| Date | Status Information Posted by 14ers.com Forum Users | Posted By |
|---|---|---|
| 2009-11-20 | Road is snow-free, except for a few packed snow/ice sections lower down, until ~1-1.5 miles from the TH. Then a couple inches, but good solid vehicle tracks all the way to the TH. Anything w/clearance will be fine. | JosephG |
| 2009-11-01 | A few patchy areas of snow and ice within a mile of the TH but pretty easy to navigate around. Not much new snow from the recent storm. | geno71 |
| 2009-10-24 | The road to Guanella Pass from Grant is snow packed for about the last 1.5 miles. The snow starts just after the nice newer pavement ends. It would be best to have 4WD with good tires. On the way down around 8:30 am it was snowing down lower but there wasn’t any depth on the road yet. It will depend how this weather shapes up if it melts or accumulates. | MountainHiker |
| 2009-10-12 | Open from Grant side on (10/12). No snow on road | geno71 |
| 2009-09-30 | Hiked on 9/26. Trailhead was easy to get to with a regular car. The hike was snowy (knee-deep in parts) but I was able to hike up in 2 hrs, 15 min in tennis shoes. Melting snow/mud made for a slippery hike down. | lzinsmaster11 |
| 2009-09-01 | Can still access from Grant side (using highway 285). Georgetown side is closed. | Big14erBuff |
| 2009-08-25 | Guanella Pass is CLOSED for the season due to rockslide. You cannot get there from Georgetown. | Nelson |
| 2009-08-01 | August 1, 2009: I counted 237 cars parked in upper and lower lots and along the road. Two stop lights timed to about 10 minutes and a sedan can make it from Georgetown but it is a bit rough and muddy in places. No, seriously, 237 cars. | bjohnson17 |
| 2009-07-30 | just drive up 285 tried to hike 7/29 was coming up pass from I 70 thru georgetown, road closed signs but also drive with caution. went past sign to see 1 guy in bulldozer doing work with his truck blocking the road at 5 am on a Wednesday morning!!! seems to spotty to know when its a good time to get thru | larkinrx2 |
| 2009-07-30 | just drive up 285 tried to hike 7/29 was coming up pass from I 70 thru georgetown, road closed signs but also drive with caution. went past sign to see 1 guy in bulldozer doing work with his truck blocking the road at 5 am on a Wednesday morning!!! seems to spotty to know when its a good time to get thru | larkinrx2 |
| 2009-07-21 | 7/12/09 (Sunday). We drove from Georgetown to the TH at 5 pm. The first 6 miles from Georgetown are under construction. We encountered 2 traffic lights along this stretch. If you catch the red light, it takes 10 minutes to get the green again. The road is closed 8am-11am, then 1pm-3pm (M-F), then closed from 9pm-6am according to the flagman. During construction hours, the flagmen monitor the traffic flow, otherwise it is the traffic lights. The road was in good condition otherwise. | Jessie_s Dad |
| 2009-07-17 | Call 303-569-3251 x2 to check on the status. As of today the road is closed Mo-Fr 8-11AM & 1-3PM and Su-Th: 9PM-6AM. | Marcos |
| 2009-07-09 | There is construction on the Guanella Pass road from the Georgetown direction. This includes road closures from 8-11am and 1-3pm on the weekdays for sure, I don‘t know about the weekends. Construction starts at 7am and expect delays up to 1/2 hour until about 6pm. | nina |
| 2009-05-25 | We also did Bierstadt on May 24th. It is smooth sailing from the Grant side of the pass with no construction worries at all. | gpeoples |
| 2009-05-24 | As of May 24, the road is open. The one-way traffic lights are still in tact, but seem to run pretty smoothly (we didn‘t wait long when we were stalled by the lights). I‘d suggest a call ahead if you‘re planning to drive the pass during the week in case the road closures (due to the construction) still apply. | oriiion |
| 2009-05-18 | As of 5/17/2009, the road is still closed on the Georgetown side, but the road is completely clear all the way to the pass. Still a couple of (working!) traffic lights for one-way traffic during road work. | CarpeDM |
| 2009-05-16 | Drove up Grant side yesterday still has gate closed at Duck Lake, still lots of snow around up there. | gsellers |
| 2009-05-11 | Construction M-F from 9am-11am, then 1pm-3pm. If you make the window in between 11am-1pm, you will still have mandatory wait of 30min for the crews to get out of the way. Plan on getting on the pass early (6-7am), or right at 11am. From Georgetown (I70) you can get to within 1.5 miles of the Bierstadt TH. Ample parking exists at the turnaround. Make sure no evening construction is taking place, I almost got stuck and I know of two who spent the evening in their vehicle. | jstouder |
