7/15/2019 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 7/15/2019, By: awitkowicz Info: This is an FYI in case you don't check the Trailhead Reports too. There was overnight flash flooding on 7/14, and as of 7/15 the 4x4 road is impassable by vehicle about 100' from the trailhead. I drive a lifted Tacoma and have a solid amount of 4x4 experience, and I did not even consider attempting the trail in its current condition. I would honestly probably not even attempt it in a RAZR right now. There are a lot of trees that washed into the road, and there is a fast flowing river with steep banks that seems to be a result of the flash floods. This river took some other hikers about 20 minutes to find a route around. I decided that if it was this bad at 9200', then it would probably be pretty rough higher up too, so I called it a day. But I can't confirm what the trail was like beyond about 9400'. All that said, once the water from the new rains dissipates, the trail conditions will likely improve pretty quickly, but as of 7/15 it's a bit of a mess. Photos attached! |
|
7/14/2019 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 7/14/2019, By: WSC_Geologist12 Info: I'd like to corroborate the previous conditions report with some photos and more information that report left me asking. The slide path crossings aren't too bad, someone piled up some rock on the big one. This page has some pictures of just the blockage so I took one with my truck for scale. saw Some stock Grand cherokees, stock 4 runners past there. If you made it up the bumpy hell that's the lower road this thing shouldn't stop you. At 13,200' the road splits and there's a couple small banks that make the road skinnier than anything larger than a quad. There is parking for two vehicles up here, if a third parks here then the next person would have to back out down to 13,000. Today it was Toyota parking at 13,200 and Jeep parking at 13,000. Someone with more bravery than I could send it further than 13,200, but it would be tippy. Anyway the roads good to like 13,550 if you have a quad. Probably good to the top if you're on two wheels. As for the route beyond the parking, I did not encounter any snow beyond this. I took the ridge crest the whole way though so I'm not sure if the actual route is supposed to go through snow. So there is no point to bring any gear unless you're aiming for snow. There was some squabbling about 2' versus 4' of water at the creek crossing. I'll give it a solid 18†depth with a picture attached. |
|
7/12/2019 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 7/12/2019, By: ClarkNunnelly Info: Was able to take a stock Tacoma all the way up until 13,200 this morning. Avy debris is the worst part (3 total to cross). Lots of loose logs and snow is starting to become slushy that is holding parts of it together. Coming down is worse than going up. Still can't get past 13,200 as snow is still blocking the road. Previous reports stated that water was 4 ft deep at the river crossing. Today, it wasn't more than 2 ft. Tacoma was easily able to cross. |
|
7/11/2019 Route: Little Browns Creek Posted On: 7/13/2019, By: TravelingMatt Info: See my report for Mt. White: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/peakstatus_entry.php?recnum=13870 |
|
7/9/2019 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 7/9/2019, By: Cranfillpe Info: Avy debris prior to the creek crossing getting driven over. Pics to come. Creek is running high; the normal "footbridge" (aka bunch of big rocks in a row) doesn't go all the way without a leap of faith. I chose to ford the river barefoot. Water is running on the road for long stretches. This is generally avoidable. Cars cannot pass beyond about 13,200 ft., as more than half the road is snow-covered at this point. No traction necessary. I biked up and down and had a BLAST. Would highly recommend, especially now as I think the snow is scaring off some of the off-roading crowd. |
|
7/5/2019 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 7/5/2019, By: cougar Info: Mostly summer conditions, a bit of snow near the top to go around or over a small patch. Soft and melting fast, big snowfield at 13800 making for a muddy bypass. Jeeps and Tacomas are getting over the avalanche debris. It's just smooth mounds at this point. Creek crossings are deep (first looks 3-4 ft, second is shallower) but I rock hopped and stayed dry. Poles very helpful for balance there. There's a log bridge at second crossing. Also, the avalanche debris created a bridge over the creek at the first crossing, which I used, then bushwhacked about a half mile and popped out after the second creek crossing on the way up. It wasn't bad but took a bit longer and was unnecessary. I cut up and shortcutted the road switchbacks above 12k to 13k (there's a trail for a section of this). Gully is snow filled but found a spot to ascend the dry slope to the left of it. |
