7/1/2019 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 7/3/2019, By: BratwurstGoblin Info: Agree with Tacocat's report on snow conditions. The trail below treeline crosses a few avalanche debris fields that are mostly clear, just a few trees to duck under/around. There is one section of debris over the trail that still holds a lot of snow, might change that section once it melts out. |
|
6/30/2019 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/30/2019, By: MarcusCO Info: The road to American Basin is closed, so went for this route instead. Much of the route is still covered by debris, though it's not too hard to get through. Just give yourself extra time to require the trail. The snow starts to get heavy at around 12,000 feet and continues all the way to the summit. |
|
6/26/2019 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/28/2019, By: jess_hem Info: The road is open and easily passable to Grizzly Gulch trailhead. First couple of miles of trail have several avalanche debris areas to climb/crawl through. All are passable, just a little more work. There is a trail crew there now working on clearing debris. Snow starts as you leave the last trees. Snow all the way to the top. The very top of ridge and summit are melted out. Used spikes. Didn't need snowshoes - snow stayed fairly solid into the afternoon. Hardly any post holing. Came down around noon/1ish. |
|
6/20/2019 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 6/20/2019, By: Wildesr Info: Is anyone aware of the current/recent conditions of this hike and the drive to the trailhead? Any information would be very appreciated. Thanks! |
|
10/28/2018 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 10/28/2018, By: whitneyc0319 Info: Made it just past the stream after the American Basin/Cinnamon Pass split (wrangler with good tires) and parked there. Snow from the very beginning. Wore snowshoes until about a 1/4 mile from the summit. The snow is quite deep in spots. One posthole proved that the snow was thigh deep. Snowshoes are necessary. Trail is definitely hard to follow - no tracks on the mountain today other than ours. The snow was pretty hard in the morning (but still sinking a bit in snowshoes) but by late morning it was getting slick and hard to climb. Descent was quite slippery as well. |
|
10/18/2018 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 10/18/2018, By: bkcheck Info: Dry up to 11800 but snow-covered from there on up. Snow was anywhere from 6"-18" deep from that point forward - snowshoes helped a lot but breaking trail was still pretty slow going. Turned around at about 12700 but got a good look at the route leading up to the ridge (see second pic). I'm sure there was a solid couple of feet for the remainder of the route. |
|
10/13/2018 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 10/15/2018, By: Reg0928 Info: Recommend snow shoes. Snow is between 6-24" deep in the basin. I only had spikes and gaiters, and I turned back right around Sloan Lake. Probably could have made it up, but it was deep and very slow going. After Sunday's storms it'll be a lot deeper I'd imagine. |
|
9/9/2018 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 9/11/2018, By: Randyletourneau Info: Path is well worn and very easy to follow. Near the summit the path has some lose gravel and footing is not hard, but have to be careful. More challenging going down than up. Lost my footing several times, but only fell once as foot normally slipped just a couple inches. Vast majority of trail is great and easy to follow for this first timer. Had crazy weather as it was sunny most of the day, but started with rain and had snow flurries half way up the trail. |
|
8/13/2018 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 8/15/2018, By: scottf Info: The last slope up from the shoulder of the ridge is indeed steep and has more than "a bit of loose rock"--it was all pretty loose and ugly. Given the poor footing (emphasized by watching another hiker falling and sliding past us), exposure, and wind, we opted (wisely) to descend by the standard (SW slopes) route. Walking the extra four miles on the road back to the trailhead would have been well worth it--but a generous soul from Montrose was kind enough to give us a ride back in his Honda side by side. |
|
7/4/2018 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 7/18/2019, By: kevmille Info: The traditional route up to Sloan Lake was a lot of snow and the lake was iced over. We went straight up. It was steep but at least it was passable. Photo from summit looking at Sloan Lake. |
|
6/15/2018 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 6/15/2018, By: CatsAreMyFriends Info: There are still 4 or 5 tiny snow sections that can be climbed around, but were not difficult to traverse or in dangerous spots. Otherwise, the trail and road in are completely dry, barring the obvious river crossings. The smoke was present but very mild and did not cause any problems in hiking, and did not seem to limit visibility at the peak by very much, although I can't speak too much to this. The collegiates were faint but visible. edit: for clarification, all routes to the peak, as well as the routes to redcloud and sunshine that start from road 30 were accessible without going through restricted forest lands. They are part of Gunnison or Umcompahgre NF lands and are not under stage 3 fire bans as of the time of writing. |
|
6/5/2018 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/5/2018, By: JROSKA Info: As others have mentioned, there are still a few snowfields on the route but they are all avoidable. The large one near the summit appears problematic from farther below, but it can be avoided by staying on the rocks to the right. There is also a large snowfield just below the ridge (I crossed it), but as I discovered on the descent, that one can also be avoided by staying to the right and accessing the rock rib on the ridge just behind the snow. All that's required is a few very light scrambling moves on the rocks. If one does opt to cross the snowfield below the ridge, it's probably doable without traction or ice axe, but personally I was more comfortable with those. Mainly because farther below, that snowfield ends abruptly with steep cliffs. |
|
6/1/2018 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 6/3/2018, By: bethyhewes Info: Got a late start (noon) but forecast called for nothing but sun so I figured I'd go for it. Road clear of snow all the way to TH. I parked near start of American Basin road with my Outback. Took off boots and socks at stream crossing about .5 miles up the road as water was just above ankes at most shallow crossing. Still a bit of snow heading up to the basin and trail is wet and muddy where not snowy. I had microspikes but didn't use them as the snow was soft late in the day. Was glad to have my gaiters as the snow was up to knees in places. Instead of following the trail right up to Sloan Lake, it looked like many people were cutting left to avoid snow. I continued right on the trail (as much as possible). There were a couple of snow fields to traverse as I headed northeast towards Handies from Sloan Lake junction, but didn't feel like I needed traction as the snow was soft. Once I got to the switchbacks on the southwest slope, trail was dry all the way to the summit. Summit was windy but totally clear. Descent was quick with some fun little glissades. |
|
5/30/2018 Route: East Slopes Posted On: 6/2/2018, By: MatthewWatson Info: Beautiful conditions. A couple of snow fields between 13,000' and 14,000', but no traction necessary. I did manage a short glissade. |
|
5/28/2018 Route: Southwest Slopes Posted On: 5/29/2018, By: vswrman Info: Trail is in excellent early season condition. I had to navigate several shallow snow fields between 12,000 and 13,000ft. Although traction wasn't strictly necessary, it was definitely helpful. The overall trail was muddy from snowmelt with a layer of ice in the morning. Summit is basically snow free at this point. |
