Argentine Peak

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 7/7/2025, By: hberry
Info: There are two unavoidable snow patches on Argentine pass that are quite icy early in the morning but soft late morning/afternoon. They are not on very steep areas so with a little care they are easy to cross. No other issues along the way. 

Route: From Guanella Pass
Posted On: 2/9/2025, By: Will_E
Info: Squaretop, Argentine and Wilcox today, from Guanella Pass. In the morning there was some fresh snow on the road, I punched through a few times and put on snowshoes about halfway up the road. Used snowshoes for a short distance leaving the road, then left them. There was a fair bit of postholing on the way to squaretop, some of the Willow sections are unavoidable (at least if you're world's worst route finder). Once on the ridge to squaretop everything was great (other than the cold and wind). Easy walk to Argentine. From Argentine to Wilcox there was some deep snow to get through for a short distance. I descended Wilcox to the south and used the gully above Murry reservoir to avoid reascending Squaretop on return. If it saved time, it didn't save much, there were a few sections to posthole through to get there, including one fairly steep slope. Nice views today, if the temp had been 15 degrees warmer and the wind 15 mph milder it would have been perfect. 

Route: Argentine + Wilcox via Waldorf Mine
Posted On: 8/10/2024, By: joannalee07
Info: Did Argentine & Wilcox from Waldorf Mine on 8/10. Intended to add Edwards and McClellan as well but the weather didn't cooperate. Trip report here: https://www.coloradomountainpack.com/post/argentine-peak-1 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 7/18/2024, By: climbingyogi
Info: Beautiful day out and what an amazing trail! Got a super alpine start at 9:45am from the TH. Weather held all day thankfully. Couple random patches of snow for my dog to roll around in, but otherwise dry. The wildflowers were varied + abundant for the first mile or so. Moving time: 4 hr. 21 min. Total time (w breaks): 5 hr. 5 min. 

Route: Wilcox, Argentine, Square Top Lolly Pop Loop
Posted On: 7/6/2024, By: ncxhjhgvbi
Info: Full summer conditions from the Silver Dollar TH to Wilcox and Argentine. Had already done Square Top so just descended to the Wilcox saddle again and made my way down the gully. From a distance it looks like Argentine might require snow travel but it is all avoidable. I was the only car at the TH at 5:45am, and didn't see a single soul until Murray Res on the way down. The way down after Silver Dollar Lake was the typical muck fest and I passed about 1000 people and dogs. The right side of Silver Dollar has a great spot to take a dip! 

Route: Wilcox, Argentine, Square Top Lolly Pop Loop
Posted On: 6/20/2024, By: AndrewJCraigie
Info: Attempted to do all three peaks (Square Top to Argentine to Wilcox), but turned around after Argentine due to bad weather. Hike up from Silver Dollar Lake to Square Top Mountain wasn't too bad. Briefly crossed a bit of snow so put on microspikes, but that was the only time I used them. Dry trail to Argentine, but looked like there was some snow patches to cross to get to Wilcox. 

Route: East Ridge via Wilcox saddle
Posted On: 3/2/2024, By: daway8
Info: Didn't originally plan to summit because of outrageous wind forecast but wanted to practice my winter car camping and get a little acclimation/conditioning. But the wind turned out to not be quite as bad as the forecast and since this route is pretty mellow I ended up going for it and got both Argentine and Wilcox! Super packed trail starting from Guanella Pass winter closure but upon starting to clear the trees the trail is quickly obliterated. Most slopes of possible avy concern aren't loaded at the moment. There were a couple slopes of borderline concern based on angle but passed without issue or obvious signs of danger. Wilcox practically summer conditions thanks to the howling winds. Going up Argentine from the Wilcox saddle was surprisingly dry, a majority of the snowfields were easily avoidable and the ones that weren't were not ones that posed avy risk. Hit Wilcox on the way down then went down the far side to try to avoid the wind. That turned into a lot of bushwhacking but not as bad as I feared. Beautiful day except the annoying wind but only a handful of times I had to stop and brace myself against it. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 1/27/2024, By: Geckser
Info: Climbed Wilcox, Argentine and Squaretop from Guanella pass closure. Went with Arthurspiderman. It is a fairly avy safe and quality winter route with a lot of dry ground above treeline. The worst part of the day was the wind which just kept blowing. At its worst gusts were getting up to ~75mph, and moving got very difficult. The snow up high has obviously been heavily wind affected. Luckily it was sunny and fairly warm, still a good reminder of real winter conditions. We very nearly turned back near the top of Argentine but pushed through and got a nice tailwind to Squaretop. For the descent we followed a long rocky rib to a bench above Naylor Lake. Pretty fun route with some great views. Just too windy. I am surprised so few people hit these peaks in the winter, they are really great. 