| 2009-04-13 | Open to the campground. Packed snow to the Pass. Road *closures* Mo-Fr, 9pm-6am, plus sporadic time throughout the day. Open Sa/Su, but single lane with traffic signals in a couple of spots. | akiggins |
| 2008-12-01 | Road is closed 3 miles from the trailhead as of 12/1/08. Road construction also causes further delays | Bridger |
| 2008-11-15 | Road is still open all the way. Minor ice on the lower sections above Georgetown, snowpacked but not bad just below treeline. Still passable by any vehicle with decent tires! | mtnmike |
| 2008-11-02 | As of today, 2 Nov 2008, the Guanella Pass road was open. There were a few patches of ice, but no big deal for 4WD. There is still construction, but it was inactive during the wknd and thus there were no delays. | song_follower |
| 2008-09-29 | As of tuesday September 23, Guanella Pass on the Georgetown Side was closed from 8am to 11am, and 1pm to 3pm. Expect at least 30 minute delays during road open hours to reach the trail head. | charlesbhodges |
| 2008-09-13 | Construction zones notwithstanding, Guanella was not impacted by recent storms this last week. Road is free & clear all the way. During the heavy construction on the Georgetown side (scheduled into 2010), I would suggest approaching from the Grant/US285 side if you can. No construction, and the road‘s in good shape! | mtnmike |
| 2008-09-02 | Update on construction: The road (from Georgetown) is closed completely Monday-Thursday from 9am-11am and 1pm-3pm. When open, flag crews are controlling the one-lane sections and they are NOT well coordinated. At night, there are two sections controlled by portable traffic lights set at 7-minute intervals. Allow approximately 40 minutes to the TH at night, longer during the day. | Flatland14er |
| 2008-08-13 | The road is fine execept for several big potholes. The construction is a pain and so are the one lane road parts where they installed stop lights. The lights take forever to change. | stlouishiker |
| 2008-08-06 | Road to the trail head in excellent shape. there are some potholes and washboard areas but the closer you get to the trailhead the easier the road gets. they are doing some construction which may cause 30 minute delays between 9-11 am and 1-3 pm to improve the road. Easily passable in a 2wd. | Yalegirl09 |
| 2008-07-04 | 06-14-08 - Easy drive to the pass with little snow; road in very good shape. | Joygo |
| 2008-05-26 | Clear of snow and drivable by all vehicles. Parking lots at the pass have been plowed. | BTL |
| 2008-05-21 | as of Monday May 19th still was closed in the morning at the campground although plows were working in the afternoon. | jesse |
| 2008-05-17 | Road still closed at campground. | skimrg81 |
| 2008-05-10 | out of grant. from the four mile sign, i drove 3.8 miles and didn‘t want to bust through the drifts. i‘m pretty sure i was within a 1/2 mile of the trailhead. 5/11/08 | goinforawalk |
| 2008-05-04 | From I-70/Georgetown, the closure point remains the same. | Wisco |
| 2008-04-21 | I think a previous post about Guanella Pass from the north needs clarification. The road is closed just past the campground, which is ~1.5 miles down from the pass, so 3 miles roundtrip. And there are obvious tracks through the woods before the last switchback that avoid going to the parking lot itself. It‘s not that bad. | moon stalker |
| 2008-03-30 | From the south, the road is accessible to Geneva Park. The county has plowed a large pile of snow into the middle of the road just past the cattle guard. It looks like a jeep or other short wheelbase 4x4 may be able to squeeze past on the right hand side. | covfrrider |
| 2008-03-30 | From the south, the road is accessible to Geneva Park. The county has plowed a large pile of snow into the middle of the road just past the cattle guard. It looks like a jeep or other short wheelbase 4x4 may be able to squeeze past on the right hand side. | covfrrider |
| 2008-02-18 | when coming up from Georgetown the road is closed just a little ways past the campground. at least 3‘ of snow on the road, more in some places. hiked almost 3 miles to get to the actual TH. in some places the snow was a foot over the guard rail. | keg2008 |
| 2007-12-18 | Snow closure at guanella pass campground. Plowed til there. | Jcwhite |
| 2007-11-26 | From notice in the Canyon Courier, the road will be closed Friday Nov 30th 2007 thru May 23rd 2008 Also says call Guanella Pass Road Information line at 303-569-3251, ext 2, for updates | gsellers |
