Mt. of the Holy Cross

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/30/2024, By: Slingshot77
Info: Parking lot to Summit and back on 30SEP2024. We took the standard North Ridge CLASS 2 route. Road to trailhead was rough at the Community House but made it with a RAV4 AWD. Viewing the cross creek camp valley with autumn aspens makes for an incredible picture. Trail was clear. Small patches of snow are beginning to fill the couloirs. Temperatures from 50s to 70s with very little wind. We encountered less than a dozen people making their way to the summit. Had a lunch and made several leisurely stops that put our time at 11 hours. Took 1.5 liters each of liquid and refilled 1 liter at cross creek on the way back to the parking lot. Total of 11.25 miles round trip with 5,200' elevation gain for the day. This is the most beautiful and difficult hike we have accomplished to date. 

Route: Halo Ridge
Posted On: 9/30/2024, By: ColoNativeGal
Info: Summer conditions, but snow is starting to stick on the north faces of all of these mountains (doesn't impact the route at all). No snow in the Cross yet though :( Definitely an epic route with the views and perspectives. A long day, need good fitness and lots of water. I can't imagine doing this during the hotter summer months. Fall colors are epic right now. Route finding seemed straight forward, but for some reason on the first UN 13,253 we got off route and made it harder than it needed to be. There are only a few cairns on this route. Didn't see any of the mountain spiders listed in the route description so this could be either it's too cold now, off route, and/or both. I personally was looking forward to seeing these spiders. Saw some goats crossing the ridge just below the shelter towards the first UN 13,253. Road has a lot of pot holes in the beginning, then rocky/"rough" (as others have posted) past the community house. Pick your lines carefully in a sedan, anything with clearance no problem. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/28/2024, By: th3jamin
Info: Clear all the way to the summit. Left camp at 4:30 and was on the summit before 9, back down to camp by 12:30. Route was in prime fall condition with the Aspens popping. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/22/2024, By: RRanger1996
Info: Great conditions overall with a little (10+ MPH) wind making it jacket and glove weather above tree line. Amazing hike especially with the Aspens popping 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/20/2024, By: pater
Info: No snow on the route or peak. Some snow lingers in pockets along the northeast of the peak. No significant mud on the route. Half of the campsites at East Cross Creek are open. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/16/2024, By: jackfox
Info: Dry and clear as of early AM. Arrived around 3pm on Sat, found parking easily with day hikers leaving. Camped overnight, spots half full. Summitted for sunrise early Sun (left camp at 3:30am), trail very well marked, easy to follow in the dark. Minimal (if any) route finding. Back to parking lot by noon. Recommend a very early ascent, as almost everyone behind us got hit with rain. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 8/21/2024, By: nathanolds146
Info: Trail is easy to follow except for a little scrambling right below the summit. It rained between 4-6AM which turned into thick fog and clouds surrounding the entire mountain when the sun rose. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 7/21/2024, By: mtngoatwithstyle
Info: Beautiful day out there. Hiked to Half Moon Pass and then down to the creek for a hike. Conditions are dry. Mosquitoes and flies are present in abundance. 

