Mt. Bierstadt Trip Report 05/20/2014

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Mt. Bierstadt - 14,066 feet
Date Posted	05/20/2014
Date Climbed	05/18/2014
Author	Krullin_14ers

Mt. Bierstadt - West Slope
Afternoon folks! This is my first trip report and its gonna be on Mt. Bierstadt! One of my friends was in town for a few days, so we had a narrow window to sweep a 14er. We figured Bierstadt would be a good one to conquer in short time. Sunday, May 18th was the day. I told the kiddos to be ready at 5AM, for a departure at 530AM. As I expected (and knowing these children), it took a bit of extra work to wrangle everyone, but we were out of BoCo by 545AM. Boulder morning glory ^We caught a beautiful sunrise when leaving Boulder. A majestic "sherbet glow" in the sky. I am reminiscing about it as I write this. We stopped for some gas on the way out, picking up some snacks, a helicopter and some caffeine pills. We were all a bit nervous as it was our first real hike of the year. Guanella Pass gucci foreground/background shot ^Just past Georgetown going up Guanella pass. We caught the sherbert sky again, but this time we could almost taste it! It was shaping up to be a beautiful blue sky day. As you can see very little snow in the valley. walking top the top of the pass bathroom ^Guanella pass was closed about 1.5miles from the top. There is a parking lot at that location where we started off. This was a bit of a damper because the closed road was COMPLETELY dry. We were a bit pissed we had to walk the pavement, but hey sometimes you gotta suck it up. So after the 1.5 miles of pavement we reaches the top of the pass where the summer trailhead starts, and where the bathrooms are. As you can see there was much snow at the top. Both bathrooms were completely full of snow and inaccessible. We stopped here for some jerky, sunscreen application (light) and dropped a layer. walking after bathroom ^right after our so called "potty break", we began hiking the summer trail from the top of Guanella pass. It was cold enough we did not need the snowshoes yet and did not posthole. view of bierstadt ^about a quarter mile in, looking at the top of Bierstadt, snow was crisp and the sun was preachin. The trail goes about a mile until you do any real hiking (uphill) hiking up the first steep part ^looking up the first real ascent. This is when we really started breathing and realizing we were climbing a 14er. Section was a bit icy and the children were a tad nervous. after the first steep - happy campers ^looking back at the happy campers after that big initial ascent. We got some granola, H20 and jerky in em, and then we were back at it! looking down from near the top ^We hiked for another hour or so and then paused for another long break. This is about 300 yards from the top. The section right below the picture was quite steep requiring ski poles and boot packing. The snow at this point was really nice and stiff, still no post-holing. final ascent ^above the previous break spot, about 200 yards from the top. You can see here the terrain gets a bit more "bouldery" It was a tad more technical but the steepness mellowed out a bit. cheers at the top ^reached the top and immediately cracked open those brews! Wow what a first 14er of 2014! Cheers! It was a difficult hike in the snow but we made it up in 2 Hours 45 Minutes. (from the car). The weather was great, had a feast and took some additional pics. javascript:emoticon('')javascript:emoticon('')javascript:emoticon('8)') view from the top ^view from the top toward Guanella pass. The bathrooms are a little dot at this point. We strapped the snowshoes on at the top and began our descent (with a little avery in our systemjavascript:emoticon('') ) snowshoeing down ^here we are on the descent. Thank goodness we brought the snowshoes because at this point the snow was basically mashed taters (hold the butter). Let me tell you though, these babies made the descent very fast! We were cruising, was basically like using skis! butttttt sliiiidin ^here we are near the bottom doing a lil butt sliding! What a way to celebrate his first 14er! We couldn't resist having a bit of fun on the way down. Overall it was an awesome trip! It was my first time doing Mt. Bierstadt and my first winter ascent. Total time was 6 hours. It definately would take much less if you could park at the top of the pass. I hear it is due to open within the next couple weeks. If you do go, bring some snowshoes, its really the only way to deal with the afternoon snow. We saw a slide on a nearby mountain so be aware of that as well. Get out there and say wassssup to Bierstadt! javascript:emoticon('') One Love! -Krull Date Climbed: 5/18/2014 Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Mt. Bierstadt - West Slope

Afternoon folks! This is my first trip report and its gonna be on Mt. Bierstadt!

