Pikes Peak Winter Ascent?

[jeremy27]

You could crash the add-a-man douche bag party on the 1st

I shouldn't hate, they probably pretty cool guys.

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They are very cool guys. Not pretentious in the least. And they brave terrible conditions some years to light fireworks off for all the city to enjoy. Nice guys and fireworks. Whats not to like?

[briancolopy]

Planning to summit Pikes Peak on Monday, December 23. Looking for folks to join me. The weather is looking great!

[SherpaSara]

A couple of winters ago, I did an ascent of Pikes by going up from the Crags, enjoyed some chilli in the summit house, and descended Barr Trail to the A-frame to camp overnight. The next morning I descended to Barr Camp, where I scored some spare pancakes that the boy scout group that was up there didn't eat, then it was out to the Barr TH by noon. I've summitted Pikes 7 times now, with numerous trips on both the Barr and the Crags area, and this trip still remains one of my favorite ever. The summit was still a bit crowded with the train people, but I had the rest of the mountain to myself. The city lights of C.Spgs and sunrise the next day from the A-Frame were very memorable. The only downside is needing to shuttle.

[jibler]

the intensity never ends!


what about pikes this month??

i don't understand the situation at crags trailhead right now - the road is plowed all the way in the winter all year? are people from the Springs rocking this out pretty much no matter what all the time now?


the circle may be coming full circle - may need to finally wrap this pikes thing - and end 2024 in epic way??

[justiner]

Last year, I did Pikes on the Winter Solstice, going up Barr, then down Crags -- then turning around and doing the reverse. In doing so I was the last person to summit in Fall and one of the first to summit in Winter.

Anyways, I think there were people going up from Crags last year, you just have to park a mile down the road at the Mennonite camp or some-a-wheres near there.

[jrs1965]

I did it hiking the cog tracks a few years back while they were shutdown for the track refurbishment. Nine miles up, nine miles down. My back was destroyed the next day from 18 miles of hopping on RR ties. Although illegal, some people have used portions of the cog tracks in the winter since they're groomed/maintained. Cog folks get pissy though if they catch you...

[jibler]

hey i'm just gonna blurt this out - without fear of reprisals - cause that's what i do.



I still don't quite understand the Barr approach??


14ers tells me East Slope approach for Pikes is Round-trip Distance: 24 mi


which makes me say "yikes" in the best of times.



but the barr approach is not the east slope?


and is not that long??



why doesn't it have its own route listing??

[CaptainSuburbia]

You’ll want to take the Northwest Slopes route from Divide. It's normally 14 miles rt, but it'll probably be gated a mile or so below trailhead adding a couple miles rt.

[globreal]

This is the best way to go….The Y Couloir

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But not this time of year. The Y Couloir is a spring time climb in April, May or June.

[globreal]

You’ll want to take the Northwest Slopes route from Divide. It's normally 14 miles rt, but it'll probably be gated a mile or so below trailhead adding a couple miles rt.

Correct, the road up from the Mennonite Camp up to the Crags Trailhead is closed by December 01 and opens back up in May. It's 1.5 miles...so 3 miles round trip added to the 13 miles.

[jrs1965]

hey i'm just gonna blurt this out - without fear of reprisals - cause that's what i do.



I still don't quite understand the Barr approach??


14ers tells me East Slope approach for Pikes is Round-trip Distance: 24 mi


which makes me say "yikes" in the best of times.



but the barr approach is not the east slope?


and is not that long??



why doesn't it have its own route listing??

Barr Trail would be the east slope. I've ran it many times, It's roughly 11 and some change from the trailhead lot, round trip would be closer to 23-ish. For winter, due to the 16 Steps drifting over most people opt for the east gully route once they clear treeline on Barr. East gully is the low, or center gully on the east face which is visible from town. East gully option knocks off like a mile from the ~11. The distance can be dropped more and the challenge increased by starting from the bottom step of the Incline. That'll put the distance at 10 or less...

(edit) Found this on Strava, it's from yesterday, 17.5 miles rt, kinda fast...

[madmattd]

(edit) Found this on Strava, it's from yesterday, 17.5 miles rt, kinda fast...

Strava activity times are moving time, not total time (segments will give you total time), thus that time will basically always be less than the actual total time taken. My hikes typically appear to be around 50/50 moving/stopped time according to Strava.

I did Pikes from Crags in mid-March 2023. As stated, the road is gated just past the Menonite Camp, with lots of parking available there. ~1.25-1.5mi road walk each way to the summer TH, + a few hundred feet of gain. I recorded 15.8mi, 4950' gain round trip that day (this can vary a bit depending on your exact route above Devil's Playground). Definitely the way to go in winter imo, plus you avoid the parking cluster from Manitou.