Mt. Lady Washington

Route: From Longs Peak ranger station
Posted On: 6/15/2025, By: ILnoise
Info: Summer conditions on Lady Washington and well into the boulderfield for Longs. The snow field up to the keyhole is mostly gone, and I included some pics below. No beta on Longs standard route past the keyhole. Storm Peak's face still had some significant snow fields, but it looked pretty doable from the NE ridge. 

Route: From Longs Peak ranger station
Posted On: 6/7/2025, By: Troyister
Info: Trail to Chasm Lake junction 97% snow free, some snow here and there at tree line. Trail to boulder field looked like a lots of snow on the trail beyond that. East Ridge to Mt. Lady Washington was a thin layer of snow and ice from yesterday's precipitation. It was already melting and drying by late morning, I would expect dry conditions on the scramble this afternoon. 

Route: From Longs Peak ranger station
Posted On: 5/18/2025, By: mikemalick
Info: Started later than I wanted at 6:45 a.m. The weather held up really nice. Didn't see any snow on the trail until a little before 1 mile in but it was very sparse. Consistent consolidated snow on the trail started about 1.5 mi in. Once you make that right turn to head into the basin there was some initial snow but then most of it bare trail until that final push to Chasm Junction which always holds more snow. Actual East ridge up Mt Lady Washington was typical this time of year. Pics show conditions there well. I didn't use any flotation or traction the entire day. There were some times in some areas on the descent where traction might have helped a little but I made out just fine without it. BTW Timed Entry into RMNP starts up for the season coming up soon on May 23rd so something to keep in mind. 

Route: Martha Couloir
Posted On: 5/13/2025, By: Ericsheffey
Info: A few days late posting, but here's a conditions update: The approach to the base of Martha is well tracked, and Chasm Lake is still frozen. The apron is covered in wet slide debris and soft as mashed potatoes (granted it was warm this morning). The couloir is nicely filled, with *some* water ice (WI2- to WI2+ if I'm being generous), with the ice steps bring pretty short. My climbing partner and I solo'd it up to what I believe to be the fourth constriction, then roped up for one pitch. The top out is also mashed potatoes and made for some extremely slow postholing to get to the summit of MLW. The walk off back to the trail junction with Chasm Lake is relatively well tracked as well. Oddly enough, we were the only group out there. I think a few more clear nights will make the experience much better. Beyond MLW, we observed groups climbing and skiing Lambslide, as well as the North Face/Cables route. Snow cover was looking great all around. 

Route: From Longs Peak ranger station
Posted On: 1/12/2025, By: Laxer04
Info: Packed trail until the junction and then just boulder hopping. I brought snowshoes, but didn't use them. I wore spikes but not needed. Fantastic conditions 

Route: East Slope from Chasm Junction
Posted On: 12/8/2024, By: MidsizeAl
Info: One of the nicest December days in memory. Hardly a trace of wind, and much warmer than expected. Hard packed trail from the ranger station to Chasm Junction. After that, the east slope is in typical MLW shapemostly wind scoured with some lingering patches of deeper snow. Some easy route finding allows for a dry path to the summit. Spikes were nice once things softened a bit in the afternoon. Leave the snow shoes at home if you go before it snows again. In fact, you probably could get away with trail runners. We went to Chasm Lake after we returned to the junction since the weather was so perfect. Chasm crossing has a decent boot pack right now, and we were fine in just spikes, but I was glad to have a whippet/ice axe, since there are a couple places where an unarrested slip would be nasty. Crampons would not be overkill here at this point, in my opinion. Avy danger seemed low today on these sections, but the angle is a little nerve racking nonetheless. The final ascent up to the lake has some bare solid ice that was tricky to avoid. 

Route: From Longs Peak ranger station
Posted On: 7/4/2024, By: unclegar
Info: Ascended and descended directly up from Chasm Jct. This is a steeper shorter route option. The entire route is snow free. Steep in places but nothing above class 3 required. 

Route: From Longs Peak ranger station
Posted On: 6/9/2024, By: Hiking_TheRockies
Info: bagged lady washington via LP trailhead today. up near tree line the trail has some snow drifts, and more during the portion between the Chasm Lake junction and Granite Pass. Lady washington is completely bare of snow from the Boulderfield side. Storm still has a good bit of snow, and cables are looking a little frozen but pleasant. KIENERS - Chasm is melting fast but snow coverage is almost continuous from chasm all the way to the top of Lambslide. lambslide has one small wet slide on the right side but looks surprisingly in. Notch couloir has no visible wet slide debris but still be careful. Still a decent amount of snow on Broadway and upper Kieners is pretty socked in. 