One of my friends was in town for a few days, so we had a narrow window to sweep a 14er. We figured Bierstadt would be a good one to conquer in short time. Sunday, May 18th was the day. I told the kiddos to be ready at 5AM, for a departure at 530AM. As I expected (and knowing these children), it took a bit of extra work to wrangle everyone, but we were out of BoCo by 545AM.

^We caught a beautiful sunrise when leaving Boulder. A majestic "sherbet glow" in the sky. I am reminiscing about it as I write this. We stopped for some gas on the way out, picking up some snacks, a helicopter and some caffeine pills. We were all a bit nervous as it was our first real hike of the year.

Guanella Pass gucci foreground/background shot

^Just past Georgetown going up Guanella pass. We caught the sherbert sky again, but this time we could almost taste it! It was shaping up to be a beautiful blue sky day. As you can see very little snow in the valley.

^Guanella pass was closed about 1.5miles from the top. There is a parking lot at that location where we started off. This was a bit of a damper because the closed road was COMPLETELY dry. We were a bit pissed we had to walk the pavement, but hey sometimes you gotta suck it up. So after the 1.5 miles of pavement we reaches the top of the pass where the summer trailhead starts, and where the bathrooms are. As you can see there was much snow at the top. Both bathrooms were completely full of snow and inaccessible. We stopped here for some jerky, sunscreen application (light) and dropped a layer.

^right after our so called "potty break", we began hiking the summer trail from the top of Guanella pass. It was cold enough we did not need the snowshoes yet and did not posthole.

^about a quarter mile in, looking at the top of Bierstadt, snow was crisp and the sun was preachin. The trail goes about a mile until you do any real hiking (uphill)

^looking up the first real ascent. This is when we really started breathing and realizing we were climbing a 14er. Section was a bit icy and the children were a tad nervous.

^looking back at the happy campers after that big initial ascent. We got some granola, H20 and jerky in em, and then we were back at it!

^We hiked for another hour or so and then paused for another long break. This is about 300 yards from the top. The section right below the picture was quite steep requiring ski poles and boot packing. The snow at this point was really nice and stiff, still no post-holing.

^above the previous break spot, about 200 yards from the top. You can see here the terrain gets a bit more "bouldery" It was a tad more technical but the steepness mellowed out a bit.

^reached the top and immediately cracked open those brews! Wow what a first 14er of 2014! Cheers! It was a difficult hike in the snow but we made it up in 2 Hours 45 Minutes. (from the car). The weather was great, had a feast and took some additional pics. javascript:emoticon('

')javascript:emoticon('

')javascript:emoticon('8)')

^view from the top toward Guanella pass. The bathrooms are a little dot at this point. We strapped the snowshoes on at the top and began our descent (with a little avery in our systemjavascript:emoticon('

') )

^here we are on the descent. Thank goodness we brought the snowshoes because at this point the snow was basically mashed taters (hold the butter). Let me tell you though, these babies made the descent very fast! We were cruising, was basically like using skis!

^here we are near the bottom doing a lil butt sliding! What a way to celebrate his first 14er! We couldn't resist having a bit of fun on the way down.

Overall it was an awesome trip! It was my first time doing Mt. Bierstadt and my first winter ascent. Total time was 6 hours. It definately would take much less if you could park at the top of the pass. I hear it is due to open within the next couple weeks. If you do go, bring some snowshoes, its really the only way to deal with the afternoon snow. We saw a slide on a nearby mountain so be aware of that as well. Get out there and say wassssup to Bierstadt! javascript:emoticon('

')

One Love!

-Krull

Date Climbed: 5/18/2014

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

rijaca	No snowflake for you 5/21/2014 11:52am Nice report and photos, but winter ended two months ago. You'll have to wait to next Dec 21 for your first winter ascent.
Jay521	May can be a tough month... 5/21/2014 1:55pm ... for Bierstadt as I well know. Nice report!
ameristrat	It's still a purple snowflake, right? 5/21/2014 3:46pm Nice work? Did you guys get a look at square top? I was thinking of heading that way.
Krullin_14ers	Thanks guys! 5/22/2014 6:47am Everything near by looked awesome! Like I said earlier though, still lots of snow javascript:emoticon('8)') . If you do not desire to bring snowshoes, I would recommend waiting a couple weeks. Just about everything below 12k feet had very little snow. Everything above will be rapidly melting in the afternoon if these temps keep up! Thanks for reading!

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