Gladstone Peak Climb: Colorado Centennial via the East Face

Posted on August 9, 2025November 5, 2025 by jim

Gladstone Peak is one of the Colorado Centennial peaks that is usually accessed via a ridge from the base of Wilson Peak after hiking in from the Rock of Ages trailhead or Navajo Basin.
After viewing Gladstone while summitting Wilson Peak twice in the last two weeks, I knew that it needed to be next, but reports about the North Ridge were pretty sketchy.
I love these route descriptions:
"The rock deteriorates in this area and doesn’t get much better on the remaining route"
"The remaining route is more dangerous and includes a lot of scrambling on loose rock"
"Beyond this area, the route gets even more serious as the risk of moving rocks increases"
"If you descend away from the crest, you’ll quickly find loose, dangerous rock".
All of that sounds like not much fun, but there were trail reports on 14ers.com about an option taking the East Face from Lizard Head Peak.
That sounds much better than the North Ridge!
Usually the East Face is done with snow since there is good rock up high and a relatively low slope at the base, however it is certainly doable as a summer climb with Class 3 (or Class 4 if you go up the chutes below the summit as I did) experience.
From the Cross Mountain trailhead near Lizard Head Pass I logged 12.42 miles roundtrip with 4,834 feet of elevation gain, however most of this is easy Class 1 hiking until you get to the basin past Lizard Head Peak where it turns to Class 2 and then ratchets up from there.
From the summit there are clear views of Wilson Peak, Mount Wilson, Navajo Basin and the El Diente traverse, all amazing in their own right.
Plus being a 13ers and not a 14er, you’re pretty much guaranteed solitude while everyone else is bagging the 14ers all around. I saw nobody all day except climbers on top of the distant peaks.
And to top it off – Lizard Head Peak standing tall and proud, you cross below it on the hike in and out and it really is a stunning chunk of rock.
Recommend? 100%! Skip the sketchy North Ridge unless you’re combining Gladstone with Wilson Peak, you’ll enjoy the entire hike and climb and stay away from all of the sketchy stuff.