Mt. Hilton, SE Couloir

Access to Mt Hilton starts at the Canyon Creek trailhead at the end of Canyon Creek road on the south side of the Trinity Alps Wilderness. Hike up Canyon Creek Lakes trail 6 miles to the fork with Canyon Creek Boulder Lakes trail. Another two miles leads to Canyon Creek Boulder Lakes. This trail requires a crossing of Canyon Creek and can be very dangerous when water levels are high. One guide book describes this trail as one of the steepest in the Trinity Alps. A long climb day starts at these lakes at 5755 ft, and heads up towards a saddle to the east of the summit. Verl Duckering describes the SE Couloir route as enjoyable friction climbing on a solid granite inclined plane. One pitch of protected 3/4 class climbing ends at a horizontal ridge line and the summit. An alternate route is up the ridge bordering the steep exposed North Face. This route requires about 250 ft of fixed rope climbing. Above this is another pitch of exposed class 4/high class 3 climbing along an almost horizontal ridge crest.