Little Bear Peak

Route: Little Bear + Blanca Traverse
Posted On: 10/18/2026, By: paulj4228
Info: We decided to try for a late season attempt of the traverse.

TLDR: The ridge is currently snowy and icy. The snow/ice increases in severity as you approach Blanca, with the final pitch to Blanca being nearly covered in snow and ice. Would not recommend an attempt with the current conditions.

We parked at around 8800 feet on Mt Blanca Road. The 4 miles up the road wasn’t fun, it was steep and rocky. We camped at Lake Como, started around 5:30am, took the Little Bear Peak West Ridge/Hourglass. The Hourglass had a lot of ice (see picture), but it could be avoided fairly easily (probably easier if you are okay with some short class 5 climbing sections, we may have gotten close to class 5).

The down-climb from Little Bear was likely the most difficult section for us. There was ice on many surfaces, ensuring we were constantly doubting the stability of our hand and footholds. We put on our microspikes at the start of this section. The down-climb and the first tower were very time consuming for us due to the icy conditions.

The next sections went by without issue, though we were slowed by the ice. The next difficulty we encountered was on the third tower, just before the final pitch. It was covered in probably 6 inches to a foot of snow. Our microspikes helped, but we mostly relied on the rocks that were jutting out of the snow. The snow was hard packed and there was ice on nearly all surfaces. We took our time and cleared ice when needed. The final pitch had the most snow and ice, but it was not as steep as climbing the third tower so it was relatively “a breeze”.

After summitting Blanca, we took the northwest ridge down. The trail was covered in hard packed snow, especially along the ridge. We had microspikes but crampons and ice axes would be advisable with the current conditions. We scooted and dug in our feet to get past the packed snow. The snow softened a bit at around 13500 feet and we were able to slide on our butts. Around Crater Lake, the snow was no longer a hindrance and following the trail was easy. We got back to camp around 4:30pm

All in all, it was a long, fun, and nerve-racking day. I would not recommend doing this traverse in its current conditions. For context, my hiking partner and I are both decent rock climbers. I feel our experience rock climbing and on other technical routes helped us squeak this one out, but just barely.

If you’re reading this and you are going up a mountain, don’t forget to post a conditions update! We were dying for an update on Blanca or Little Bear but there were none in October. We absolutely would not have climbed if we knew the conditions. Pay it forward! And be safe out there. 

Route: SW Ridge
Posted On: 10/18/2026, By: daway8
Info: Only went to, and slightly beyond South Little Bear before deciding I didn't really want an October grid slot for Little Bear bad enough to keep fighting the snow/ice on the north faces of each hump on the ridgeline after an already long day up the SW Ridge. The talus on that never ending ridge makes both ascent and descent painfully slow. Route was totally dry until the final upper ridgeline where all the humps had their north sides coated in snow/ice and some of the ridge proper - including catwalk sections were also icy.

It was warm enough to periodically hear ice crystals falling down the mountain and then I sent large shards crashing down the mountain like broken glass as I brushed the ridgeline clean crossing narrow sections. For the Knife Edge I crossed one part hanging by my arms off the top lip and kicked away ice at the far end to get off safely. For one narrow section covered with snow/ice I didn't trust the worn out microspikes I had with me so I crawled across brushing away snow and ice as I went to ensure solid purchase.

So with all this extra slow down due to conditions, on top of the never ending talus, I decided to settle for the 14er sub-summit. Looking across the valley, it looks like West Ridge Direct as well as Indirect seem largely dry but the Hourglass is holding substantial ice right now - I'll upload some photos. 

Route: West Ridge Indirect
Posted On: 9/30/2026, By: drewskiclimbs
Info: Still summer conditions as of Sun Sept 27. Made it to the summit without any of the extreme exposure of the West Ridge, scrambled directly up to the crux of WRI route. Fun day. 

Route: Little Bear + Blanca Traverse
Posted On: 9/14/2026, By: Nosimplehighway
Info: Warm but relatively calm winds and dry trail conditions for West Ridge Indirect up Little Bear followed by an absolutely epic traverse over to Blanca Peak. Camped at Lake Como Friday night and was on the fence about the traverse the day before the summit. The gulley up to the notch on Little Bear was looser and worse than I expected - worse than Broken Hand Pass, in my opinion - plus hard to spot in the pre-dawn darkness . Made it to the notch within 45 minutes. West Ridge Indirect also still has substantial rockfall danger in places when there are other climbers on the route, especially gaining the ridge, and while crossing above the hourglass. Heard and saw a terrifyingly large rockfall to the climber's left of the ridge while on the ridge top. The so-called crux move on WRI was much easier than I was anticipating with several foot holds on the right side of what was very stable rock. Highly recommend anyone considering this route follow the ridge direct the entire way rather than the WRI route described on 14ers.com due to lower rockfall danger on the ridge proper. The ridge direct does have a 5.4 chimney but the rock is comparatively solid.