Route: From Longs Peak ranger station
Posted On: 6/3/2024, By: Eph 2 5
Info: The first mile, or so, of trail from the Ranger Station is dry. After that it's mostly snow covered until a little bit above tree line. We used microspikes for the snow below tree line, which prevented a lot of slipping. We carried snowshoes, but never used them. We postholed 10, or so, times each the entire day. After the Jim's Grove trail junction, the main Long's Peak trail is mostly free of snow up until the Chasm Lake Junction. Beyond that, we could see the Long's Peak trail was probably 2/3 covered in snow up until the point it disappears beyond the north ridge of Mt Lady Washington. We left the trail at the Chasm Lake Junction and went up the left (south) side of the east face of Mt Lady Washington. There are some snowfields on the east face of Mt Lady Washington, but they are mostly avoidable. 

Route: From Longs Peak ranger station
Posted On: 4/9/2024, By: Laxer04
Info: Packed down trail the entire way. I brought snowshoes and spikes, didn't use them. Spikes would probably be helpful in a few spots. I went straight up the ridge from the junction. My strava logged 8.2 miles 4112 ft of vert. Absolutely perfect weather today :) 

Route: From Longs Peak ranger station
Posted On: 2/21/2024, By: fdgonzalez
Info: Incredibly strenuous, but amazing hike. It was fitting to climb Mt Lady Washington on Washingtons Birthday. Started from the Longs Peak ranger station. Took the advice of other reports and left my snowshoes in the car. Turned out to be a good decision. Theres a trench in place, and theres postholing only if you go off trail. Wore microspikes and gaiters the entire time. The forested section of the hike is a gradual uphill. Got extremely challenging once above tree line in the tundra. There were ferocious 30-40 mph winds, blowing snow, and even some snow tornadoes. The trail is undefined and footsteps were blown away very quickly, so route finding skills were needed. The snow was very inconsistent, sometimes holding my weight and at other times sinking knee deep. At the Chasm Lake junction the views are beautiful. From there it was a long, steep, choose-your-own-adventure scramble began up Mount Lady Washingtons east ridge. It was a tough climb, but luckily it was less windy nestled against the mountain, otherwise I probably wouldnt have been able to summit. Theres a false summit, but the true summit is just 100-200 ft higher. Once attaining the summit, Longs Peaks famous Diamond face comes into view. It was an incredible sight. Awesome views all around, but it was like a wind tunnel up there with never ending 60-70 mph winds. Theres a summit register in a box. Descended the same way I came up. Climbing down the talus was tedious and there were deep pockets of snow, so rock hopping helped. Once I reached the Chasm Lake junction it was smooth sailing from there, with a gentle back wind. The ascent took ~4.5 hours, the descent ~2.5 hours, spent 30 minutes on the summit, for a total time of 7.5 hours. 

Route: N Ridge
Posted On: 1/26/2024, By: the_hare
Info: Snowed 1-2in today, little wind. Still a nice bootpack trail in place. Traction & gaiters useful after lightning bridge. I tried out a different approach to Granite Pass via Jims Grove and then up the broad ridge/slope to Battle Mountain then over to Granite Pass. It was pretty mellow, easy gentle incline tundra walk with a little rock hopping towards the end. Not much snow on the standard or normal Jims grove shortcut across the basin right now anyway but might be useful when the basin loads up more. Went straight up to MLW from the pass, lots of engaging & varied scrambling. Lost my favorite yak hair beanie on the way up T_T 

Route: From Longs Peak ranger station
Posted On: 1/23/2024, By: SnowJunkie
Info: While there's plenty of snow below treeline there isn't all that much above. I was able to make it without snowshoes for the entire trip and other than being careful about keeping to the rocks or areas of snow where grass was poking through it wasn't all that much more difficult or different than doing it in the summer. Just be careful about what you step on going up from the Chasm Lake Junction though as there are some deep holes hidden by the snow. 

Route: From Boulderfield
Posted On: 1/6/2024, By: shapovalovm
Info: Went up from Boulderfield and down towards Granite pass as a consolation price for bailing on Longs. Frankly, there not too much snow, so going up from Chasm intersection works too if that's what you prefer. 

Route: From Longs Peak ranger station
Posted On: 1/2/2024, By: gmarcotte
Info: Went up the east face direct from Chasm junction, then down the north ridge to intersect the trail towards the keyhole. Longs Peak trail is hard-packed snow until treeline and patchy snow after -- spikes useful but not required. East face of Lady Washington has snow in between the rocks, but is pretty much all avoidable with good route-finding and a little scrambling near the top. The north ridge has more snow, and also had a good layer of frost over many of the rocks that required careful stepping -- not actual ice, just makes things a little more slippery. I think it's still an easier descent since it's less steep, but with the snow I don't know that I saved any time vs going back down straight to Chasm junction.