|
6/28/2019 Route: Little brown creek Posted On: 6/29/2019, By: Bspryn880 Info: Did Little brown creek route today. Easy 2wd access. All the sun this week has helped a lot. Left car at 5am and back at 2pm. Most of the snow can be avoided except one spot around 13500 feet. Postholing a little, no biggie. Beautiful day. This is a very long route so prepare yourself, think i clocked 18.1 miles, exhausted. Poles was only thing needed. |
|
6/28/2019 Route: Little Browns Creek Posted On: 6/28/2019, By: Markwise Info: Summited Antero and Mt. White via Little Brown's Creek today. First snow encountered on trail at 11,800. Below that LBC Trail is a delight. The first bits of snow are relatively flat and at 8am and around 12:30p reasonably firm to walk on. A steep snowfield around 12,100 drew my spikes out this morning. I've shared a pic (Image #1) of it below. The top inch was soft allowing the spikes to draw good traction. I used my ice ax. I would call it helpful but not absolutely necessary. Above that snowfield at 12,100 all other snow is avoidable until a few of the switchbacks on the Antero jeep road. Image #2 was taken from Mt. White showing the upper portion of the jeep road. Those coming from Baldwin Gulch enter frame from the left and will hit that snowpatch on the jeep road. I saw a few people today following boot print through that snow. At the top of the jeep road is a short bit of snow leading into a ton of snow below that I crossed and protected with my axe. Again, not absolutely necessary, but helpful. The snow along the narrow approach on the ridge to the summit was all avoidable. Image #3 shows the final stretch after the jeep road to the summit. As a side note, this is an absolutely beautiful route to take on Antero and Little Brown's Creek Trail (starting at Brown's Creek TH) is in my humble opinion a much preferred option to the slog up the jeep road from Baldwin Gulch. |
|
6/15/2019 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 6/16/2019, By: rruss Info: Similar to the last report, roadway is clear up to the 2wd trailhead. Lots of water running down the trail for the first 2 miles. Lots of avalanche debris around 2-2.5 miles. Cars parked at pull offs before then but there is no getting past the debris right now. River crossing is a 3 miles, we went past the turn off about 30 ft and there was a shorter crossing but water was thigh deep. Following the river crossing the trail had patchy snow covered. We started at 3:30 am so on the way up it was easy to walk on. Around 4 miles you are above treeline and it is completely snow covered. Did not need traction for the hike up to the summit. Photos: 1. Trail right after second river crossing around 3 miles 2. Hiking across the snow after the 278A junction 3. View of the summit 4. Hike along the ridge to the summit 5. Clear part of the 278A jeep road 6. River crossing just past the trail junction 7. Trail Junction sign, we walked past this about 30 ft to cross 8. View of the avalanche debris on the way back to the car 9. View of second section of avalanche debris 10. Clear road back to the trailhead |
|
6/12/2019 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 6/12/2019, By: WildWanderer Info: Last report looks very similar to today. Just adding a picture of the Antero route from Cronin and this mornings conditions to treeline: Easy and clear 2WD access to 2WD lot. Parked at the 2WD lot and wasn't disappointed. From almost where the 4WD road begins it's a steady stream of water running down the trail. Started at 3am. The road was worse than I remember it from 2017. No snow until after the creek crossings, but there's avy debris still covering the road about 1/2 a mile before the first creek crossing. It's easy to hike over, but no vehicles will be getting through until it melts and is cleared. When I crossed the creek(s) the water was up to my knees. No traction needed in the morning |
|
6/9/2019 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 6/10/2019, By: jfm3 Info: Started at the very bottom of the 4WD road. Road is snow-free to the Baldwin Creek crossing. There was water running down portions of the road and several piles of avalanche debris about 2 miles up. No way to get a vehicle beyond the first of the debris piles. The creek is running very high and I had to ford it. Easiest crossing was about 20 seconds of wading in knee-deep water. Unbelievably cold. From the creek crossing to the bottom of the switchbacks was snow. Firm in the morning but I was sinking through every 5-6 steps on the way back down. From the bottom of the switchbacks to the top was all snow. The gully that cuts the switchbacks was firm snow. The east/southeast-facing slopes above 13,100 feet were quite wet and not very supportive. I summited at 11 AM and the snow seemed iffy by then. On the descent, I took the ridge back down to 13,800 feet then went west directly down the ridge to the top of the 4WD switchbacks, then all the way back down the ascent gully. Snow was much firmer on the west side due to less sun exposure and wind from the west. Lower gully was perfect plunge stepping all the way to the bottom. I used spikes, ice axe and gaiters above treeline. All 3 are essential for safely summiting right now. Photos 1. Looking back up the ascent/descent gully from the bottom of the 4WD switchbacks. 