Challenger Point

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 6/20/2026, By: eastcoasthiker
Info: Parking lot was full at 10:30 pm Friday night and all of the good pull outs on the road were occupied. Don't expect toilet paper. Walked maybe 4 steps on snow on the side of Challenger. Sheep, deer, and goat all in one day. I did not notice any bugs at all around Willow Lake. 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 6/14/2026, By: ColoNativeGal
Info: Summer conditions until the gully. Several snow patches remain and it makes it challenging to follow the standard route at times. We had to cross a few snow fields, had microspikes but did not wear them. Snow is firm, a little icy in the early morning. In the afternoon, it is very soft and some post holing may occur. Below the gully once back on the grass, this section becomes melt city and water is everywhere making both the rocks and grass slippery. Be careful. After the gully and on the ridge, summer conditions to the summit. If continuing on to Kit Carson it's mostly dry with maybe a step or two on snow depending on the route you pick. See KC update for Avenue conditions. 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 5/19/2026, By: mimogalito
Info: Hiked up and camped at Willow Lake yesterday, Monday 5/18. Can confirm other beta that's been going around that there's still quite a bit of snow up to Challenger Point. My dog and I made it up to the point but went straight up, mostly off trail. Made it up with just microspikes.

It took us a bit too long to make it to Challenger and I didn't love the look of the Avenue. While being not in tip-top 14er conditioning and seeing the conditions (in addition to heavy clouds and fast winds rolling in), decided to not push for Kit Carson. Going down Challenger took a while. There's a big glissade trail going all the way down from the top that I tried out for a quick sec but it was much too icy for my liking. Would highly recommend going down the way I came up (to the left of the big glissade trail where it's more rocky and less icy).

Overall, a beautiful day in the Sangres. Of course my ego wishes that I bagged Kit Carson as well but the conditions are just not quite there yet unless you have full gear setup and are ready for a super long day. I'd estimate by mid-June this will be fully dry and in mid-Summer conditions. 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 5/18/2026, By: AlejandraOutside
Info: My hiking partner and I knew odds of summiting and odds of this being a recon trip were roughly equal given the prevailing wisdom that snow generally lingers in the avenue well into June. The trail up was 99.8% clear of snow; the few sections with remaining snow below 12k were short (less than ten feet), infrequent, and easy to navigate.

Above 12k ft, there were significant snow fields across the standard route up Challenger. The snow was sugary, soft, and challenging to traverse by 10am. In retrospect we could have gained the summit of Challenger by travelling straight up the slope, but it was getting late, and forecasted wind rolled in, so we stamped the “exploratory” label on this day with “no regerts.” Someone else posted pics of the avenue on the Colorado 14ers FB page today, and while it’s holding snow, it does look traversable for me with extreme caution and some gear. YMMV. 

Route: Willow Cr approach, Pencil Couloir
Posted On: 1/12/2026, By: jacolc
Info: The approach to my bivi below lake was icy (30%), dry (30%) and snowy at upper part. Just below 11200' at last big bend, steep hard snow required micro spikes or crampons. Soon i start using snowshoe. Summit day was cloudy, visibility sometimes few hundred feet. About 13300 start using crampons and enter Pencil Couloir left of standard route to Challenger. Kit Carson Avenue was full of snow, sometimes hard, but safe. The crux for me was shortcut from KCA to ridge: 300 vert feet of bulletproof snow and clean slabs (AL2,M1, class 3 at summer byBB from LoJ). After Kit Carson I potholing to pass with Colombia Pt and take north facing Outward Bound Couloir. Snow here was mostly hard allowing me glissaded only short section. At the base of couloir I start using snowshoe all the way to camp, except short section around lake. 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 10/27/2025, By: Kjdavis
Info: Summited on Saturday 10/25 - beautiful clear low wind day. Didn’t need microspikes till it started pitching up after the lake- would have used crampons if I had them. Used an ice axe for the steep part up and down, don’t think I would have made it without it. I’m usually fast through the mountains but was new to using an ice axe so it was a (beautiful) slow slog. Given how much longer it took than anticipated didn’t end up making it over to kit carson because would have run out of water and daylight on the trip back down the mountain. 

