"Huerfanito"

Route: NW Ridge
Posted On: 7/7/2025, By: madmattd
Info: Branched off from the Lindsey route around 12.1k during descent from Lindsey. Easy hop across basin to base of gully. Easy tundra most of the way up the gully, then either steep dirt or easy, solid, chunky talus to saddle (I took the latter). Saddle to the upper ridge was C2/2+, mostly small loose garbage intermixed with not nearly enough larger, solid sections. Lots of sliding backwards and filling shoes with small stuff. Not a terribly fun section, but mercifully short (~400' vertical). The upper ridge is simple, ridge proper goes fine at maybe easy C3 in a spot or two. Middle bump of the 3 nearly identical height ones is the summit best I can tell, but I tagged all 3 anyway. Descended the same way and cut across the basin to the trail in the low point of the basin. I did see a sign in the Lindsey-Huerfanito saddle from the Lindsey route up to the ridge that appeared to be similar in size/shape as the waiver sign on the saddle on the Lindsey route. Saw it from way too far away to know what the sign actually says. Based on the wording on the waiver for Lindsey, the common traverse around the South side of Huerfanito from this saddle may not be OK anymore with the liability changes on the Trinchera property. NW Ridge can be done staying on public land/walking right on the property border so that's probably the best call now. 

Route: basin cut from Lindsey trail
Posted On: 3/31/2025, By: kyrawhitworth
Info: Echoing reports of horrible snow conditions down low from masonzastrow and sean23. We were immensely grateful for their trench as even with skis we sank many times in the trees. Definitely some creative stream crossings with skis as well. After dropping camp, we followed their route as we wanted to be out of the snow asap and this traversed higher across rock and snowfields. We put on crampons and this helped across the steeper snow fields. We then dropped slightly down into the basin which was thankfully filled in. Ryan skinned most of the way up to the saddle whereas I stuck with crampons as the snow was supportive. We dropped skis at the saddle and headed up the ridge with crampons as the rock was loose and just gross. Alas, we topped out on the ridge and walked over the summit (thankfully had service to double check LOJ to make sure we were on the right point because everything looks the same height). The basin skied pretty well which saved a lot of time though we chose less steep lines as there were wind hardened spots that we couldn't turn on. We then had the joy of afternoon deep postholes on the traverse back to the trees--I do wonder if we had stuck closer to the standard route if we could have skied through instead of booting. Sat night things did truly freeze as we skinned and booted on frozen snow out. GPX is uploaded as I feel this is likely the best route to avoid any private property issues for this peak. 

Route: West ridge
Posted On: 10/8/2024, By: denvermikey
Info: Still 100% summer conditions. 

Route: Huerfano Loop from Lily Lake Trailhead
Posted On: 7/19/2023, By: JasonKline
Info: We basically followed Ben's route from https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=20871 except that we did it in the counterclockwise direction instead of clockwise. We also didn't do Lindsey due to the closure, so we covered Huerfanito->Iron Nipple->Huerfano->13555 in that order. We definitely saw the private property signs and fenceposts while trying to stay on the legal side when going between Huerfanito and Huerfano. It's summer conditions, with only a small amount of snow that is easily avoidable. We found the ridge between 13555 and Huerfano to be a bit slow and tedious. It mostly went class 2+ with some class 3, but required a lot more route finding than the rest of the day. 

Route: Huerfano/Lily Lake Trailhead
Posted On: 9/22/2020, By: mikemalick
Info: Snow was not an issue anywhere along the route. Started from the lower 2WD TH as I did the loop with Iron Nipple, Huerfano and "UNNAMED 13555" and used the saddle approach for "Huerfanito". Snow was no issue, but man...that mountain is trash. So much loose rock and descending the scree to continue the loop seemed never-ending. Don't think this is a peak I will ever visit again. 

Route: from Lily lake TH
Posted On: 7/18/2020, By: SnowAlien
Info: I passed under this peak on the east side back in 2011, not knowing anything about it (we were off route trying to get to Lindsey). Well, it was finally time to stop orphaning Huerfanito. We had a free morning before a short backpack in the afternoon and this peak fit the bill. I haven't been on the road to the TH since May of '15 and it changed quite a bit, and not for the better. The road to the Aspen River ranch is still great and an easy 2WD. After that it definitely gets rougher with a few large potholes and many sharp rocks. Saw another car in the process of changing a flat. I elected to leave my Subi just below the Huerfano 2WD TH, but my partner's bigger truck had no issues with the road to the upper TH although it was a slow going. The hike itself was quick and easy. We took the Lindsey trail to above the treeline and gained the west ridge, which was a little loose, but manageable. The summit ridge doesn't exceed Class 2 and is an easy stroll with great views. We thought of exploring the North ridge features, but it looked loose and unpleasant, so we quickly scree skied on the east side and traversed to the grassy shoulder. It was a pleasant stroll back to the Lindsey trail and the truck. Would definitely combine this peak either with Lindsey or with Huerfano/Iron Nipple to save on the tedious and time consuming drive to the TH. 

Route: North Face from Mount Lindsey
Posted On: 7/7/2020, By: supranihilest
Info: Quite honestly one of the worst routes I have ever done. I wouldn't even bother reading this entire conditions report, finding a different route is simply the better option. From the saddle below Lindsey I took the trail down quite a ways to where it met grassy slopes between Lindsey and "Huerfanito", then went off trail and across the grass and a massive boulderfield. I had originally intended to climb "Huerfanito"'s northwest ridge, and it looked alright (just loose as a goose, probably) since there was an OK looking talus climb to the ridge, then what looked like a scramble up. As I got closer I passed under the north face which was just steep scree/talus and I decided to take a direct route instead. Bad idea. This thing is hideously, heinously, awfully, terribly, horribly, horrendously loose. It looks good since there's some grass on the slope, but nope, I literally crawled on my hands and knees up this stupid peak because of how loose this crap was. I'd take a step and EVERYTHING in a 5-6 foot radius would move. I am not kidding. I'd place weight on a foot and slide backwards three feet. Sometimes it was best to excavate to the hardpan below, then dig a little step into the hardpan, then go up. To say this route was exceptionally tedious and frustrating is a major understatement. Near the top there's a bit of solid rock I used for stability, but it was shortlived and still loose. The summit block itself is, take a guess, totally loose! I scrambled up a short dihedral at Class 3-4, but there was a Class 2 walkup around the backside. Descending the north face was perhaps even worse. I thought I'd be able to scree surf down and probably spent more time on my ass than I did upright, since I was basically the trigger point of small rockalanches all the way down. The mid-sized stuff was the best to descend on. Hardpan, small scree, and talus was awful. Once back on grass at the bottom I breathed a sigh of relief and returned to the trail, thankful that nonsense was over. Someone please take up the personal thermonuclear device you're entitled to as a red blooded American who values your Second Amendment rights and nuke this damn thing off the face of the earth. Once again, definitely do a different route, this one is $110% pure garbage. 

Route: NW Ridge
Posted On: 6/17/2018, By: Bombay2Boulder
Info: Aim for the saddle as you leave Lindsey's trail. No snow anywhere on the route. I stayed ridge proper and don't think the difficulty exceeded class 2.