Route: E Ridge from Wilcox > S Ridge to Square Top
Posted On: 11/4/2023, By: MidsizeAl
Info: Snow is pretty minimal and mostly avoidable on the E Ridge, but sticking to the ridge proper had a few deeper wind loaded areas where the slope angle gets steeper. S Ridge, particularly where it drops toward the saddle with Square Top, had more, most of which was unavoidable. Packed in some areas, others had us sinking up to our hips. Leave the snowshoes at home until it snows more, though, or you will regret it. 

Route: Wilcox, Argentine, Square Top Lolly Pop Loop
Posted On: 10/10/2023, By: ColoNativeGal
Info: Summer conditions for now. Very small snow patches near the top, but not an issue. Had spikes, but did not use. Not sure how much this will change with the storm coming on Thursday. Square Top has snow on north face, but not an issue for the route. Trail to lakes (Silver Dollar and Murray) is snow free, some mud in one area later in the afternoon, frozen in the morning. Summit register is missing bottom cap, duct tap is no longer holding. Didn't check inside the canister. 

Route: Mt. Edwards + Argentine Peak from Argentine Pass
Posted On: 9/23/2023, By: backcountrybrodes
Info: **See Mt. Edwards (13,850ft) for pictures** A little gusty but beeaaaauutiful day on the mountains. Lotttsss of yellow over by Argentine Pass trailhead (subaruable) and the creek is a white mineral color, which made for some pretty amazing pictures. Saw a mountain goat fam near the Argentine Peak summit, which proceeded to gallop down the mountain face kicking rocks galore after I slowly approached them. Lol 

Route: Wilcox, Argentine, Square Top Lolly Pop Loop
Posted On: 7/4/2023, By: vertical_volume
Info: The ridge to Argentine from Square Top is summer conditions finally. When on Square Top it looks like you have to cross snow fields, but they're all avoidable. Tiny water stream runoff from snow shortly before the summit of Argentine on the ST side. More streams on the way down to Wilcox, from Argentine. 

Route: Wilcox, Argentine, Square Top Lolly Pop Loop
Posted On: 11/12/2022, By: bangerth
Info: We did Argentine from Silver Dollar Lake trailhead, and descended back down into the same valley by way of Wilcox. The trail to Silver Dollar Lake is reasonably well packed, but from there one has to go cross country up the ridge between Square Top and Argentine. That involves occasionally breaking through a snow crust calf deep, but for the most part one can stay on grassy surface to the ridge. It got quite windy and very cold on the ridge (we think wind chill around 0F); most of the ridge, along with the descent to the saddle with Wilcox, is a mix of rocks and snow. Not great, but also not terrible -- it's just that kind of season. The ridge up to Wilcox is almost completely dry. From Wilcox we first walked east, and then eventually descended pretty much straight down to the west end of Naylor Lake, oftentimes using calf deep snow to simply plunge step. There've been worse ways to lose elevation. 

Route: Wilcox, Argentine, Square Top Lolly Pop Loop
Posted On: 10/22/2022, By: Carl_Healy
Info: This condition update might be kinda useless, since there's some snow bearing down on this peak in the hours following this post. There's a bit of snow coming down Square Top's North facing ridge on the way to Argentine. And a little bit of snow on top of Argentine. But none of it is anything to worry about. No traction needed. 

Route: Wilcox, Argentine, Square Top Lolly Pop Loop
Posted On: 7/31/2022, By: CheapCigarMan
Info: Got to Argentine from Square Top. Easy talus down Square Top and a mix of grassy and easy talus up Argentine.