Route: North Slope
Posted On: 8/10/2025, By: mijoflynn
Info: Did Challenger and Kit Carson as a dayhike with parsaGh. 12 hours TH to TH, and wow, did it feel like it by the end of the hike out. Beautiful day: few clouds, minimal smoke on the peaks (though you could see it hanging over the western horizon), and best of all, no mosquitos anywhere on the route. The Challenger gully sucks both up and down no matter what you do, but in the Kit Carson gully, I agree with previous CRs that staying on the solid class 3 rock to climber’s far left was preferable to the loose stuff in the middle. 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 7/13/2025, By: kritifer15
Info: Got both Challenger and Kit Carson done today as a daytrip (15 hrs!). Challenger is no joke. Kit Carson from Challenger is easier. I am a slow descender but this was a new category of slow go today. The weather somehow held for us to get both of them. Got off the route coming down Challenger multiple times (some unintentional, some intentional). There were sections of class 3 solid rock that were easier to come down than the scree. It's a lot of effort but if you don't mind it (Our group did, hence the daytrip), bring a pack and camp by the lake and make it a 3 day ordeal.

Mosquitoes were above the lake FYI, for us up to the waterfall, for others all the way up to the notch. 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 7/6/2025, By: two lunches
Info: summited on a perfectly clear, calm day—winds were low and skies were cloudless. avoidable snow on the standard route. the ascent up Challenger was steep, but fine if you follow cairns.

my route finding was clearly better on the way up because my descent was a loose mess; tedious and slow with limited traction. give yourself mental buffer time because it’ll feel like it lasts forever.

no mosquitoes above the lake might be the best part of this peak. 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 6/30/2025, By: maylemay1
Info: Trail is in good condition. No snow to deal with but a bit went heading up challenger. But the mosquitos are HORRIBLE. I didn't know that many mosquitos existed on the entire earth. Constant swarms from the trailhead until you get above the lake. Be sure to bring some sort of bug protection or else you'll be miserable. And have your bag packed and ready. Don't plan to organize at the trailhead. 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 6/23/2025, By: whenisdinner
Info: Didn't continue to Kit Carson, but mostly summer conditions all the way, except for a couple snowfields next to the coloir below the notch. No need for spikes. Also some ice and snow at the crossover after the notch and right after gaining the ridgeline. 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 1/5/2025, By: Themanisme
Info: Only problem getting to the lake without snowhoes or traction was a few ice patchs. Once past the lake I lost standard trail repeatedly . Used crampons and ice axe to climb a few steeps. Wind was incredible blowing in a predicted 2-4" new snow . 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 10/13/2024, By: fmv093042
Info: Other than a few small snow patches, summer conditions! 6" of snow expected on Oct 18. And with the low temps, this is likely last week in 2024 for these conditions! 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 9/28/2024, By: interloper
Info: Dry to 13,000 feet, then increasing amount of snow with the notable section being the last 300 feet parallel to the gully. Traction was not required but highly preferable on the down-climb. Microspikes made the descent much more stable. The snow appears to be melting with the increased heat since last week, but will certainly stick around if temps drop.

The ridge traverse and summit of Challenger is entirely dry all the way to the intersection with the KC avenue, then more slippery snow until getting onto the avenue proper. Snow on the avenue is inconsequential and no traction is needed. 

Route: Willow Creek Approach
Posted On: 8/7/2024, By: Ariella6
Info: 8/6/2024 Tuesday

Pit toilet at trailhead. No trash cans. Plan on packing out what you pack in.

Its around 4.5 miles and 2800 feet of elevation gain to willow lake. Its very well done trail. There are 2 tent sites on way up that have a fire ring and a nice area for set up. It took us about 2 hours 15 minutes to get to this point.

There are several stream/river crossings on this trail. 3-4 bigger ones. It would be helpful to have a pole. one has a fairly solid log crossing and the rest just had some rocks. On the way up you could cross on the rocks , on the way down the rocks were covered with water. No way to get across and not get your feet wet.

After the lake, the trail gets to the not fun part. It is a steep loose rock gully. There is not really a clear trail..... there are several goat trails and only a handful of cairns along the route. Study the 14er.com pics beforehand and also have the map downloaded from all trails. Know the gulley is long, steep and tricky. My friend was really appreciative of her poles.

from the gulley to the top of challenger is not too bad. nice plaque on top of challenger.

Be sure to check your forecasts. We had checked rain was not in forecast until 6 pm. It started dumping rain and hailing at 2 pm. Come prepared. We were soaked all the way through even with rain gear.

On the way down the trail was just pure water. It was literally a stream pretty much all the way down. Just had to walk through it.

Time from lake back down to trailhead was 2.5 hours.

Saw marmots, pica, and big horn sheep! Loved seeing the sheep!

Oh the mosquitoes before the lake we put on our mosquito spray - mine was natural and my friend used deet spray. I had 2 bites and my friend had 0.