Ophir Pass Roads

Trailhead condition requests, questions, alerts, etc.
Forum rules
  • This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
  • Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
  • Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
  • Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
Post Reply
User avatar
greenonion
Posts: 1890
Joined: 10/3/2012
14ers: 50  1 
13ers: 2
Trip Reports (0)
 

Ophir Pass Roads

Post by greenonion »

Here goes again... Can anyone give me an idea of conditions of the road over Ophir Pass, south of Telluride? This is the Ophir Pass that connects 550 with 145. It's been a few years since being over that, so wondering how it would be for a stock 2011 4Runner these days.
User avatar
Wentzl
Posts: 1022
Joined: 7/29/2008
14ers: 58  20 
13ers: 55
Trip Reports (49)
 

Re: Ophir Pass Roads

Post by Wentzl »

Not been that way recently, but I was able to wrestle a Subaru Legacy over it some years ago so my guess is that you will have no trouble. I went west to east, which is harder. Would be easier east to west.
Shorter of Breath and One Day Closer . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZXKgl8turY

"Social Justice" = Injustice
User avatar
greenonion
Posts: 1890
Joined: 10/3/2012
14ers: 50  1 
13ers: 2
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Ophir Pass Roads

Post by greenonion »

Wentzl wrote: Mon Jul 19, 2021 10:44 am Not been that way recently, but I was able to wrestle a Subaru Legacy over it some years ago so my guess is that you will have no trouble. I went west to east, which is harder. Would be easier east to west.
Thanks. East to west (550 to 145) is most likely the direction I'll take.
User avatar
denvermikey
Posts: 529
Joined: 8/9/2007
14ers: 51 
13ers: 166
Trip Reports (12)
 

Re: Ophir Pass Roads

Post by denvermikey »

Just hope you don't run into this guy:

Image
Attachments
ophir.jpeg
ophir.jpeg (142.37 KiB) Viewed 1391 times
"Every man dies, not every man really lives" - William Wallace
"Because it's there" - George Mallory
"In the end it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years" - Abraham Lincoln
"You only live once but if you do it right, once is enough" - Mae West
"Climb mountains not so the world can see you, but so you can see the world." - David McCullough Jr.
User avatar
greenonion
Posts: 1890
Joined: 10/3/2012
14ers: 50  1 
13ers: 2
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Ophir Pass Roads

Post by greenonion »

denvermikey wrote: Mon Jul 19, 2021 10:49 am Just hope you don't run into this guy:
Ouch. Hope that's outta the way now.
tjf242424
Posts: 55
Joined: 9/20/2014
14ers: 58 
13ers: 359
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Ophir Pass Roads

Post by tjf242424 »

I drove up this morning from Silverton to Ophir Pass. There are no issues on the Silverton side. I did it in a 2011 Outback with 226k miles, no stress. I’ve read that the Telluride side is more rugged, but my friend did it not too long ago in his Forester.
TomPierce
Posts: 2735
Joined: 11/21/2007
Trip Reports (2)
 

Re: Ophir Pass Roads

Post by TomPierce »

I did it in a stock Ford Explorer years ago, west > east, I don't recall even using 4wd. I thought it was pretty easy, vaguely recall a single scrape in a spot, maybe a shallow stream crossing? But of course that was years ago.

-Tom
User avatar
climbingcue
Posts: 989
Joined: 10/11/2011
14ers: 58  8  27 
13ers: 317 21 11
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Ophir Pass Roads

Post by climbingcue »

I did it last year, East to west. If you drive careful you could get anything over it with ok ground clearance and awd. Subaru, CRV, RAV 4
Consecutive months with at least one 13er or 14er, 71 months
User avatar
justiner
Posts: 4389
Joined: 8/28/2010
14ers: 58  8 
13ers: 138
Trip Reports (39)
 
Contact:

Re: Ophir Pass Roads

Post by justiner »

There was a rental SUV that already had a donut tire on it trying to go down the Silverton side of Ophir and then got themselves stuck in the mud from a slide on Sunday. I think there was two other instances that happened over the weekend. And don't forget this dude:

https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/ ... pass-road/


With the closure of the Million Dollar Highway, I'm wondering how this will impact traffic on these passes for less than ideal cars.
clairekm
Posts: 22
Joined: 10/27/2016
14ers: 24  2 
13ers: 66 3
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Ophir Pass Roads

Post by clairekm »

I took my Subaru Crosstrek over Ophir from the Telluride side a few weeks ago. The toughest part technically was the very last bit to the west of the summit which took two attempts to get the crosstrek up. Was thankful to have good tires. The descent to Silverton posed no issues.
User avatar
JChitwood
Posts: 622
Joined: 8/29/2011
14ers: 58 
13ers: 51
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Ophir Pass Roads

Post by JChitwood »

justiner wrote: Mon Jul 19, 2021 11:18 am There was a rental SUV that already had a donut tire on it trying to go down the Silverton side of Ophir and then got themselves stuck in the mud from a slide on Sunday. I think there was two other instances that happened over the weekend. And don't forget this dude:

https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/ ... pass-road/


With the closure of the Million Dollar Highway, I'm wondering how this will impact traffic on these passes for less than ideal cars.
Where is the Million Dollar Hwy closed? Searched and didn’t find anything.
"I'll make it." - Jimmy Chitwood
User avatar
Wentzl
Posts: 1022
Joined: 7/29/2008
14ers: 58  20 
13ers: 55
Trip Reports (49)
 

Re: Ophir Pass Roads

Post by Wentzl »

Shorter of Breath and One Day Closer . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZXKgl8turY

"Social Justice" = Injustice
Post Reply