Cabresto Lake Direct

Route

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Geography

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Page Type: Route

Location: New Mexico, United States, North America

Lat/Lon: 36.78060°N / 105.5086°W

Route Type: Scramble/Bushwhack

Time Required: Half a day

Difficulty: Class 2

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Page By: truchas

Created/Edited: Aug 20, 2005 / Aug 20, 2005

Object ID: 166388

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Table of Contents

Overview

This is the most direct and quickest way to the summit of Cabresto. It is not for the casual hiker as it involves some very steep and loose bushwacking, along with some routefinding. This may be preferrable as a quick way down rather than a quick way up due to the looseness of the route.

Approach

Start from the Cabresto Lake Trailhead. See the Main Page for instructions on how to get to Cabresto Lake.

Route Description

Total Elevation Gain: Approximately 3550 ft.
Total Round Trip Distance: Approximately 6 miles

Begin hiking along the trail past Cabresto Lake. About 2/3rds of the way across you will need to begin bushwacking directly uphill. You will eventually run into a ridge that comes directly off of Mt. Questa. Find this ridge and stay on it. There is a game trail that can be followed most of the way. The ridge will end above timberline near the summit of Mt. Questa. Hike to the top.

From Mt. Questa scramble down about 300 vertical feet to the Mt. Questa/Cabresto saddle. Hike directly up a class 1 ridge to the summit. There is at least one place on the ridge where it is more advantages to skirt it on the left side to avoid elevation gain and loss.

Essential Gear

No special equipment is necessary; however, you may want to wear long pants due to the bushwacking involved. A winter ascent is fairly easy in low snow conditions. During heavy snow years, access and climbing will be very difficult and possibly dangerous due to avalanche conditions.