Route Description

Take Colorado 9 to the town of Alma. In the middle of town, look for a small sign for the road to Kite Lake. Turn here and drive a bit through a residential area. Drive just under 3 miles up towards Kite Lake and take a hard right onto Forest Road 415. Drive 2.75 miles to a parking lot near the Mineral Park mine in Dolly Varden Gulch. This is a large, open gravel area with plenty of parking.

Details:

If the weather is good, this is an easy hike. See Photo #1 and Photo #2 for an overview of the route. Walk up the road a few hundred feet and pass the mining area. After another few hundred feet, there is a junction in the road - take the road to the right (east). (Note: Going straight up the other 4WD road will take you up the southeast face of South Bross - on the south side of Dolly Varden Gulch. This route is a bit longer, but it eventually crosses over to the north side of the gulch at 12,800'.)

Walk up the road and pass the Windy Ridge Bristlecone Pine area. Above tree line, the road can be seen as it zig-zags up toward the summit - Photo #3 and Photo #4. Much of the route is visible from here. Follow the road for about 2 miles and, near 13,200', it will head left across the steeper terrain south of the summit. The road swings right again (Photo #5) and climbs above the Dolly Varden mine area. Above the mine, you have a couple of options to reach the summit:

1) A long hike that stays on the road (Class 1): Pass the mine and follow the main road around to the east side of Bross - Photo #6. Continue north and then west on the road. On the Northeast Slope, the road heads northwest to reach the large saddle between Bross and Mt. Cameron - Photo #7 and Photo #8. Pass some mine structures on the final stretch of the road. From the saddle, turn left (south) and follow a smaller road/trail up to the summit - Photo #9.

2) This off-trail option is much shorter (Class 2): Above the Dolly Varden mine area, leave the road and hike northwest up the Southeast Ridge. Photo #1 shows the general route to the summit. Near 14,080', you are close to the large summit. Once the terrain levels out, the summit is a couple hundred yards to the northwest. From the road, it's less than 3/4 mile to the summit via this shortcut.

The summit of Bross looks like another planet. It's large, flat, red, and rocky.

Skiing?:

If you ascend this route but would like to ski down to the Mineral Park trailhead, check out Mt. Bross Route #4.