Mt. Ouray

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 5/23/2021, By: gluckhikes
Info: No flotation or traction needed. Trail dry at the start, with some sizable snow pockets later on. Easy enough to get around the snow without losing the trail. The trail climbs to the right of the snowy gully around treeline, I missed it on the way up. The talus slope to reach the ridge is slow going but pretty dry. I found the climber's trail to the summit to be very well established, and it made for a nice easy walk on a couple inches of fresh snow. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 5/22/2021, By: graberz
Info: Road was clear to trail head. Trail starts dry through the lower aspens. As it converges into the drainage there is mushy snow on and off nearly to tree line. You can avoid it all with some bushwhacking, we stayed right and at times went higher. Gaining the ridge you can avoid snow or cross small snow fields and stay on grass slopes and restively supportive boulders. We never really found a distinct trail on the slopes. Ridge to summit did have snow on the the trail that was supportive in the morning, but wasn't a big deal to post hole through on way down. We never used snow shoes or micro spikes. There was relatively high winds today while on the ridge with a southernly Wind, that made us cover up. 5:45 car to car. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 5/7/2021, By: desertdog
Info: Snow is melting quick. There is snow for about a third of the way on the approach and we used snowshoes. We used spikes gaining the ridge, but you could avoid the snow and skip spikes. Going down the snow is mush in the tress making snowshoes worthless, but it's not very far. This is would be a good hike if you are looking for almost summer conditions. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 12/28/2020, By: blazintoes
Info: Able to drive with snow tires to Grays Creek TH. Got on east ridge ASAP because of a couple 'wumpfs' in the trees. Scary. Ice trekkers from ridge to summit were helpful. Wind kicked up over the hump. Summit views pretty awesome! Trekkers were a hindrance on descent. Blazed straight down at saddle d/t wind and directly into Grays creek and can say this was the first time I remember descending in snowshoes being more work then ascending. Came back to car and snowmobilers tried to break in unsuccessfully. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 11/17/2020, By: VeraUndertow
Info: Trail from Grays Creek was covered with snow above 10k on the way up, I post holed thru the snow up to around 11k. Snowshoes might have been helpful today but it was rarely above calf high anyways. Around 11k I took the rocky side of the Grays Creek drainage up to the ridge which got me around the rest of the post holing. Above treeline the east ridge is mostly dry, with inconsequential/mostly avoidable snow fields on the way up. Perfect weather today with only a light breeze had all the snow right around treeline melting out, so on the way down I connected with the Grays Creek drainage right from the basin and only did a little extra post holing before I found my tracks from before. A lot of snow had melted out on my way down and was turning into mashed potato texture, id expect it to be pretty iced over below treeline in the coming mornings, and traction might be helpful. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 11/6/2020, By: Ptglhs
Info: There's a pretty good trail to follow for the first 1200 vertical feet or so. After that it kind of Fades out for a bit before regaining the ridge where it is mostly evident. Rather than following the route on all Trails I swung wide to the east on the south-facing ridge. This allowed me to skirt a couple hundred vertical feet of an annoying looking Talus field. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 10/19/2020, By: Snow_Dog_frassati
Info: All was as advertised. High winds 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 9/5/2020, By: Unknown
Info: Smoke has mostly cleared, no snow on route. Class 2 route with a couple C3 options. Didn't see anyone on a bluebird Saturday. No water on the whole route, Plan for 2-3hr up and 1-2 down 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 8/22/2020, By: spoony
Info: Hiked from Marshall Pass this afternoon. Had the mountain mostly to myself but the road to the trailhead was kinda busy. Smoke definitely affected visibility but it did not seem as thick on the trail as it is down in Salida. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 8/15/2020, By: durkan
Info: Made the potential idiotic call to go hiking in the smoke. Tagged Ouray then Chipeta: my 50th and 51st 13ers (excluding repeats). Nice trail up to treeline from Marshall Pass, then a faint trail most of the way from the ridges to Ouray. Chipeta had some faint trails, but for the most part it felt like tundra dodging to the best of your ability. After Chipeta, I took trial 1409 down to the CT/CDT in hopes to have a nice, quick trail back to Marshall Pass and get more water for the dog and I, but it was unbeknownst to me that this was the Monarch Crest Trail. Dog and I spent a lot of time getting out of the way. This was no problem, but we even ran across dirt bikes on the trail which was real strange... Other than the smoke, great day for the pup and I. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 7/4/2020, By: cougar
Info: Summer conditions, but a small snowfield at the turn to the ridge proper obscures the trail, best to go over the talus there. Take the trail straight from the trailhead instead of the route to the right in the description, it follows the same route. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 7/2/2020, By: brauda02
Info: Climbed the west ridge as part of my Durango -> Longs hike. There is no snow on the ridge. I though this was a really fun climb. Class 2 scamper. I ascended from the 4x4 parking area and descend from the Apache Creek Trail. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 6/22/2020, By: sdicenso
Info: Had to park along the road at the trailhead, since someone with a camper decided to set up there in the parking lot. The trail was snow free all the way. Finding our way up to the ridge took a while trying to avoid the never ending rock. Once on the ridge I walked too far south and missed the trail. Stay a little further north to jump onto it. Neverending switchbacks to the summit. It was super windy the second half of the day which wore us out, so we just took a few pics and headed down. Lots of wildflowers. Only saw 3 others outside of our group of 4. A lot of people camping and riding atv's up the road, but luckily it stopped when we went to bed. There were some strange noises from Manbearpig at nighttime, but luckily I slept in the back of my vehicle, so he couldn't get me. Really warm overnight, so had to unzip my mummy bag. Some humidity hiking up the valley and mosquitoes galore, don't forget the bug spray or a torch. Swarms of moths were attacking us on the way down. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/13/2020, By: overthe59hill
Info: Conditions are great. Small, avoidable snow patches on the ridge. Weather on June 12 was great. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 5/23/2020, By: Danger_D
Info: From road 200c is you keep going past the bathroom across a small field you will find a faint trail that is continuous to treeline. Because of some small snow patches and downed trees it can be hard to follow, but I managed pretty easily making logical choices. Right above treeline is the only sizable snow field, but if you head climbers left it gets smaller. Microspikes in the morning would be helpful, but I managed with just boots and poles. Above that field the trail is faint at best, but the route is simple to follow with occasional cairns. Any snow above treeline is easy to avoid and is basically summer conditions. I was surprised by the amount of talus hipping above 13,300, but it was all stable. Don't get fooled after passing the light colored rock around 13,400, its a dishearteningly long way to the summit form there. Pic 1: The snowfield right at treeline Pic 2: Looking up the final steep section after the easy ridge walk Pic 3: From the summit looking north to Tab and Shavano Pic 4: I forgot my camera on the summit for a bit and the marmots will apparently chew on anything