8/25/2024 Route: French/Frasco/Casco Combo Posted On: 8/27/2024, By: NotTimid Info: Once you are past the first crossing (right at the trailhead) there is a fair amount of water running down the road especially in the first mile or so. Waded the first crossing in my chacos, the others were manageable with boots/poles though I was glad I was in boots and not in trail runners. |
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7/5/2024 Route: French/Frasco/Casco Combo Posted On: 7/6/2024, By: jsykes Info: There was a little snow on the ridgeline near the summit of French, but no unavoidable snow other than that. I didn't have microspikes along and used my poles. The crux of the route might have been fording Halfmoon Creek twice on the ascent. I used sandals and my feet got super cold. It took a minute to warm them up in the morning when I was starting out. Not as bad descending when it was warmer. The water is flowing pretty good. Only saw one other person the whole day on the trail. Great views of Elbert especially, but also Massive and La Plata. |
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10/8/2023 Route: French/Frasco/Casco Combo Posted On: 10/8/2023, By: donovanrice Info: Basically still summer conditions except for North Ridge of Casco which had plenty of snow. Would encounter snow if descending from Casco ridge back to road. |
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9/24/2023 Route: French/Frasco/Casco Combo Posted On: 9/24/2023, By: sarahmariekirk Info: French / Frasco / Casco combo today. Still completely summer conditions (thank God - I am not ready for winter yet). Lots of changing Aspens at the trailhead and along the way up. From the summit, it looks like the mostly all ranges are free of snow except specific peaks: Antero, Shav/Tab, & Princeton. Gorgeous views and fun route. Very minimal wind today! Also, the road crux is no joke. |
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8/5/2023 Route: French/Frasco/Casco Combo Posted On: 8/6/2023, By: swilson753 Info: Summer conditions. All snow is avoidable. Flowers are still going strong. |
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7/11/2023 Route: French/Frasco/Casco Combo Posted On: 7/12/2023, By: PikaSteve Info: Snow is almost entirely gone on the route to the French Mtn summit. There is only one unavoidable moderately sloped snowfield on the ridge to Frasco Benchmark. No snow remains between Frasco and the saddle with Casco. The last half of downclimbing to the Frasco/Casco saddle was trickier than I expected, so I suspect I wasn't on the easiest route. I bailed at the saddle, so I don't know how much of an obstacle is created by one remaining snowfield near the Casco summit or by snowfields on Casco's east ridge. The first creek crossing (Halfmoon Creek) has a hiking option less than 50 yards downstream from the ATV crossing with a collection of trees for tighroping across while the second crossing (South Halfmoon Creek) has more stable logs immediately upstream from the ATV crossing. On the way back, I waded across Halfmoon Creek--it is currently less than knee-deep. I really appreciated having hiking poles to have three points of contact for both crossings. Plenty of flowers in bloom at all elevations. Gorgeous summit views in all directions. No one else in the basin. |
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6/27/2023 Route: French/Frasco/Casco Combo Posted On: 6/28/2023, By: PeakMiller Info: Started around 8:15am from the junction of Halfmoon Rd. Used the old crocs for two creek crossings. With the wind being so rough I decided to do Casco first and have the tail wind to combo the other two. There were small sections of snow that could be easily avoided to the summit. The wind was so heavy on the summit I decided to drop from the ridge down the west slope and regain the ridge before Frasco. This was a tough climb on loose scree, but it seemed better than getting blasted on the ridge the entire time. Frasco to French still had large sections of snow, but it stayed pretty firm into the afternoon. After French, I glissaded the Friscol back to the road. |
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6/24/2023 Route: French/Frasco/Casco Combo Posted On: 6/24/2023, By: stomblin7 Info: Road to 2wd TH clear. Do not recommend trying to drive higher - the creeks were raging with a lot of volume of water pushing through. Creek crossings added significant time to our approach. The first creek was too strong and deep for our comfort level to walk through. We opted to hike a bit downstream to find a few log crossings. The 2nd creek was flowing stronger than the first, we hiked probably .15 mi downstream and found a thick log to crawl across - a slip in that one is not advised. For the remainder of the hike, floatation not needed. The snow crossings were firm in the morning and the postholing was not too bad in the afternoon. If you want to ascend the snow up to French Id advise crampons and an axe still. We were able to cross the snow without traction and skirt up the grassy/scree slopes towards summit. We put on spikes to descend French and follow the ridge towards Frasco. After Frascos summit, no traction needed. Mostly stayed ridge proper over to Casco. Enjoyed a nice glissade off of Cascos saddle. Will add pics soon. |
