Mt. of the Holy Cross

Route: Cross Couloir
Posted On: 7/1/2019, By: jmichael16
Info: The Tigiwon road was open all the way to the trailhead. Some snowfields going over half moon pass. We brought snowshoes which helped with the soft snow but still did some post-holing. Camped on snow below the bowl of tears and the snow up there was more firm for walking without snowshoes. Started at the base of the couloir around 6:45 am, topped out around 8:00. Snow had a soft layer on top but firm enough underneath to kick stable steps with crampons in the couloir. We descended along a snowfield to the south back down to the bowl of tears. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 6/29/2019, By: lawdoggy
Info: Gate not open! 

Route: Cross Couloir
Posted On: 6/13/2019, By: Gueza
Info: Skied the cross in corn at 8am yesterday. Besides a few runnels that are starting to form, the cross is still in great shape for skiing. Be prepared for some route finding between half moon pass and the north ridge and give yourself a little bit of extra time. I'd honestly just wait for the road to open at this point if anyone is looking to ski it soon. 

Route: Cross Couloir
Posted On: 6/9/2019, By: bmcqueen
Info: I biked/walked the road yesterday and camped at Halfmoon Pass last night. Today, I climbed the Cross Couloir and descended the standard route. The road is dry to about 10k (between five and six miles in). From the summer TH, there are only a couple of spots where the summer trail shows itself - mostly snow. I wore snowshoes from summer TH to Halfmoon Pass yesterday since it was 3:00 in the afternoon and soft. From Halfmoon Pass, the summer trail is very tricky to find from the drop from the corner to the creek. I burned an hour this morning in the dark. I finally found some steep snow that went (axe and crampons used) - it wasn't much easier on the way back this afternoon. Heading up to Bowl of Tears, snow was outstanding. The east face is quite snowy, but getting to the entrance to the Cross wasn't bad. The Cross is in great shape. Axe plunged in nicely and snow was supportive, but not bullet proof. Standard route down was a nice snowy decent. No sign of the summer trail until you get down to the the campsites near the creek. Runoff is in full swing, but it's still going to be a while before it's dry (certainly won't be by the solstice when the gate opens). 

Route: Cross Couloir
Posted On: 5/27/2019, By: BillMiddlebrook
Info: The cross has a lot of snow. Photo taken on 5/26 from the summit of 13er Peak 10, in the Tenmile range. 

Route: Cross Couloir
Posted On: 5/27/2019, By: areed20
Info: Skied the cross in a day today. It took us in current conditions 13 hours car to car biking and skinning the road. It is loaded with snow but another group who also summited on the 26th told us a group skied skied it late in the afternoon on the 25th which caused the middle to have a good wet slide down most of the couloir. The edges are skiing well though. There is a runnel starting to form in the middle. The route also has a cornice on top but as of the 26th it looked pretty stable. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 5/27/2019, By: Jennanney82
Info: This was one brutal hike due to the winter road closure to the summer TH and due to the snow but 100% worth it. We hiked 8 miles up Tigiwon road plus another mile and some change up to half moon pass where we camped for the night. We set out at 7am the next day to and were at the summit by 12:23pm. We did not use snowshoes, spikes, or ice axe. We did posthole some at times and there is still a significant amount of snow on the ground. We hiked all the way out and got to our cars at 9:43pm. It was a long day but one of the best adventures I've had to date. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 5/27/2019, By: Jennanney82
Info: This was one brutal hike due to the winter road closure to the summer TH and due to the snow but 100% worth it. We hiked 8 miles up Tigiwon road plus another mile and some change up to half moon pass where we camped for the night. We set out at 7am the next day to and were at the summit by 12:23pm. We did not use snowshoes, spikes, or ice axe. We did posthole some at times and there is still a significant amount of snow on the ground. We hiked all the way out and got to our cars at 9:43pm. It was a long day but one of the best adventures I've had to date. 