Route: Halo Ridge
Posted On: 7/17/2024, By: tlgold1990
Info: Summer conditions, no traction needed and all snow avoidable. My friend and I both agree that 90% of this is going to be on the boulders and definitely more "scrambling" then this route description leads onto. Once we hit the shelter we probably saw a total of 5 cairns, so not much to go on besides staying close to the ridge and just picking your best line. Lots of solid boulders but some pretty loose huge ones. Long day and definitely type 2 fun. We went up Halo ridge and opted to go down thr standard route to avoid some of the loose steep spots. Would have probably taken us just as long to go down as it did to get up. The amazing views from this route made it worth it. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 7/13/2024, By: reindeerzoozoo
Info: Long time lurker finally confident enough in my skills and knowledge to post. Left Denver at 4am. The dirt road leading to the trailhead is pretty well maintained and can be done with a 2 wheel drive vehicle. Started the main route at 7am kept a pretty chill pace with someone I met in the parking lot. Summited at 11 on the dot. took an extra long lunch at the top and ended up helping some one that ran out of water on the way back. Returned to the car just before 3:30. Absolutely amazing day on Holy Cross. Trail is all dry... other than the stream crossing which is very manageable, especially if you have poles. Being a Friday I saw quite a few people on trail most of which were backpacking in during my decent. Very well marked and easy to follow trail. Had a Blast. Will be back to do some backpacking in the area for sure. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 7/10/2024, By: rainbow_fist
Info: Completely summer conditions. Trail was super easy to follow and well marked. Creek crossing was a bit sketch compared to last year since the trees were a bit more wobbly, but still had enough trees/rocks to walk across. Just had to take it a little slower. Backpacked in on 7/6 to Cross Creek and most of the campsites were full on a holiday weekend. Site 3 was super big and we fit 3 separate parties in it for a total of 4 tents. Probably could've fit 2 more 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 7/5/2024, By: AndrewJCraigie
Info: No snow at all to deal with 

Route: Cross Couloir
Posted On: 7/2/2024, By: MtnMann
Info: Summited via Cross Couloir on Saturday. Conditions were better than expected (I was nervous not being able to get eyes on the couloir before attempting the approach) with temps only getting down to about 36-38 on the summit, and some significant cloud cover/rain overnight. We decided to go for it and just be open/frank about turning around if we saw any significant instability in the snow. Started from the campsites by the river at 0340 Note: if you are going to go up to the Bowl of Tears, camp in one of the sites on the east side of the river (#1 or #2), so you only have to cross the river once in the morning, and not once in the evening and once in the morning. We came in late on Friday night and camped in #5 and only realized our error in the morning. From the sites to the base of the couloir took us longer than we hoped (~3.5 hrs), with the route finding in the dark. Almost no snow here, just thick trees, boulders and some wet areas to avoid. The snow in the couloir was definitely soft by the time we started (~0800) but it was mostly the top few inches and was still supportive, so we went for it. The couloir also took us longer than expected (2.75 hrs) and no established bootpack. We got lucky with significant cloud cover in the morning so the snow was mostly unaffected by the sun until ~1015 so it held up well for our climb. The runnel/slide in the middle is very pronounced, maybe 3ft deep in spots. There was definitely water running underneath the snow, but we were able to stay away from moats to the side and thin spots in the middle. Snow was pretty variable, with some stiffer pockets and some corn granules and some iccee consistency, but for the most part, any snow that made me nervous was only in very small pockets and we were able to shift to the side or move through quickly. Snow was still continuous from the top of the cliffs (at the bottom) to the summit, but definitely thin in spots on the side and larger rocks exposed in the middle part-way up. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 6/29/2024, By: ehuber
Info: Great conditions overall! The road coming up was a little bumpy but Ive seen much worse. There were very few snowy patches until nearing the summit where there was a large snow patch right next to the trail but all very easy to go around. A few smaller streams crossed the path making some parts a little muddy, but even with the storm the night before, it wasnt bad at all. No snow gear was necessary and other than lots of wind and sprinkling rain in the morning, the weather was great. The trickiest part of it all was crossing the creek. We attempted to take our boots and socks off and walk through, but the water was so unbearably freezing. We ended up keeping boots on, finding a large stick to help us balance and walk across the logs, branches, and rocks that were somewhat out of the water. It worked great with waterproof boots, we just had to take our time to avoid falling in. Definitely the hardest fourteener Ive ever done, but glad I could check it off the list! 

Route: Halo Ridge
Posted On: 6/27/2024, By: zackj99
Info: Ascended the Halo Ridge Route and Descended the North Ridge Route. Summer conditions with only a few snow fields ahead of the final ascent. Some snow on the North Ridge route but all avoidable. Didn't use any traction. Cross was still very much visible! Great day!