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6/10/2023 Route: French/Frasco/Casco Combo Posted On: 6/17/2023, By: adamorsubtractem Info: Started from North Halfmoon, crossed the creek, and went up direct French's NW face/ridge. The freeze was very solid, at 7am, so I went up a steep snow gully. Fortunately, I had brought an ice axe, because that gully was definitely on the limit of what was comfortable in microspikes. If I was doing that one again, I'd bring crampons. The north ridge and summit of French was pretty dry. Great views of the surrounding peaks! The ridge from French to Frasco had a lot of snow, but was still frozen nicely around 8:30-9am. The ridge from Frasco to Casco was far softer and postholing was bad on the snow patches when I was making my way across from 9:30-10:15am. I was able to mostly avoid that by sticking to the West side of the ridge, but the going was a bit slower that I anticipated. From Casco's summit, I started down the standard route for a bit, then glisaded off the face into the basin around 11am. I was aiming for the mining road, so it was really 4-5 smaller glisades, but I was thankful for the quick decent. The basin is a mess right now, with a lot of lingering snow. I used snowshoes and was still postholing. I crossed a couple seasonal streams, the main one back to Halfmoon, and then made my way back up the road to North Halfmoon. Totals for the day: 12 miles 4600' Summary: If you're just trying to climb French and are comfortable with no official route, a direct approach from the NW really works well right now. There is minimal snow in the trees and the trees are brief. The snow gully's are great, just bring crampons and an axe. If you're going for the combo, get a early start and bring flotation! |
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7/9/2022 Route: French/Frasco/Casco Combo Posted On: 7/10/2022, By: CheapCigarMan Info: Parked at 10,800' at the 4WD TH. 3 mile 4WD road walk from there to end of road by old mine site. Steep but easy climb to ridge then an easy walk to French's summit. A very nice summit. Great views of Elbert, La Plata and many Cents and Bi-Cents. Wildflowers are out. Had a nice chat with Glen. Got a pic of him on French's summit (3rd pic) when I made it back down to the saddle. |
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6/20/2022 Route: French/Casco/lackawanna Posted On: 6/21/2022, By: zootloopz Info: Some snow where the gpx file I have runs but can be avoided to the right or left to gain the ridge. Otherwise summer conditions! W/ vertical_volume |
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6/11/2022 Route: Lack-Casco-Frasco-French-Champ-13736 Posted On: 6/12/2022, By: coopereitel Info: I did this whole bunch yesterday and it was actually quite fun. Saw one person for probably five minutes on Casco. A few notes: --I went Lackawanna-Casco-Frasco-French-Champion-13736 which was a bit over 7k vert and 12 miles. I didn't track my route but the image below is exactly the line I went drawn on caltopo. --I didn't have any beta on the ridge from Lackawanna to Casco but it was pretty straightforward C2. -Descending 13,736 was a bit of a chore because I blindly descended the gulley to the SW of the summit. I wouldn't really recommend just due to the annoyingly long distance of scree. --The river crossing is pretty serious right now. It is running quite high, cold, and fast. Just a heads up. Totally doable though. --A couple minor patches of snow. No biggie |
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5/28/2022 Route: From North Maroon Posted On: 5/29/2022, By: jeffdmar Info: If you're looking for a late-season ski, French might be a good choice. Road is open to North Halfmoon Creek TH without difficulty. Stream crossing was knee deep right at the start. A second one about 0.6miles up was a bit shallower. Then it's pretty much clear hiking until just below treeline; a few sustained patches of unconsolidated snow were largely avoidable to either side. Some postholing but not really a problem and to be expected. Finally gained a fully supportive and sustained snow runway at treeline, 3.7 miles from the TH. Good easy skinning to saddle between Frasco and Casco. Long ridge with skis on the back up Frasco involved some scrambling. All rocks. It was snowy just past Frasco's summit down to the saddle between Frasco and French and we donned our skis for that short descent. At the saddle we dropped our packs and skis and easily booted up French (half snow half rock) to to the summit. Upon descending to the saddle on foot, we transitioned to skis and skied down excellent corn at 10am. Good sustained fun turns back down to about tree line. We linked some snow patches along a creek through some willows to lose as much elevation as we could with skis still in our feet. A quick bushwhack through easy low willows found us back on the trail, and a relatively easy slog back to the vehicle in trail shoes with skis and boots on our packs was all that was left. Started at 4am and was back at the car by noon. |
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12/4/2021 Route: French/Frasco/Casco Combo Posted On: 12/4/2021, By: gluckhikes Info: Winter conditions. Snowshoes, gaiters, poles with baskets will be a major help for the entire road and descent from Casco. The climb up French has dry sections that can be strundg together, and the ridge is also pretty dry. Just be ready for knee deep powder with a thin crust on the descent from Casco. |
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11/5/2021 Route: French/Frasco/Casco Combo Posted On: 11/5/2021, By: funsizetiff Info: Was able to drive in to the N Halfmoon trailhead. There is some snow on the road but it is easily navigable. Turned left on 110.J and parked just after the first creek crossing. The road is not driveable past this point. 110.J is covered with snow ranging from ankle to mid-calf deep. In south Halfmoon basin, the snow was deeper and I trenched up to my thighs a few times (though I'm only 5'3, so it may differ for you tall people!). I ascended Casco and did the ridge traverse to Frasco BM and French. The ridge is holding quite a bit of unconsolidated snow and I would rate some sections as class 3 with the snow. Descended the east ridge of French. This was a mix of plunge stepping and snow covered talus-hopping. Some may prefer a more gradual descent. I brought gaiters, microspikes, and ice axe and would consider all 3 mandatory. Did not carry or use snowshoes. |
