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Hello,

I am planning to climb Lake Peak, in the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range, during Thanksviging weekend. Have any of you folks climbed this peak during this time before? I was wondering how the weather will be up there as well as the amount of snow that I could come across? Also, is the trail relatively easy to follow? Is a topo map needed?

I can't wait to go out there. I never knew much about New Mexico, and recently I browsed through the site and found some AWESOME wilderness. Since I'm stuck in Texas for a couple of years, I was happy to find out how bad ass the neighbor state is!

Thanks in advance, and feel free to throw in some ideas for places to check out on the drive from dallas to sante fe nf. Take is easy

I have been going up to the area (near Sipapu Ski Resort) often for my whole life from East Texas. I was up there a few weeks ago and there was only snow up high. There will probably be a decent amount of snow now though, as they have had a few storms recently.
The area is spectacular, but the drive on 287 can be tedious.

Which route?

The traditional "short" way was up the ski run to the ridge, then over. If ski season opens before or on Thanksgiving, that way will be closed. But you can also get to the top of the ski runs by the old road from near Aspen Vista (well, you could, 20 years ago!).

Or you can just walk the ridge from the saddle of the Windsor trail (E of Aspen Peak).

Else you can take the Windsor trail to the Penitente Peak branch near Puerto Nambe. That used to be a faint spur trail, but my guess is that it has become more obvious in the last 20 years.

MoapaPk wrote:Or you can just walk the ridge from the saddle of the Windsor trail (E of Aspen Peak).

I did this in January a few years back on snowshoes. The final ridge to Lake Peak can be a bit slippery, but I highly recommend it for the views and easy route-finding (follow the ridge)

Else you can take the Windsor trail to the Penitente Peak branch near Puerto Nambe.

Do you mean from the saddle on the way to Santa Fe Baldy? If so, then this is a long ways around, and I would guess that the trail from the saddle to Penitente would be impossible to find. When I started to go down it this summer, it more or less disappeared once it entered the trees.

seano wrote:

Do you mean from the saddle on the way to Santa Fe Baldy? If so, then this is a long ways around, and I would guess that the trail from the saddle to Penitente would be impossible to find. When I started to go down it this summer, it more or less disappeared once it entered the trees.[/quote]

Agreed, that's a very long way around.