Pole Creek Mountain

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 6/15/2025, By: tortilla
Info: Combined with NW pole from Cataract Gulch. Cataract has a handful of short snow crossings and the trail is soup higher up in the basin. The CT here and the terminus of the Pole Creek trail are still very wet. The Poles had some mandatory snow crossings and some short snow climbing to attain the ridgeline. Some of the snow patches were supportive, others less so. I postholed to the thigh many times but also scored some sweet boot skiing. Half Peak looked good to go, all snow on the standard route appeared trivial from my vantage. Quarter didn’t appear to have much snow either. Also, the summit register on Pole Creek Mountain was soaked and basically illegible so I packed it out. I left the tube though, as it might be able to be re-used? 

Route: Pole Creek
Posted On: 9/15/2024, By: Skimo95
Info: Creede to timber hill is definitely a rowdy/fun drive. I would say the 4-5 ratings are correct. A great trail for the first couple miles, it seems theres a campground up higher that could save somebody 5-10min of walking versus parking on the road. The elk were bugling and the mule deer were abundant, this hike felt like I was sitting on the couch watching discovery channel at times. I started up NW pole ridge which was a choose your own adventure for the most part, just dodge the elk if possible! Reaching the ridge around sunset, it was headlamp time. At the summit block direct, it was an extremely exposed low 5th (from what I could tell by headlamp) move and not worth it. Working back around I found a leap of faith, followed by a 10ft 4th class problem. Descended the ridge a couple dozen meters before bombing down talus to the saddle contour. Ridge to Pole Creek Mountain was chill and obvious. I descended the SW ridge for a bit and then tried to find a good line via headlamp down. Alls well that ends well, Id probably recommend grabbing these from cataract lake if youre not into wildlife. 

Route: From Cataract Gulch
Posted On: 6/19/2024, By: AsTheDuke
Info: Conditions for Northwest Pole, Pole Creek Mountain, and Peak 13573 (formally Peak 13,580). After leaving the CT above Cataract Lake, the creek is running high, but not too difficult to find a safe dry crossing. An easy snowfield or two to cross heading to Northwest Pole. Pretty much dry heading to Pole Creek Mountain from NW Pole. There's a glissade-able snowfield along the north ridge of Pole Creek Mountain. West slopes of 13573 is dry. 

Route: via Lost Creek Trail
Posted On: 5/19/2024, By: 14ercooper
Info: FSR520 was easily passable to the trailhead. Bit of a fun time with the creek crossings, and a lot of snow above treeline (the entire area seems to be fairly dry up to around 11,500-12,000 or so, and then it's still buried in snow. 

Route: From Cataract Gulch
Posted On: 10/9/2023, By: Will_E
Info: Did Pole and NW Pole from Cataract Friday, just a few short snowfields to cross on north facing slopes, but nothing difficult. 

Route: Cataract Lake
Posted On: 7/29/2023, By: dwoodward13
Info: Loop of NW Pole, Pole Creek, and 13,580 From Cataract Lake, headed up to the Colorado Trail and then east to the junction with trail #820 (although signed as #787, its the Pole Creek Trail). Descended this trail until about 12,200 picking a line across the meadow and headed up to the obvious saddle on NW Pole's N ridge. Was able to keep feet dry but YMMV. Followed the straight forward terrain until the summit block. Took the class 4 option in Furthermore's TR. Just one or two moves, but with the exposure and remoteness wouldn't want to slip. Very cool summit register. Descended directly east toward the saddle with Pole Creek. Found game trails here and there to utilize on the way up to Pole. There are faint trails in the talus on the upper sections of the mountain if you are looking closely. Descended back down to the lowest point of the broad saddle, and then picked my way down heading toward trail #822. I took a line very similar to Wild Wanderer's, skirting a point marked as 13,066 on the USFS topos on the south/east sides before dropping into the drainage on the northeast side of this point. Was able to make use of various game trails to make pretty easy work all things considered back to the human trail. Headed up trail #822 to the crossing of Pole Creek. I waited near some willows here to wait out a small shower then headed up 13,580's obvious northwest ridge. Very nice ascent route (much more gradual than directly from the pass on #822). Descended the same way and headed back to camp. Approx 14 miles, 5,300 although with all of the off trail time, felt harder than those would indicate. 

