Uncompahgre Peak

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 6/20/2026, By: ericwolf88
Info: Full summer conditions, but definitely getting a little windy at the top by mid morning - parking lot was full and there were many people on the trial. Started at 7:30am from the 4WD trailhead, back to the car at 12:15pm. Pretty unique to be able to see the mountain almost the whole approach and the payoff at the top is amazing. I don't like scrambling, but even I didn't think that brief section at the top was very bad going up or down if you just go slow. Most people were staying on the near side of the rock tower. Road was dry except for one mud spot that I avoided but agree that a 4WD would be smart if going to the upper trailhead. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 6/16/2026, By: wtellis
Info: Full on Summer conditions from Nellie creek trailhead. Road is in good condition with no mud and the creek crossings are manageable. Still suggest a high clearance vehicle. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 6/14/2026, By: lukedog
Info: Our group climbed Wetterhorn on Friday, June 12 and Uncompahgre on Saturday, June 13. Essentially summer conditions throughout. A handful of inconsequential snowfields in the basin between peaks but zero need for any traction or flotation on the peaks or between them. Plentiful water. Beautiful conditions across the board.

June 12-13 Matterhorn Creek TH road was dry and without major obstacles but a little rougher than I expected. Still fine for an Outback Wilderness to the AWD TH. I wouldn't even consider taking my car to the 4WD TH - very rough past the AWD TH. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 6/4/2026, By: the3wilson
Info: I thought there was a little more snow and MUD than others have recently posted, especially if you want to minimize your impact. Should be gone in a couple of weeks. Made it to upper TH in a standard Subaru Forester even through the big, steep mud hole.

Hike itself was spectacular with great views of the San Juans. Had the summit to myself the entire time which never happens on a 14er. Only saw two other groups of two the entire day. 

Route: From 13,110
Posted On: 5/31/2026, By: MMAfightingClimber
Info: Did a cirque on the 13ers + unc so I can’t speak to the lower trail conditions, but it was summer conditions up high on the standard route. A couple small non consequential snow crossings and a little muddy on a few parts. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 5/24/2026, By: Josh0651
Info: The road up to the 4wd TH was conquered by a stock Rav4 and made me feel like a bitch for having a truck with 33s. 4wd probably necessary for the mud puddle. The trail itself has many snow patches still. But nothing that made me feel like traction was necessary, I brought spikes and never used them. Trekking poles seemed like plenty. Beautiful day out there! 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 5/3/2026, By: bcmurphy
Info: Beautiful day! Still some post holing and mud, but we did it without traction or microspikes. There was still enough snow to ski the East face, which would have been perfect conditions with spring corn snow.

Road to trailhead was rough. Large mud hole 2ish miles from the trailhead was nearly impassible; took 4lo and lockers. Moved a tree and numerous rocks from the last half mile. Numerous snow banks took some momentum. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 4/23/2026, By: wmagnuson7
Info: Gorgeous day to summit a beautiful mountain. Largely summer conditions, but numerous large snow fields to cross, so would recommend gaiters and microspikes. See TH report for Nellie Creek road if interested. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 3/19/2026, By: Splitboard14ers
Info: Drove 2.3 miles up Uncompahgre Trail road towards Nellie Creek Trailhead until reaching impassable snow blockade. Parked. Skinned up road a few hundred feet, then next 2 miles snow was on and off with mud patches, so I just walked. Snow was firm.

I reached Nellie Creek Trailhead and skinned the rest of the way up through basin towards peak. Gusting extremely high winds made travel difficult, and kept everything cold, and firm.

Once on the lower South East face transitioned to boots and climbed up without using crampons, mix of snow and rock. Reached cliffs, and climbed up ridge rather than around due to high winds coming from North West direction. Once above cliffs, the remaining hike up to Summit was surprisingly easy going, with almost no snow, and only a short distance to Summit.

I reached Summit with high wind still raking up the cliff walls. Stayed low to keep safe from being blown over, and tagged Summit. Descended back down off Summit to first snow field, and strapped in to ride a few feet. Then unstrapped and walked on to ridge, strapped back in and rode another section. Climbed down cliffs and strapped in for the main South East Face.

Peppered with uncovered rocks, it was a needle threading ride with little value. I opened up at the bottom and rode across the basin all the way back to the trailhead, only having to unstrap once to cross a section of uncovered rocks. From the trailhead back down I found a few strips of snow to ride, but mostly hiked out. The last few hundred feet were rideable back to where I parked.

10.26 miles round trip *(add 4.6 miles if you do not drive up the 4WD road, and start at 2WD area)
8 Hours 29 minutes round trip
4530' vertical feet. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 2/9/2026, By: AlejandraOutside
Info: Boot pack/ skin track goes well up to the final push just before the summit. Things get hairy around 13,000 feet, though. Multiple options on how to gain vert up to the final scramble. Follow the standard trail (mostly dry w/ some minimal trail breaking) or climb stable snow up the gulley. Did veer to hiker's left to gain the ridge rather than following the standard trail up the final switchback which was snowed in. Dry from the start of the final scramble to the summit. Crampons, snowshoes, and ice axe all came in handy along the way. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 2/3/2026, By: BrendoRuns
Info: *Did not summit* Got a late start up Nellie Creek Road which is covered in snow and ice. Snowshoes helpful after 2 miles, put in a decent trench up to 12,000 feet where i turned around 2.5 miles from the summit because the sun was setting. Never postholed past my knees, summit should be climbable until next snowfall. Skis not recommended. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 1/18/2026, By: kyrawhitworth
Info: Hard to believe this is a conditions report for mid Jan. We could not get far up the road due to some impressive ice flows (tire tracks went all the way up to about halfway to the TH however for those with balls bigger than their tires). Road is a mix of dirt, packed snow, and ice until the tire tracks stop at 10,500 where it’s all skinnable snow but still very bootable. We had to boot up a section where the initial switchbacks are and then skinned on low tide wind affected snow to 13K. We booted from there and used crampons on the upper face switchbacks. Class 2 section (look for the rock schlong and you won’t go wrong) and above to the summit were essentially dry. Once back at our skis we were able to ski all the way down (minus one short booting section) to where the tire tracks started at 10,500. One could ski further down but you’d end up transitioning a few times due to dirt and ice. The basin itself skied better than expected despite low coverage and sastrugi. A couple cruising up behind us booted the entire way so it can be done right now! On Gaia I clocked 15.5 miles and 4900ft in 12hrs 20 mins. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 12/31/2025, By: HikerBox
Info: Shin to calf deep snow off and on above 10500' on Nellie Creek Road until treeline. Crusty above but recommend snowshoes to avoid random post holing. I did not bring them and decided to climb the completely dry SW face of UN13110 instead. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 11/11/2025, By: thbl4268
Info: It felt like September out there! Barely any snow until the last mile, which is when I threw on my spikes so I could move more quickly...otherwise you could honestly get by without them until the next snowfall. Summit was completely dry although the wind made it quite brisk, but I made it out easily with my windproof hiking pants, women's thermal leggings, cold gear Under Armor turtleneck, my Melanzana, and a light puffy for the last mile. I had the trail completely to myself until I ran into two guys heading up when I was roughly 2 miles from my car on my descent. Blue skies and high spirts! 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 11/9/2025, By: Delprincipe_mike
Info: Mostly dry except for some packed snow on the south ridge switchbacks. Traction helpful but not necessary. Beautiful November day.