Route: Cross Couloir
Posted On: 5/17/2019, By: Jorts
Info: Corn by 10a. Super saturated below 12k in Tears. Evidence of both loose wet slides and a wet slab in Bowl of Tears. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 1/6/2019, By: illusion7il
Info: The road is groomed and well packed by snowmobiles which makes for quick travel. Bathroom is open at the summer TH. There was a nice trench well packed out by back country skiers up to Halfmoon pass. There had been a storm since McQueen's team went up last weekend so I had no idea what I would find, but to my surprise I was able to find traces of there trench just after the suspect slope below tree line so that certainly helped move things along a little faster than planned. Wore snowshoes to 13.4K and then rock hopped to the summit. Looking at the Cross Creek drainage I can't help but to wonder if that would be a better approach. BTW, I had an unexpected wakeup call by the Minturn police at midnight for sleeping in my car just outside the locked gate. The officer was cool about it and let me carry on with my plans. Splits: 2:10am Locked Gate Tigiwon Rd 5:15 Summer TH (30 min Break) 7:00 Halfmoon Pass 8:15 E.Cross Creek 11:45 Summit (5 mins) 2:00 E. Cross Creek 3:15 Halfmoon Pass 4:15 Summer TH (15 min Break) 7:05pm Locked Gate Tigiwon Rd 16:55 Total 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/14/2018, By: miniarmstrong
Info: Completely clear, summer conditions. Some snow was visible in the Cross Couloir, but it was well off the trail. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/8/2018, By: generic_username
Info: No snow anywhere yet (I've heard other peaks have gotten some). Bit cold close to the top but nothing too bad. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/10/2018, By: emcee smith
Info: Mountain/trail was normal. Big plug for campsite #3. Decently close to the creek, close to the main trail and probably 4-5 large and very level tent sites that are shaded in the afternoon. Plenty of big rocks to kitchen/eat a ways away from the camp sites and a few good but smallish logs in camp. Had time in the afternoon to check out sites 2-9 and #3 blew them away in my book. #3 is the first one across the creek toward the mountain. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 8/5/2018, By: KristineL
Info: We got to the trailhead around 7 PM on Friday night and decided to try to backpack in to camp. There was a hand-written sign on the trailhead start that there was a bear seen in a cave in treeline on the way to Holy Cross. I'm guessing this sign was put up on Friday, as it didn't look weathered. We didn't see any bears. We hoped to make it to the creek, but ended up camping near 11,700' before the creek due to hail / darkness. Saturday, we summited around 9 AM with a somewhat crowded summit (around 10 people). On our way down from the summit, we stayed further right (north) than on our way up and followed more of a trail than our ascent. Eitherway, the trail is hard to follow about 13,700' and there's probably a few routes that are Class 2 up the last portion. Reascending the 1000' after the creek was brutal (at least there were lots of good views of Holy Cross) after going downhill for 3,500 ft at that point. The weather held up and we only got a few sprinkles when we were in treeline around 1 PM. Getting back to the carpark, we were surprised how busy it was! There were probably 50 cars - most lining the final section of Tigiwon road. The hike was definitely busier than I was expecting, especially for a harder, longer 14er. The CFI has made a beautiful trail, but this is a tough and steep 14er! Photos: 1) looking at the remainder of the trail from around 13,000 ft 2) a lot of the trail from treeline to 13,000 ft looks like this - rocky, steep paths 3) views of the summit! 4) photo from the summit, which is pretty big, looking NW 5) looking down the final pitch to the summit. As the route mentions, the final 300' is big rocks with a tough to follow path 6)I think this is the final notch mentioned (Angelica Corridor)? 7)Views of the trail on the descend - rocky, steep, between around 12,00 and 13,100 8) the slightly less rocky trail right after leaving treeline 9)trail right after treeline - well-made steps 10)views of Holy Cross from after the creek (while re-gaining the 1000 ft) 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 8/4/2018, By: Karen_Weber
Info: Great climb. Trail conditions ideal, windy and cold at summit and views hazy because of wildfire smoke. That 1000 feet of ascent on the way back to trailhead is a bugger but not as tough as I thought it would be. Long, beautiful day.