11/5/2023 Route: Ophir Pass Posted On: 11/5/2023, By: 13erRetriever Info: About 95% snow free on southern aspect. Didn't need spikes or gaiters. Several pictures of surrounding peaks attached. South slopes are pretty clear in the San Juans. Ophir pass was clear on the east side but west looked like it was holding snow. Didn't attempt driving west side. |
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10/23/2023 Route: Ophir pass Posted On: 10/24/2023, By: Skimo95 Info: Trail is in summer conditions. There is a faint trail leading to the ridge, after that it is a scramble. I took a low 5th chimney up but was able to find a loose class 2~ route down the mountain. 3 hours RT, great views and no water sources. East side of Ophir is Subaru/rav 4 friendly. West side was at the limit in one or two sections for my stock F-150 |
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10/20/2023 Route: ophir Posted On: 10/20/2023, By: zootloopz Info: Summer conditions on Lookout. This peak is loose and unpleasant, and honestly sketchy, but the views are top notch. Snow on all north facing aspects south of Lookout above 12,000' Everything I can see of Yankee Boy peaks looks snow free including Teakettle. Grenadiers look snowy on north facing aspects as well. Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn and the Cimmarons also looking completely dry from this vantage. |
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9/19/2023 Route: Ophir Pass Road Posted On: 9/20/2023, By: dwoodward13 Info: About an inch of graupel/snow 12k' and above from a storm Monday, melting fast below 13k'. We used spikes on the scrambling portion near 13.4k' and would have turned around without them. Even with them the amount of snow/verglass and loose rock made things pretty sketchy. |
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9/1/2023 Route: South ridge Posted On: 9/1/2023, By: blazintoes Info: Biked up Ophir Pass. Parked my bike at Opus Hut TH. I was told that Lookout is an easy summer peak. Sure doesnt look like headlong on the peak. Along the ridge I ran into Emily who manages the hut and she gave me some insider trader information. Follow the well cairned brick road. Ive never seen an alpine lake so blue. Wow!!! |
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7/21/2023 Route: From Ophir Pass Posted On: 7/21/2023, By: ReginaThomas Info: Once you park go into the willows youll see the trail. Its hard to see from the parking area. A GPX track helps here to know where to park. After BRIEF willow bashing there is a trail. The route is well Cairned. There is still one snow field over part of the lower trail and one at the base of the grassy slope leading to the ridge. We did not use traction on either. The gully crossover has a snow moat. It made it safer to cross. Pretty much summer up there. |
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8/28/2022 Route: TH east of Ophir Pass Posted On: 8/28/2022, By: Grover Info: Aptly named peak, with wonderful views from the summit. Route is actually very well cairned. If you are a San Juan veteran, you'll take all the loose rubble on the ridge in stride. Parties of 2 or more may appreciate a helmet for all the loose rock and scree covered ledges. |
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8/8/2022 Route: from Ophir pass Posted On: 8/9/2022, By: SnowAlien Info: Was glad to see the road didn't get worse since last time I was up there a few years back, still doable in a Subi, at least from the Silverton side. I parked at the top of the pass and the route was pretty confusing (up and down) until I got higher and saw some cairns. On the way down I followed the trail and ended up just below the pass (not obvious where the route is). No register. |
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7/6/2022 Route: Ophir Pass Posted On: 7/6/2022, By: angry Info: The road is easy going from Silverton. A ridiculous amount of cairns considering how short this route is. |
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9/5/2021 Route: From Ophir Pass Road Posted On: 9/5/2021, By: ScottLovesRMNP Info: Road is in great shape for 2WD from the US550 side. Started on a trail at 11,700 east of Ophir Pass. Route is very short and amazingly well-cairned. However, it gets pretty loose and steep near the top with an occasional mildly exposed step here and there. Dicey part doesn't last long, but helmet advised on that section. Don't go up there with a crowd. |
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7/5/2021 Route: S Ridge, from Ophir Pass Posted On: 7/6/2021, By: d_baker Info: Drove (in 2wd) side of Ophir Pass from 550 on Sunday afternoon. Found a trailhead with small (3-4 cars width) flat parking area just below "official" trailhead for Lookout and car camped there. (See map) I slept in my vehicle, Brad in a tent next to his vehicle. No facilities. Marmots live nearby. 4hr RT. 3ish miles RT (per Topo! & gaia gpx route) Started in dark with headlamps, missed the easier slope approach to upper basin that leads to ridge ascent line. Our ascent to basin sucked but got us to the grassy slope approach to upper ridge. Ridge was generally intuitive of where others have gone before. Followed cairns and used our intuition for our chosen path. Descent was nearly the same, with exception of finding the better line back to basin, and then finding a trail that brought us to our camping TH area. (We walked up road in morning to the start of "trail" thru the willowy small opening.) |
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6/1/2021 Route: South Ridge from Ophir Pass Posted On: 6/1/2021, By: supranihilest Info: We parked at a non-descript location along Ophir Pass Road (coming in from US 550). A GPS might be helpful in determining a good starting spot since the pass itself is also non-descript and there's no designated parking anywhere. From our parking area we climbed a short dry section until we passed under the power lines, which is where we put on microspikes, which we wore to the summit and back. We ascended a steep snowfield to the bottom of the ridge as a more direct snow gully had a giant cornice on it. Now on the ridge we hiked up loose, crappy rock to another snow field which we climbed to more loose rock, which eventually gave way to an icy Class 3 chimney. We climbed the chimney then traversed right on steep, exposed snow, using the wall above us for handholds. After completing the traverse the route's crux lay above us, a series of Class 3 ledges. There's a kind of dihedral that makes the ledges much easier by providing handholds instead of trying to balance up them. At the top of the ledges it's a short Class 2 walk to the summit. We reversed our route and made several glissades of the snowfields below the ridge. This is a super fast route, it took us less than 3 hours even with snow and ice. Gear: ice axe mandatory (a second is not necessary), microspikes at minimum mandatory. Crampons are not necessary, you will absolutely want traction though. We did it in trail runners and spikes. Flotation not needed. Helmet highly recommended as this thing is loose and we occasionally knocked rocks down. |
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7/11/2020 Route: From Ophir Pass Posted On: 7/11/2020, By: Bombay2Boulder Info: No snow on the route, if you encounter snow gully you are in a loose gully and more stable options can be found. The summit register needs some more papers and the pencils need sharpening. One of the best 360 views out there. I was able to drive my stock Subaru Crosstrek to the pass with ease from ophir side. Just needed some momentum. |
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7/5/2020 Route: from ophir pass Posted On: 7/5/2020, By: cottonmountaineering Info: Summer conditions |
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6/26/2018 Route: Standard Posted On: 6/26/2018, By: illusion7il Info: All clear. Ophir pass looked like it had been recently graded, so its easy 4wd maybe rough 2wd at least from the Silverton side anyway. One of the best summit views in the business. |
