North Buttress
Posted On: 7/13/2025, By: Christensenje
Info: El Diente via N Buttress with Traverse to Wilson: Good to go! 99.9% summer conditions. N Buttress: one minor snow patch on the last 400 feet nearing the summit that you have to work around or over, but doable without anything extra. Pictured attached. Nothing notable on the traverse to Mount Wilson snow wise. Picture attached of north face of Wilson snow coverage for descent. Ice axe was nice for glissading after we felt the slope angle lessen as the top half is pretty steep. Not a very enjoyable descent. Very loose. Went over and summitted Wilson peak. Snow free 

Route: Mt. Wilson and El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 7/7/2025, By: Kpirrie0502
Info: Did the El Diente to Mount Wilson traverse on 7/6/2025. We started at 5:30 am. El Diente has one tiny snow crossing that had footprints kicked in pretty well, but it is VERY easy to avoid. My partner walked it with no microspikes or crampons, but I just went up and around. The traverse is snow-free. Coming down Mount Wilson, there was one section of snow to the left (the first spot) you encounter, and it looks like there are some good deep tracks. However, we easily trended to the right and got down without trouble. Then you hit the big snow field, which is unavoidable. My partner didn't use microspikes and slid on his butt down. I just threw mine on to help slow me down since it was going a little fast, but honestly, it was so much fun. No danger there. No ice axe or crampons needed anywhere. I hate going down snow and can honestly say that it was a blast to just slide down on my butt, lol. Saved time on my feet too. It was such a FUN day! I can't believe how much fun that traverse is. We followed all the route descriptions and pictures from the 14ers website, and that was the best way to go. Save yourself some time route-finding on your own and use that info. If you're a climber like me, you're going to have fun cruising some V0 blocks for a mile :) 

Route: Mt. Wilson and El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 7/7/2025, By: lauren_exploring_
Info: From Kilpacker TH to South Slopes is in summer condition. The South Slopes has a pretty high rockfall hazard to be aware of - helmets are necessary. There are a few dicey snow patches just below the summit, but there are nice kick steps in there to get up it, and it was easy with poles/axe and microspikes. There is also a way to climb up and traverse above it as well. On the Traverse, it's mostly dry with a few icy rocks in the gully after "West Wilson" class 2 section. There is a gully right after a significant down climb before the last bit of climbing to Mt. Wilson's summit that looked like it could be a good bail out point. The class 4 section was lots of fun and solid. The descent from Mt. Wilson summit to Southwest Slopes has a lot of lingering snow fields that an ice axe and spikes would be helpful for. The rockfall on these slopes is extremely high and none of the rock is very solid. We also saw a large boulder just come down on it's own, so things are loose and shift easily. There were 4 very glissadeable snowfields once you're down most of the steep slopes. If you are looking for perfect summer conditions - it is not here! I would give it another 2-3 weeks before you'd be able to avoid all of the snow. 

Route: Mt. Wilson and El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 7/6/2025, By: ochres
Info: completed the traverse on 4/5. a couple low/no consequence snow fields as you’re starting up from the basin to diente. holding a bit of snow in one of the notches but should melt out pretty fast, and two more patches as you near the summit block that will probably be there for another couple weeks. both can be bypassed by staying to the climber’s left on solid rock and skirting up and around. would absolutely recommend avoiding the last patch. it’s steep with a quick drop off, i don’t think you’d be able to self arrest quickly enough if you slid. traverse was mostly dry, but wilson is still holding a ton of snow on the standard route descent. would recommend an axe and microspikes for the next few weeks. the first snowfield coming down is steep though if you lost control glissading, you’d probably be okay since it gets less steep towards the bottom though there are some exposed rocks. a couple more snowfields to get back to the talus field. there were two SAR missions unfolding and a helicopter flying over the ridge as we were hiking out. talked to the team about one of the parties that we saw off route. please be safe out there! there are no bail out points once you’re on the ridge. 

Route: Navajo Lake Approach
Posted On: 7/14/2025, By: Suley888
Info: There is still plenty of snow in the coulier, but it's oatmeal by 9 am. Start early and be quick, we had to abort after climbing 85 percent and go over the organ pipes to reach the traverse. Not a fun time. The rest of the traverse is summer conditions. North slopes on mount wilson has some snow in its gullies but they're all avoidable if you dont want to bother. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 6/24/2025, By: mcosby
Info: Route in pretty good condition. Still some snow crossings getting into the basin (spikes and axe recommended). Only intermittent snow between the basin and summit that can be significantly minimized, but not avoided. Also the El Diente - Mt Wilson traverse looks to be almost entirely dry. I likely would have gone for the traverse if weather had been bluebird, but some darker cloudy skies made me opt for a quick bail option, so I just did both standard routes and made it a long morning. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 5/28/2025, By: jfm3
Info: I climbed "South Wilson" on May 25 and got a look at the south side of El Diente. There is snow well down into Kilpacker Basin and the south route up El Diente looks to have continuous snow to the ridge. 

