Peak Condition Update | Mt. Bierstadt

Peak:	Mt. Bierstadt
Route:	West Slopes
Range:	Front
Posted By:	Hunttimes2
Date of Info:	6/17/2015
Date Posted:	6/17/2015

Details
I did this with my husband today and it was our first 14'er. We arrived at 6 to start our adventure The walk down to Scott Gomer creek was pleasant if you like walking in mud soup and trying to respect the trail by staying on the trail and not walking around the mud soup. Which brings me to the "raging" creek.. We looked for at least 45 minutes for a "safe" spot to cross and finally found a spot about 25 yards downstream where a big Boulder is and we hiked up our pants took boots and socks off and waded across. I am not going to lie it was freezing in the early morning but somewhat tolerable by 1:00 when we headed back across. We both had extra socks packed and ready to go. We continued up the very muddy trail and about 12,800 is where the snow hit. We put on our microspikes. From here you can see posthole tracks all the way up but I don't think they were anywhere near where the trail actually is. I would say I am in reasonable shape and my husband is in excellent shape. It was a straight up vertical climb in snow as deep as above the knee at times. Not easy! Most people were going much slower from here to the top. I did see a girl off to the right and I am thinking she was the only one who knew where the trail actually was as she looked to climb the boulders and we did not. Beautiful up top! Going down was not as easy.... Slushy by 11:30 and I cannot say I stayed vertical the whole time. We made it back to our vehicle all muddy and excited that we did it. If this is your first 14'er my advice is to wait for the snow to melt away some. Good luck!

Details

I did this with my husband today and it was our first 14'er. We arrived at 6 to start our adventure
The walk down to Scott Gomer creek was pleasant if you like walking in mud soup and trying to respect the trail by staying on the trail and not walking around the mud soup. Which brings me to the "raging" creek.. We looked for at least 45 minutes for a "safe" spot to cross and finally found a spot about 25 yards downstream where a big Boulder is and we hiked up our pants took boots and socks off and waded across. I am not going to lie it was freezing in the early morning but somewhat tolerable by 1:00 when we headed back across. We both had extra socks packed and ready to go.
We continued up the very muddy trail and about 12,800 is where the snow hit. We put on our microspikes. From here you can see posthole tracks all the way up but I don't think they were anywhere near where the trail actually is. I would say I am in reasonable shape and my husband is in excellent shape. It was a straight up vertical climb in snow as deep as above the knee at times. Not easy! Most people were going much slower from here to the top. I did see a girl off to the right and I am thinking she was the only one who knew where the trail actually was as she looked to climb the boulders and we did not. Beautiful up top! Going down was not as easy.... Slushy by 11:30 and I cannot say I stayed vertical the whole time. We made it back to our vehicle all muddy and excited that we did it. If this is your first 14'er my advice is to wait for the snow to melt away some. Good luck!

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