North Arapaho Peak

Route: Via Fourth of July TH and South Arapaho Peak
Posted On: 7/19/2025, By: CDubFTW
Info: Summer conditions, the trail leading up to the saddle is overgrown with willows or overrun with meltwater in plenty of spots, so bring your Goretex boots and trekking poles. Very windy today above the treeline, but a few harmless clouds enveloped us on North Arapahoe. 

Route: Via Fourth of July TH and South Arapaho Peak
Posted On: 7/13/2025, By: jjjullesss
Info: The climb to South Arapaho Peak is straightforward and enjoyable. The traverse to North Arapaho is in good condition—there are some exposed sections, but nothing particularly difficult or dangerous. There is still a small patch of snow just below the summit, but it’s easy to avoid. 

Route: Via Fourth of July TH and South Arapaho Peak
Posted On: 7/2/2025, By: rgsaxman
Info: The Arapaho Traverse is full-on Summer conditions, I took maybe 2-3 steps on snow approaching the final gully to N Arapaho but this was totally avoidable. Really fun scrambling! 

Route: Via Fourth of July TH and South Arapaho Peak
Posted On: 6/21/2025, By: Logan5280
Info: The Arapaho traverse is mostly snow-free and is doable without traction or an ax with a bit a route finding to avoid the remaining snowfields. There was a sort of mandatory snow crossing about halfway across the ridge, but it was flat and manageable without traction. Arrive early; it was a crowded day out there 

Route: Via Fourth of July TH and South Arapaho Peak
Posted On: 6/18/2025, By: mmbakken
Info: Arapahoe Traverse is mostly snow-free except for a few short sections. However, the final pitch up to the summit block of North Arapahoe is snowy, and required a short snow climb up a steep slope. There did not appear to be any path around this snowy gully, so we climbed it. An ice axe was essential, as a fall would be hard to stop otherwise along this route. There's a lot of snow on the Arapahoe Glacier side, so I'd expect this to be snowy for a couple more weeks at least. 

Route: Via Fourth of July TH and South Arapaho Peak
Posted On: 7/23/2024, By: SionaRW35
Info: Conditions are essentially the same as the last report with no snow on the route. I thought Id mention the summit register on North Arapahoe is now empty because it was just packed with a wet, trashed, deteriorating, and unreadable summit register that I packed out. So if youre heading up there bring some paper and a pencil. 

Route: Via Fourth of July TH and South Arapaho Peak
Posted On: 7/9/2024, By: Briere
Info: I got to the trail head for a 5am start to avoid the clouds/potential rain. There was only 5 or so vehicles in the parking lot at that time. There are a few stream crossings but I was able to use stones and find ways across without getting my feet wet. Traverse is essentially summer conditions with 1 or 2 feet of snow towards the end of the traverse that could be worked around. No spikes or poles needed. Photos from the description were helpful and cairns are still there. 

Route: Via Fourth of July TH and South Arapaho Peak
Posted On: 7/9/2024, By: Briere
Info: I got to the trail head for a 5am start to avoid the clouds/potential rain. There was only 5 or so vehicles in the parking lot at that time. There are a few stream crossings but I was able to use stones and find ways across without getting my feet wet. Traverse is essentially summer conditions with 1 or 2 feet of snow towards the end of the traverse that could be worked around. No spikes or poles needed. Photos from the description were helpful and cairns are still there. 

Route: Northstar Couloir
Posted On: 7/1/2024, By: yelen89
Info: Somewhat tricky to find the entrance, but Roach's instructions were pretty spot-on. Couloir is definitely out for the season though. The upper 500-600 feet of the couloir is a dry mess, and there's a pretty large boulder blocking a section of the bottom which required some mountain yoga to climb over. Traverse from North to South Arapaho is similarly dry except for some snow in the notch, but I think you can bypass it by dropping down a little bit lower on the west side. 

Route: Via Fourth of July TH and South Arapaho Peak
Posted On: 6/30/2024, By: berko89
Info: S to N Traverse route is dry except for one spot in a gully close to the summit where there is an annoying block of icy snow in the way. Saw folks carrying ice axes on the traverse but I don't think an ice axe would help in this spot because of how the block is situated (unfortunately, I didn't think to snap a pic of it). Hopefully the snow block will be gone soon but if you do run into it there are solid, non-exposed options to scramble around it - felt like more of an inconvenience than a real obstacle. Class 4 "crux" felt much easier and less exposed than I expected from pictures, rock on the crux was plenty grippy even for my wife's clapped-out hiking boots (you will be happier on this slab with grippier footwear). I thought the Class 3 down-climbs in a couple of spots were the trickiest parts of the whole traverse but even those were still fun. 

Route: Via Fourth of July TH and South Arapaho Peak
Posted On: 6/23/2024, By: Marmot72
Info: Most of ridge dry on traverse from S Arapaho -what's left is in the cracks between rocks and avoidable. Snow drifts in places along lower portion of the trail to S Arapaho after it splits off from main trail- consolidated and melting quickly. 

Route: Via S Arapaho to N Face Ski
Posted On: 6/16/2024, By: slawrence2011
Info: SE Ridge of S Arapaho nearly totally dry. Ridge to N looks intimidating, but the W side is dry, allowing the entire traverse to be dry, other than the last crux, which goes in snow. Intending to ski Northstar, which looked bonedry. So I skied N face, having to take of skis a bunch. Very hard to gain the Arapaho pass trail in the basin with all the creek crossings and deadfall. I made the poor choice to take it all the way to Monarch lake TH, which is on the other side of the divide from 4th of July, and hitching and expensive Ubers. I saw later I could have just gained 1500 ft and gone over the Arapaho pass. Don't be me! 

Route: Via Fourth of July TH and South Arapaho Peak
Posted On: 10/9/2023, By: redmanr
Info: Traverse is snowy on North Facing aspects. The summertime crux is clear of snow but one of the usually trivial class 3 sections is very icy/snowy and has become the new crux. Easiest detour we found was a class 5 dihedral downclimb on somewhat questionable rock. Overall the conditions make this route significantly more difficult than in the summer. Route from 4th of July to S. Arapaho is dry. 

Route: Via Fourth of July TH and South Arapaho Peak
Posted On: 9/25/2023, By: drummerjohn
Info: South and North Arapahoe dry with avoidable ice on the lower sections of South Arapahoe. Traverse is in great condition, no traction needed. 

Route: Via Fourth of July TH and South Arapaho Peak
Posted On: 9/24/2023, By: blonde_dinosaur
Info: Trail is dry both to South Arapaho and on the traverse. A decent amount of the traverse is actually class two, with the remainder as class three and a couple class four spots. The crux slab has ok cracks for hands and feet, but I agree with a comment made previously that if you are short (I am 5-5) it feels like low 5th class. The route finding is not intuitive, and if something is feeling too hard you are likely off route.