Pigeon Peak

Route: Ruby Basin
Posted On: 9/27/2021, By: Jon Frohlich
Info: Water still flowing in Ruby Basin above the lake. A few people were camped up there over the weekend. It doesn't look like there is any water down in North Pigeon. No register on the summit. I feel like the trail to Ruby has gotten a bit easier to follow but it could just be that being there before made it go faster. Still tons of deadfall and trees to navigate though. 

Route: N Pigeon Creek
Posted On: 9/13/2021, By: Marmot72
Info: Posting some info on this approach. First, I had thought to camp in the upper basin but sweating with the bigger pack I found a nice knoll at around 9160'; I'm guessing just shy of a half mile of the famous Columbine Tree that marks the trail split between the trail to Ruby and the trail up the ridge to N Pigeon. This spot is on the left of the trail as you ascend, and has two small flat areas for tents. The trail starts so strong from the split (37.64182 N 107.67574 W), but falls away so fast. Looking at the top, the trail stays a bit north of the creek; it petered out shortly after 37.64207 N 107.67385 W. Going up, I got led further north by a few cairns, and so took a trajectory much higher than standard. Both up and down, it was a bushwhack between 10.2k and 10.8k. Ascending, a couple rogue cairns and tiny trails took me farther north and higher than needed. I ended up at 37.64013N 107.66286W, 11,133', looking up a Pigeon's NW sub-summit. To go southward across the peak or drop looked decidedly tiresome, as it was all a rock pile, so I did an ascending traverse to 12,000 (337.63515N, 107.65688W) where a chute provided easy access over the small but spiny ridge that spurs SW from the jumbled area around point 13252 on the map. From here, it was an easy contour over to the brand ledges and trail sections up to Pigeon Creek. Descending from Turret, I aimed to find the easier lower route that I'd missed on the way up. Following the most expedient way down I found a great trail that lasted for maybe 30 yards before it ended in a morass of steep and densely wooded slopes. I found some helpful cairns and a faint trail that was nonetheless worth following at 37.63701N, 107.66289W. Racing against the dropping sun, I lost the trail in the fading light at 37.54235N, 107.66716W, only about a tenth of a mile due west of where I'd lost it on my way up. A little over 1 mile and about 1700 feet separated me from my tent, and only half of it on a discernible trail. That mile took me an hour of stumbling, slipping, and cursing in the night. But it was worth it, because the next day would bring unending rain, and I was able to get out with Pigeon and Turret, unlike the prior year in Ruby, when it snowed. 

Route: From Ruby Basin
Posted On: 7/18/2021, By: yaktoleft13
Info: A couple of fresh fallen trees on the Ruby Basin trail add to the difficulty of the last few miles. No snow. All routes up the peaks in the area visible from the summit are snow free. 

Route: Northwest Face
Posted On: 7/6/2021, By: Snow_Dog_frassati
Info: Summer conditions, not much more to say than that 

Route: From ruby creek / purg
Posted On: 9/22/2020, By: dcruz654
Info: Managed to summit Pigeon and turret in just approach shoes Monday. Conditions seem to be changing day to day, I got rain/graupeled on at 11.6 that same afternoon. Route up to ruby was steep, rocky, and covered in deadfall. I think I ended up heading more towards N pigeon, then bushwacking/downclimbing to meet back with the actual trail after reaching a ridge near 10.5 . Not really sure where I lost the trail as I was following an obvious path/cairns up to that point. It took almost 4 hrs to reach ruby lake from Needleton, and only took me 1:45 on the way back down. HikerGuy's track is excellent, follow it and you will be on the right path. I made the mistake of not doing so. Route up to the saddle is bone dry. The descent from there to where you actually start to climb pigeon is more than you'd think. It feels like you wrap 180 to the other side of the mountain. Some lingering snow on the last few hundred feet of pigeon. I opted to climb all the way to the ridge and take a snowy 4th class climb up from there as opposed to the ramps that looked hella sketch sans traction. No snow on turret that you have to deal with. Pic 5-8 show the spot I climbed up. Definitely 4th moves if not a touch harder. A little scary with snow, but it wasn't too much and the rock is super grippy. I looked back at some trs, and I could be wrong, but this might be the spot gladbach and baker climbed up to summit in winter? 