After Little Bear, the traverse was exhilirating and adrenaline raising but felt far more stable and solid. The crux of the traverse by far was the lower part of the downclimb off of LIttle Bear. The initial feet of the descent felt tame but the rock got steeper near the bottom of the first slope, and I would have sworn I was going to cliff out had I not studied the route ahead of time. Nevertheless, the down climb was not technically difficult, and I am not sure I encountered what I would describe as any true class 5 climbing on the traverse - just a lot of very exposed and sustained class 4. It also helped downclimbing with other climbers to communicate the route to one another. The exposure was significant enough that I only took very few photos during the crux of the route. The only other slightly challenging move was cutting across the gulley on the low point on the route, but there wasn't significant exposure here. All in all it took me 2 hours 30 minutes for the whole traverse including a quick food break. I also did not find the catwalk to be as challenging as some other folks have mentioned - it seemed wider than the narrowest points of Capitol's Knife Edge, although there were no real hand holds so I did keep my center of gravity low as I walked across. I didn't find any of the ascent back up to Blanca to be technically challenging but it would not be ideal to be up there on a day with high winds.

The descent from Blanca, and then down to Lake Como and down the road seemed experientially long after the traverse. I found the traverse itself was too exhilirating for me to feel tired until after I was well on my way down the descent, but it is a long day, even for those acclimated to the altitude and terrain. This is definitely a route I would like to repeat provided I take a direct ridge route up Little Bear - by far the sketchiest parts of the day were the portions on Little Bear where I was below the top of the ridgeline, and even the WRI route seems to have more rockfall danger than I prefer, but the ridge itself seems more solid for anyone not squeamish about exposure. 

Route: Northwest Face
Posted On: 9/13/2026, By: daway8
Info: Used the recent report by rmlee29 as a guide up this neat variation of Little Bear, then descended West Ridge Direct Full Span (avoiding the 1st gully above Lake Como and instead descending near the start of the road). I liked rmlee's initial climb up the rock face as a way to avoid some talus but burned a lot of time afterwards trying to match up pictures and figure out exactly where to go - ended up way over-thinking it. Ultimately, could largely simplify to, go up the initial wall, angle up to the bottom of the cliffs, then stay at or near the bottom of the cliffs, traversing over to the left until you come to the super obvious class 3 gully, then shoot up to the ridge to the right of the first main tower on the LB-B Traverse. Zigzagging on ledges does ease the climbing considerably. This is a neat variation with a little more spice than the typical routes! WRD downclimb simplified the return and kept the spice going (much more interesting than WRI). 

Route: West Ridge and Hourglass
Posted On: 9/3/2026, By: cmarhanka
Info: The road starts fairly decent, becoming progressively worse until it is just awful. I started around 8500 feet, under 3 miles in. There’s plenty of camping in this area, but hardly any level spots. I had to use some rocks and creative parking to get my truck mostly level. Slept in the truck.
Started just before 5 am. The hike to Lake Como didn’t seem bad on the way up, but was absolutely tedious on the return. It’s very rocky and gives your ankles a good workout. Took about 2 1/2 hours to the lake. Another 2 1/2 hours to the summit.
The first gully to the saddle, off the main trail, I thought was the worse part. Steep and loose. Kind of similar to the gully on Sneffels, only not as long but more steep. Staying climber’s right seems most stable, but still pretty awful. Anyone who hates on Broken Hand Pass, I’d say this is worse. I was extra cautious and still fell on the descent, scraping up my shins, again, and bruising my bottom.
After the saddle, it’s a lot like Wilson Peak. You’re picking your way along below the ridge crest. The rock is kind of rotten and broken, but careful trekking and there’s no problems.
I took the hourglass up and down. I was the only person in the hourglass and had no issues with falling rocks. There are multiple ropes, but I avoided them. The ropes were in the center and that seemed to be the smoothest, least climbable area. Instead I just picked my way back and forth finding plenty of solid hand and foot holds. It wasn’t bad at all, and maybe 15 minutes from bottom to top of ropes. Same for the descent.
Summit was awesome with incredible views. I took the time to traverse to “South Little Bear”. No difficulties finding the way there and back. It was like a mini El Diente-Wilson traverse. Took about 40 minutes roundtrip. 

Route: West Ridge Indirect
Posted On: 9/2/2026, By: sammidog3
Info: Great day on WRI and first ascent of Little Bear for me. I found WRI to be a safe route - the rocks on the short ridge stretch were much more stable than I anticipated from prior reports and online videos, the crux reach for shorter climbers can be countered with choices for intermediate handholds and footholds on the left or right. And you can crab walk (hands and feet on both sides) short sections to further mitigate any risk. The GPX route and elevations were spot on and the visual queues (black cliff, white flat rock) were easily findable. I would highly recommend this route to anyone looking to avoid the rock fall risks on the hourglass option. 

