Has anyone been up Horse Creek trail to Matterhorn Peak/Whorl Mountain? I am heading out there this weekend and would appreciate any info on conditions. I assume the chockstone on Whorl is still full of snow and ice...

Thanks in advance

-S

Proof of the Matterhorn from upper Horse Ck. on July 13. Continual Snow from 1/4 mile above this point. I wasn't willing to slog my LF camera any higher. The last time I stood on its summit, the Eagle had just landed – on the moon.

Thanks for the info. Nice photo, btw. I would love to get into photography, but I have too many expensive hobbies already...

S

We camped at Horse Creek pass Saturday night, then went up Matterhorn Sunday morning.

There is still a fair amount of snow on the upper portion towards the pass. The snow was pretty firm - I don't have much experience traveling on snow, so it was a bit interesting at times.

The bench leading to the Whorl Mountain ascent gully still has a lot of snow.

Mosquito's were bad in the three meadows heading out of Twin Lakes, but not bad past 10k ft.

I'll post pictures if I can figure out how...

-s

I think hitting them both in one weekend depends on how much time you have, as well as the weather. We drove from the Bay Area Saturday morning, and started the trail at 11:00am. By the time we reached the pass at about 6pm it was obvious we would not make Matterhorn that day. (Our original plan was to hit Matterhorn Saturday evening, then Whorl Sunday morning, then hike out in the afternoon.)

The thunderstorms slowed us down, as did our inexperience crossing the snowfields, which were firm and sun-cupped. I would like to have had an ice ax or at least some trekking poles for peace of mind.

I'm still working on the pictures.

-s

EDIT - My profile pick is the view up towards Horse Creek Pass on Sat. July 30th, somewhere around 3pm.

How bad is the snow? I am leading a group up Matterhorn on August 20th via Horse Creek. There is some debate over the need for an ice axe, but my hope is that snow will be patchy enough by then that no such thing is required to get up to the pass.

Was anyone climbing Matterhorn this weekend? Any status updates for Horse Creek?

Was anyone on Matterhorn this weekend? I have a group of 10 or 11 going next Saturday and want to make sure conditions are good - i.e. not too much snow via Horse Creek Canyon.

hgrapid wrote:Was anyone on Matterhorn this weekend? I have a group of 10 or 11 going next Saturday and want to make sure conditions are good - i.e. not too much snow via Horse Creek Canyon.

We had several folks climb Matterhorn via the SE Face on Friday. No snow on the SE Face, the usual snow on the north side of the pass. The snow was actually better than the usual talus/morraine slog.

I think we are climbing via Horse Creek Canyon - the northeast face

hgrapid wrote:I think we are climbing via Horse Creek Canyon - the northeast face

There is no NE Face route that I know of. There's the North Arete (class 5), but the standard route via Horse Creek Canyon goes over the south side of the pass and up the SE Slopes.

I thought the approach from Twin Lakes is from the north. That's what I meant - heading up from Twin Lakes.