Route: Chi to Ruby
Posted On: 9/6/2020, By: cochsman
Info: I, too, just completed Purgatory -> Chicago -> Ruby -> Purgatory, bagging Jupiter, Turret and Pigeon along the way. I did it in 3 days, just under 60 hours. Notes on the days: Day 1 - The hike to Chicago Basin is longer than I remember. Day 2 - Descending into No-Name basin is looser than previously mentioned. Day 3 - After descending Ruby Creek I am glad I came in the other way. Furthermore, I ran into a part who came up Pigeon Creek. They didn't make it sound bad but they didn't make it sound good. They also noted there is barely a seep for water in Pigeon Basin. Do not overestimate yourself for this journey - it is not a walk in the park. 

Route: Ruby Basin
Posted On: 8/28/2020, By: dwoodward13
Info: Purgatory->CB->Twin Thumbs Pass->Ruby Basin->Purgatory Route up to Twin Thumbs Pass is straightforward. There are two “low” spots of the pass on the side of two towers. I took the climbers right most one which went fine. Maybe 50 feet of Class 3 descending on the north side, all dry. I just crab walked down it, as it's steep dirt with rocks and awkward with a big pack. Route over to the Ruby Basin Pass from there is easy enough. There's a goat path from from the Ruby Pass down to the meadow at 11.6k. I didn't find a trail up the steep grassy section, but once in the rock glacier on the way to Pigeon-Turret saddle it's well marked. Be ready for the mental hit of descending all the way to like 12.2k. On the upper reaches of Pigeon there seem to be two dueling set of cairns. I took the left most ones and had one or two Class 4 moves, so not sure if I was off route or not. Reversing back to Turret is straightforward and Class 2. The trail down to Needleton is rough, easy to lose, but it is there. Took me nearly an equal amount of time to descend from Ruby Lake to Needleton (3 miles), as it did from Needleton to Purg (10 miles). Highly recommend HikerGuys TR. 

Route: standard
Posted On: 10/6/2019, By: sstratta
Info: The upper north-facing part of Pigeon (standard route) has a little bit of snow that makes the class 3/4 part a little more interesting. Everything else around is dry though. 

Route: Ruby Basin
Posted On: 9/4/2019, By: angry
Info: Via Turret, dry all the way to the summit. 

Route: Ruby Creek
Posted On: 8/20/2019, By: nilaoire
Info: A little more downfall than described by those who have previously climbed P&T, but not difficult to navigate. Small snow fields persist just prior to the first pass after you leave camp but easy to avoid. ( Animas and Monitor- similar conditions). 

Route: Std - N Face via N Pigeon Ck
Posted On: 8/15/2019, By: quaternion
Info: Standard route up N Face can be done without crossing any snow (no axe or crampons needed). Bushwhacked in and out via two different routes; both were bad, but didn't seem like they were impacted by new avalanche deadfall. The (our) summit route went up left of the large snow field and then cut right across a large gap in the snow field (hidden in photo). 

Route: SW Slope
Posted On: 8/21/2018, By: desertdog
Info: Climbed Pigeon and Turret via North Pigeon Creek. We went to Ruby Lake Trail turn off day one, camped due to rain. Climbed into the basin day 2 and climbed Turret. Day 3 climbed Pigeon and walked out. There are cairns once you leave Ruby up the ridge, but we did use the garmin as well. There is a small spring with water right before it flattens out for camping on the left hand side of the basin. I don't know how long it will last with no rain but it supplied us with plenty of water. 

Route: SW slopes
Posted On: 7/3/2018, By: bmcqueen
Info: Climbed Pigeon and Turret via Purgatory/N Pigeon Creek approach. Most importantly, there is very little water in the N Pigeon Creek Basin. I expect by August, water access will be a real issue (Ruby Creek had plenty - could see flowing streams from top of Pigeon). Both peaks are snowfree on the routes. Pigeon has one patch of snow near the route with a bit of a step over move, but not bad. Upper route on Pigeon is well cairned at the moment. 

Route: From N. Pigeon Creek
Posted On: 6/1/2018, By: cottonmountaineering
Info: The final 300' or so has moderate/steep snow on the normal route, I was able to make do with microspikes however it added unnecessary difficulty. I would recommend just taking crampons until this snow melts. The hike over to Turret was uneventful - in summer conditions. 

Route: Standard
Posted On: 7/24/2015, By: illusion7il
Info: There is 1 snow slope on the upper terrain that may be blocking an easier route to the top. Snow can be by passed via a few 4th class moves.