Route: West Ridge Indirect
Posted On: 8/1/2026, By: daway8
Info: Went up the West Ridge Indirect approach with Will_E as part of the CMC celebration putting people on every 14er today. Riding Will's ripstream we reached the summit in what was a personal record for me of just 2hr 25min from Lake Como to the summit.
Along the way we met Bryan and Adam who joined us just before the ridge and stayed with us most of the day until we got down the first gully. All parties involved were pleased overall with the route and the consensus was that the crux was very solid and easier than expected (but your mileage may vary, especially if you're bothered by exposure). There were groups on both the West Ridge Indirect and the standard Hourglass route today. 

Route: West Ridge Ind. -> Blanca Traverse -> Ellingwood
Posted On: 7/27/2026, By: backcountrybrodes
Info: Big fan of the west route honestly - one exposed 50ft section of class 4 on ridge proper and then a breeze from there. The right turn mentioned in the route is immediately after you leave the exposed part. I never found the circled white rock in the route description but the turn is pretty intuitive anyways. Just because it's not the hourglass doesn't mean there is no rockfall!! Take care on the way up to the west ridge from the scree field below the hourglass. Traverse was a blast and weather held out for us. Trickiest section on the whole thing imo is right after you leave the class 4 downclimb from LB. 

Route: Northwest Face
Posted On: 8/6/2026, By: treefrog2005
Info: Full summer conditions. The Northwest Face route is described in Roach's book and a few places online, but not here. Having climbed halfway up the Hourglass route in full April snow conditions a couple years ago, and knowing there were other groups on the mountain this day, I did not want to be above or below anyone else in the Hourglass, so chose to climb and descend the Northwest Face. The rock seemed more solid on the face, and no scree gully to ascend to gain the west ridge, but exposure is still high. Camped between Lake Como and the Blue Lakes at treeline. Left camp at 6am, hiked up to the Black Hand feature described elsewhere, then started climbing 4th, then 3rd, then 4th class to 13,700' by 9:15. Now a dense fog was obscuring everything, so I waited around for a few minutes, then descended to 13,300' by 10:30, by which time the fog had lifted so I started climbing again by a slightly different route. I made it to the top of the ridge by 11 and the summit by 11:20. This was my last Colorado 14er, and I shared the summit with a lone marmot. There are a few cairns along parts of the route, but it would have been wiser to either record a GPS track or bring a rope to descend the Hourglass because the descent was scary at points and I definitely got lost and cliffed out as I got back down to just above the Black Hand. Eventually I found a way down a talus slope and back to camp at 4pm. 

Route: West Ridge Indirect
Posted On: 7/19/2026, By: seannunn
Info: Full summer conditions. No snow anywhere.

I would emphasize the need on this route (and likely every route on Little Bear) so test every hold and foot placement before you weight them. Of the hundreds I tested, there were many that were loose, including a few that visually appeared as though they would be very solid.
The holds and foot placements on and near the crux move on the ridge are very solid. 

Route: North West face and traverse to Blanca
Posted On: 6/18/2026, By: SnowAlien
Info: Did the NorthWest face (Black hand) route with Grizzly Adams. Started just to the right of the "black hand", it's choose your own adventure route. The initial section had some class 5 moves where I had to think about hand/foot placements. The middle section is Class 3. I was somewhat nervous about the upper part, but it was more obvious than expected and could be kept at class 4.
Continued with the traverse to Blanca, took about 3 hours. No snow on route except just below Blanca summit. 

Route: West Ridge Indirect
Posted On: 6/13/2026, By: AndrewJCraigie
Info: We were on the fence on doing hourglass or west ridge indirect, and choose west ridge. We felt we made the right call when we saw a fridge size boulder shoot down the hourglass. Terrifying 

Route: West Ridge Indirect
Posted On: 6/6/2026, By: V1per41
Info: Full Summer Conditions. 

Route: West Ridge Indirect
Posted On: 6/6/2026, By: ztweb
Info: The route is completely snow-free, including the entire gully. Having done the Hourglass route before, I can definitely say the West Ridge Indirect route feels a lot less like Russian roulette, but there is plenty of rock fall risk nonetheless.

The ridge crest is the most solid rock you’ll be on the entire day. I gained the ridge exactly where the gpx track prescribed and thought it was the most uncomfy climbing. Due to this, I decided to exit the ridge shortly after the crux (“before” the prescribed spot) and found it much easier. Beyond the looseness, the route is pretty straightforward and I found the crux to be pretty tame and less exposed-feeling than I was expecting.

As others have noted, the gully is pretty loose and you don’t want to be below any other parties while in it. I found descending it to be a lot more tedious than ascending it. When I climbed LB 2 years ago, I didn’t think that it was worse than other dust/scree/choss gullies, but IMO it’s gotten worse since then, along with the Lake Como Road.