| 2007-11-25 | Road has an inch or two of hard packed snow from Georgetown to the trail heads. There are signs of plowing to the power plant only. Very icy in spots (morning) and extreme caution should be taken around the sharp curves. I would imagine it will get much tougher to attain after the next snow. | krz2fer |
| 2007-09-19 | Grant side is the best way to miss the construction, until "phase 3" starts in 2011. Got an update from the manager, the phase from Georgetown to the Xcel power plant ends in 2010 so that side will be busy for a while yet. Reference - http://www.cflhd.gov/projects/archive/co/guanella/index.cfm | gsellers |
| 2007-08-02 | Road construction is still taking place on both sides of Guanella Pass. Delays are running between 10 and 30 minutes. If you are climbing on a weekday try to get to the trailhead before 6am because that's when the road crew begins work. They take the weekends off so you shouldn't have much to worry about then. The Grant side may offer fewer delays during the week because most of the work is taking place on the Georgetown side right now. | cruiser |
| 2007-07-11 | Road is clear to trailhead. There is road construction on the way up. Be prepared to stop and wait for a pilot car to take you through the construction area. We waited 10-15 going each direction. You may want to get out and stretch and maybe even talk to the flagger guy (he must be bored out of his mind!). | spacelepor |
| 2007-07-09 | Climbed Bierstadt July 7, 2007. Got a 730am start due to a rollover accident on the road to the pass, but still finished in 6 hours flat as I was hiking with a first timer that smokes a pack a day...smile. The only snow is the well-known packed trail about 600 ft from the summit. | holliewd |
| 2007-06-21 | The road is completely clear of snow and easily passable with any vehicle. Just pay attention to fallen rocks and potholes along the way. | CRSpeedy |
| 2007-06-08 | Guanella Pass is open to the top from the Georgetown side. CDOT obviously had some large drifts to cut, but they got it done. A 2WD car would have no trouble driving to the top of the Pass now. I believe that things are also completely open from the Grant side as well. I saw a couple of cars drive past the top towards Grant and they didn't come back so I'm guessing that you can go through. | cruiser |
| 2007-05-28 | Road is passable with high clearance 4X4 from the Grant side. I would guess that it will be completely accessible to passenger cars next weekend, as the snow is melting fast. | keithk |
| 2007-05-21 | May 21,07. same as last post but with a GPS coordinate. 39.61876 N, 105.71472 W | climbhard511 |
| 2007-05-20 | Similar to last post. Drove up today 5/20 to approx. 10,700 ft. Looks like the next 300 vertical to the campgrounds will be passable soon but much of the road after that is still under 3 feet of snow. | Wesley |
| 2007-05-14 | 5/12- Road is barracaded 3-3.5 miles from the top of the pass (just below the campground and Naylor Lake road). Approximately 1000 vertical feet from road closure to top of pass- snow at lower elevations is melting quickly. | rsincavage |
| 2007-04-23 | Road seems to be in the same condition as previous posters, made it to about 2 miles from the summit, to give a better indication, we had a 1 hour trip on foot to the pass. Wouldn't recomend going much further anytime soon, atleast till mid-may, we saw 2 cars stuck after the part where everyone else parked. Keeping the tires in the middle of the road would be fine, but straying a foot to the left or right will bury your car in the soft snow. | lordhelmut |
| 2007-04-16 | Road goes to about 1/2 mile short of Naylor Lake road. There were signs of fresh plowing today | killingcokes |
| 2007-04-04 | Road goes 8.2 miles in still leaves you about 4 miles from trail | Jamin1377 |
| 2006-12-17 | Add a light snow pack to the last report and it's a little treacherous. A passenger car could probably make it, but go slow no matter what you're driving. There were numerous signs of skidding accross or off the road today. | dbroudy |
| 2006-12-14 | OK. From Georgetown to the Excel Power Plant, the road is plowed and mainly clear. The road is open for only 3.2 miles AFTER the power plant up to the TH for Silver Dollar Lake. It is plowed but the surface is predominantly packed ice. If you want to get further than the turnoff for Silver Dollar (towards Guanella) you\'re gonna have to have a snowmobile. It doesn\'t look like it\'ll be open for awhile either. :o( | Kiefer |
| 2006-12-08 | I drove up the Grant side today - road was clear with snow and ice patches all the way up to about a mile before the pass, where a huge snow pile blocks the road. | blakeduncan |
