Quandary Peak

[17Hunter]

Hey first post here and an awesome site. Looking for some guidance on hiking quandary peak. I will be in Leadville next weekend and wanted to go for my first 14er.
Anyone know how the conditions are after the snow earlier this week?

 

[Salmon River Solutions]

Welcome! I can absolutely not help you with your question!

 

[17Hunter]

Thank you for the welcome and I absolutely appreciate the honesty!

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I do t know about snow conditions but quandary peak is an easy 14er, I did it a few years back, if you’re in Leadville, Mt. Sherman is right there and that’s another easy 14er, part of the mosquito range, it’s definetly doable in the winter, I did it with snow shoes.

If there isn’t any snow, you may as well just do Mt. elbert which is the highest 14er in Colorado, it’s just right outside of Leadville.

 

[17Hunter]

I looked at Mt Sherman too. Quandary is only an hour drive from where I am staying and Sherman was about 2.5. The trails gets busy from what I have heard, so I jut went with the closer trail. I am leaving Leadville right after and heading up to SD bird hunting, so I only have 1 day for hiking around. Droping my daughter off in Leadville for a 55 day Outward Bound course

 

[stubbleducker]

Can't help you with current conditions, sorry.
My grandparents build a cabin in Placer Valley in '72 just south of Quandry over Hoosier Pass. That area was my playground growing up. Climbing, jeeping, fishing, it was paradise! But other than visiting and walking their property with the current owner a couple times, I havent been in that area, other than snowboarding, since they died in the early 90s.

 

[Cutknife]

I was out in Southpark this morning, all the peaks in Quandary’s direction were solid white from tree line up.
Would guess 6 to 10 inches of snow up there, is suppose to warm up this week though.

 

[17Hunter]

Great info Cut, thank you.

 

[CoHiCntry]

Look at trail condition reports on 14ers.com. They have a good app too.

 

[DoveBlaster]

No help on current conditions but was up around blue lakes/ quandary peak mid summer and it was beautiful country, great waterfalls on the way up the main road.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I looked at Mt Sherman too. Quandary is only an hour drive from where I am staying and Sherman was about 2.5. The trails gets busy from what I have heard, so I jut went with the closer trail. I am leaving Leadville right after and heading up to SD bird hunting, so I only have 1 day for hiking around. Droping my daughter off in Leadville for a 55 day Outward Bound course

I’m not sure how you are figuring 2.5 hours to drive to Mt. Sherman unless you are talking about the back route, you can literally access Mt. Sherman from one of the roads right there in Leadville.

 

[def90]

Quandary is hikeable year round without any specialty equipment. So many people do it in the winter that the trail gets well packed and you can pretty much do it with just boots as long as it hasn't snowed for a couple days, otherwise if there is fresh snow some small MSR snowshoes may be needed in places.

 

[17Hunter]

Thank you.

I am just going by GPS, says Quandary is 1 hr 6 min and Mt Sherman is 2 hrs 26 min from where i am staying.

 

[17Hunter]

Update: Made the climb to the top of Quandary on Sunday. Great day, great trail conditions. Saw a bunch of goats and burned lot of calories. That altitude, 14,265, is no joke. Especially for someone that has lives at 900 feet.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Nice man!!!

 

[caesAR15]

Update: Made the climb to the top of Quandary on Sunday. Great day, great trail conditions. Saw a bunch of goats and burned lot of calories. That altitude, 14,265, is no joke. Especially for someone that has lives at 900 feet.

Nice work! I did Quandary a few years back, you're not kidding about the altitude (fellow flatlander here). I also saw goats. KUDOS!