Route: Carson Pass
Posted On: 7/5/2023, By: kwhit24
Info: We parked/camped just below the snow blocking the top of Carson Pass about 100'down. There were a few snow fields to cross on the CT/CDT but everything has good steps. On the way up NW Pole we crossed a few more snow fields that were firm to walk on and other snow areas were avoidable. The last 20' to the summit is the only tough part. I took the Class 4 route up and down. My hiking partner went up Class 3 but down the Class 4. Very airy on the backside. From the summit we dropped west into the valley and picked our way up the north ridge of Pole. Most of the snow is avoidable. If you follow the ridge direct you may want micros. After Pole make sure to head directly south around the cliff section and take the good bench over the East Pole. There are a few more snow fields to cross but between us and the elk the steps are there. All dry up to East Pole Creek. To get back we had to retrace our steps back over Pole Creek since we didn't see a good alternative to the north with the cliff bands and steep snow. After resummiting Pole we dropped back into the valley and picked our way to the West Lost Trail Creek and Trail. There was a few hundred feet elevation lost, a lot of bushwhacking to get over to the trail, and everything was flooded/muddy from run off. If I were to do it again I would probably contour 13,000 back to the NW until I rejoined our initial route up NW Pole. Once back on the trail is was easy to get back to CT/CDT. (22.76 mi; 6,119' gain; 12:17:45 time) Start at TH 5:20am; NW Pole Creek Mtn 9:20am; Pole Creek Mtn 11:00am; East Pole Creek Mtn 11:50am; Re-summit Pole 12:35pm; Back to TH 5:35pm 

Route: From Northwest Pole
Posted On: 6/23/2022, By: supranihilest
Info: The route up Pole Creek Mountain is obvious from "Northwest Pole". Take the tundra ridge towards Pole, cross over a talus rib, and before it becomes a mess of steep scree hike up Class 2 talus. There's a trail along most of the upper ridge. Fantastic volcanic rock formations, towers, and sheer-walled gullies visible following the ridge. 

Route: via Cataract Gulch
Posted On: 6/16/2022, By: zootloopz
Info: Combo from Northwest Pole. We called this pole creek 2 aka the shit pole creek. Lots of sidehilling talus and loose rock. Absolutely gorgeous summit views though. Summer conditions. W/ vertical_volume 

Route: My Own
Posted On: 10/26/2021, By: piper14er
Info: Parked on FS 520 west of Rio Grande Reservoir and before the start of the really rough sections. This route was my own, not the standard route following the trail, sneaks between the cliffs and a nasty drainage. Mostly dry with snow on the upper slopes, 6" to 12" deep in the rocks. Snow on the summit but not much. It was windy and cold. See my report on LOJ for a gpx, pics and description. 

Route: From Northwest Pole
Posted On: 6/21/2020, By: WildWanderer
Info: The snow is all avoidable on this route. No traction needed if coming from "Northwest Pole". There seems to be snow left in the basin if coming instead from Carson Pass, and traction might be needed. 

Route: Pole Creek Approach
Posted On: 6/2/2020, By: mtnmaneric
Info: Road to Pole Creek TH is dry and accessible. Route up into the basin is mainly dry and free of snow, or avoidable snow. Still a bit of snow just below the Class 3/4 section of NW Pole. Pole Mtn is fairly dry on the traverse from NW Pole, snow can be avoided. Creek crossings are navigable without issue. 

Route: Multiple
Posted On: 5/25/2018, By: illusion7il
Info: All clear, very dry for this area. Any snow can be easily avoided.