Route: Rock of Ages Approach
Posted On: 5/10/2025, By: FrankP
Info: Tried for El Diente on Weds. Road was snowed over starting 2 miles below Rock of Ages Trailhead. Patchy, punchy, post holing. We got to the trailhead and aborted- realizing we were smoked from the previous days mission. Coverage down there looks good, but I'd wait until the road is melted out a little more. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 10/6/2024, By: leesnj
Info: Snow patches on the North side (past the ridge) but the South side completely dry. The cairns are difficult to find/non existent in places further down the South side approach (Photos 2-10). Highly recommend microspikes for the top (Photos 21-24) and a good study of the approach to prevent going too far off route. 

Route: South Slopes
Posted On: 9/29/2024, By: marcthomson
Info: Dry on the south side of the ridge, with some snow on the north side. We found spikes to be very helpful past the notch. We did this section shortly after sunrise and found the snow to be pretty solid at this time. We were able to summit, but had to be extremely careful in the last sections north of the ridge. We tried out the "low traverse" other reports have mentioned and found it straightforward. We contoured from approx 13300' on the El Diente trail to approx 13100' on the Mt. Wilson trail. 

Route: North Buttress
Posted On: 9/30/2024, By: two lunches
Info: it probably goes without saying that north-facing aspects continue to be snowy after the storm a couple of weeks ago. although it appears to be fairly innocuous from the basin, the upper sections of this route are hazardous at the moment. the first four "sections" are dry, but where the description indicates "Here the route begins to get interesting." is an understatement in late september. above The Hump, the snow turns from faint/inconsequential to dangerous/inconvenient. climbers comfortable with class 3-4 scrambling over snow and ice will have no problem. everyone else should donate a few extra quarters to the swear jar in advance of this climb, or the safer/saner option would be to consider the Kilpacker approach instead. after summiting, we descended the south slopes and returned to Navajo Basin from the 10,2 cutoff. despite the additional 1000' of gain to return to our campsite at Navajo, this is a stunningly beautiful detour around the west side of the El D/Mt W massif. can't wait to repeat this route in summer conditions, but wouldn't go back right now 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 9/23/2024, By: Andy_Lyon
Info: Some snow, ice and mud in the last 1/2 mile/200 feet to the summit, making me wish for traction devices. More moisture was moving in this past weekend. Tread carefully and plan accordingly. 

Route: Kilpacker Approach
Posted On: 9/19/2024, By: AsTheDuke
Info: Snow/ice on the north facing section along the standard route just before the summit of El Diente. I didn't take this section and instead went east ridge direct, which went at exposed Class 3, but this way isn't for everyone. I saw footprints in the snow/ice so I imagine it likely still goes with some care, and imagine microspikes would be a good idea. 

Route: Mt. Wilson and El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 9/8/2024, By: stonebaez
Info: Trail was in good condition, there was a minor amount of frost on the rocks for a small portion of the traverse in the morning. I'll provide my splits here because I had over-estimated my time when relaying plans. 3hr 40min from Kilpacker Basin TH to El Diente Summit > 5 minutes on summit > 1hr 15min for traverse to Mt Wilson > 10 minutes on summit > 2hr 15min from summit to trailhead. 4:20 AM to 11:45 AM. I think most people are in the 10-12 hour range though, so that would be my advice for most. 

Route: Mt. Wilson and El Diente Traverse
Posted On: 8/20/2024, By: climbingyogi
Info: Completed the El Diente - Mt. Wilson traverse on Saturday, 8/17 from Kilpacker Basin. I was surprised at how many parties were out that day (although maybe I shouldn't have been, given the previous weekends' rainfest). I thought the trail was really easy to follow up El Diente and the traverse took us about 2 hours. I was a little nervous about this traverse because I'd heard about all of the loose rock - but I found almost all of the rock during the scrambling sections felt pretty solid. Think I only initially touched one loose hand hold all day. The SW slopes coming off Mt. Wilson were pretty easy too. I'm not actually sure why this is listed as class 3 instead of class 2, because I don't recall any scrambling on the descent. The whole day took us 11 hours car to car, but we probably could've done it in 10 hours. PSA/request: Please don't smoke cigarettes on peaks where others can't escape your secondhand smoke (for example: on a class 4 traverse). Bring a vape pen or something if you absolutely need to and be considerate of others. K, thanks.