| 2006-12-07 | I called the Ranger District office in Idaho Springs, and they said the Guanella Pass Road from Georgetown was plowed up to Clear Lake, 3 miles up, and then the road became 'impassable'. | blakeduncan |
| 2006-11-18 | As of 11/18/06 the road on the Georgetown side of Guanella Pass is closed about two miles below the Guanella Pass Trailhead. It is closed with a large pile of snow. I'm not sure why it is plowed because beyond the pile is a road in good condition that had obviously been driven on since the last storm. I saw a couple cars at the top of the pass so I assume that the Grant side is open. | codave |
| 2006-09-11 | As of 9\10, the road from Georgetown is washboard rough for about 4 miles. Then about 2 miles of 1 lane where you have to wait for pilot car. The last section is EXTREMELY nice now though. | Derek |
| 2006-06-11 | What a difference from Georgetown over last year. The road is better and wider with concrete curbs installed. The parking lot is expanded to accomandate all of us, and what a day on 6/10/06 | Bresch |
| 2006-05-20 | The road from Georgetown to the pass is open and in good shape. | BillMiddlebrook |
| 2006-05-10 | I witnessed a car breakin at this trailhead last summer on a rainy day just after quitting time for the road construction crews. | kreibach |
| 2006-03-23 | As of yesterday afternoon (3-22-06) the road past the power plant was not plowed. There was at least 6" of powder from the previous nights storm. I would not reccommend taking a car up to Guanella Pass if they haven't plowed this. Even my lifted Tacoma was getting bogged down in spots. | Kiefer |
| 2006-02-08 | I thought the road was pretty snowy on the Georgetown side. I had a much easier time on the Grant side of the pass. There is heavy snowpack the last mile or so of the road. | wilhite38 |
| 2005-09-12 | On Sat., Sept. 3 the road from Georgetown was rough but definitely passable. There is a section controled by traffic lights for construction. We had a delay of about 20 minutes. Otherwise the trailhead is accessible from the Georgetown side and parking is plentiful. | himalayanhillbilly |
| 2005-08-14 | The road to the trailhead from Georgetown was a little rough, but passable in my little Toyota. The road was wider and better maintained to Grant. | mfinch76 |
| 2005-07-26 | Coming up from Grant (285) side was no problem. After leaving the pavement there is some moderate washboard for a few miles. Of some 13 miles, over 9 miles are actually paved (some rough spots). The road repairs seem to be going smoothly. Treffic is ocassionally held for heavy equipment, but it was very light on Friday (7/22). Any vehicle capable of handling the altitude can make the trip. | GoHigher |
| 2005-07-16 | Guanella Pass is open from the Georgetown side (and I believe from the other side as well.) In the early am, there is a traffic light at one point to regulate a section that is one lane for ~0.5 mile. During the day, the same section is controlled by a flagman at each end, so you can expect a 20-30 minute delay at that point during the day. | seannunn |
| 2005-06-14 | Road was in fairly good condition on 6/11. Some rough washboard areas but overall good condition. Much rougher from the Grant side | bud |
| 2005-06-07 | I just made it up in a passenger car, but it was pretty rough. The construction they are doing seems to be beating up the road. If you take your time with a passenger car, you should be o.k., but its real easy to lose an oil pan or pop a tire if you go too fast. | redwingsarebad |
| 2005-02-18 | Guanella Pass is normally open year round. During winter, the road may be closed below the pass. In 2004-2006, the road is being modified so expect construction, delays and occassional closures. Check with the Clear Creek Ranger District for road info. | BillMiddlebrook |
| Location: | Front Range |
| 14ers Served: | Mt. Bierstadt, Mt. Evans |
| Road Type: | 2WD easy dirt road to the trailhead in summer. |
| Winter Access: | Usually only plowed to the campground approx. 3 miles below Guanella Pass. |
| Directions: | Take the Georgetown exit off of Interstate 70. Drive through Georgetown and follow the signs for the Guanella Pass scenic byway through Georgetown. Drive 12 miles to the top of Guanella Pass (11,700') and park in one of the two large, paved parking areas on either side of the road. Mt. Bierstadt and The Sawtooth fill the view to the east. The Bierstadt trail starts near the parking area on the east side of the road. The upper parking area (on the west side of the pass) has restrooms. Calculate Driving Time from your Address | Trailheads on Google Maps |
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