2. Top of the gully on the way up. 3. East face of Cronin Peak. There were slide paths/piles in several spots. 4. Southwest view towards the San Juans from the summit. 5. Northwest view towards the Elks from the summit. 6. Big cornice and south view towards the Sangres from the summit. 7. Final summit ridge from the upper 4WD parking area. Snow on the eastern slopes was interesting- some spots were firm, others I'd punch through to my thigh. Very glad to have an axe on this section. |
|
4/27/2019 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 4/29/2019, By: Corey17 Info: We climbed the West Slopes of Antero using the winter variation to cut the road this last Saturday. Above treeline was immensely windy, but this likely helped to keep the snow from getting too soft up high. We started from the 2WD TH, and needed snowshoes just before the creek crossing due to soft snow on the road. There is some major avy debris about 2 1/4 miles up the road. Below that, the road is melting very quickly with lots of exposed dirt. The spur for the direct ascent was not hard to find, and was completely windswept. We stashed the snowshoes at treeline, as the majority of the ridge to the summit was entirely windswept, minus the occasional crossing. From Pt. 13,800 to the top was painfully windy, with a choice between consolidated hard snow on the E side of the ridge, or the wind on the W side of the ridge. 9 hours, 11 miles, and another great day on the mountain. On the descent, we got some great glissading down the gully to the climber's left of the ascent spur. Didn't wear traction all day, and only needed snowshoes on the road. The road on the descent was a sloppy mess for sure, plenty of postholing with snowshoes. Pic 1: Avy debris blocking road, around 2.25 miles Pic 2: Direct ascent spur to Pt. 13,800. Tread carefully on this fragile slope. Pic 3: Upper ridge from saddle with Pt. 13,800 Pic 4: Cronin Peak Pic 5: Avy debris on the descent Pic 6: Typical conditions on the lower road |
|
4/19/2019 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 4/20/2019, By: daway8 Info: Lots of avalanche debris about 2 miles up the 4WD road. Stream crossing is still frozen over (but I suspect it may thaw before the 4WD road does). Snow on road was mostly very firm in the morning so did fine with just boots. From the tunoff to the rock rib going up to point 13,800 it was mostly bare with only patches of snow so again no traction needed (switchbacks that we avoided still had a lot of steep snow fields covering them in places). From 13,800ft to summit, the east side of the ridge was solid snow, west side almost no snow. The ridge itself was half and half. Took a route that was part rock, part snow, again just boots was fine. Upon return to the road the snow was getting very soft so used snowshoes all the way back to the lot and still sunk in quite deep now and then. Some photos attached. |
|
4/6/2019 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 4/6/2019, By: wintersage Info: Weather was warm & mild the night before and into the early morning. It was looking to be a bluebird day as the forecast predicted, and once the sun rose above Antero's ridge crest, it warmed up the entire valley. I brought my snowshoes but I stashed them right before exiting the treeline. There was minimal postholing below treeline and along the road, so I didn't use them at all for the ascent. It wasn't until I reached the ridge leading up to the summit that I experienced some significant slushy postholing. I expected this area to be wind scoured but the snow was quite deep and slippery in most places. By noon, winds started to pick up and the weather rapidly deteriorated. Snow clouds moved in and started dumping precipitation. This happened on and off but by the time I got to treeline again, the storm had ceased. Snowshows were perfect now for the late afternoon wet snow and they helped speed up the descent from treeline to TH quite a bit. |
|
3/21/2019 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 3/22/2019, By: JScislow Info: We attempted Antero, but got turned back twice. First time with a 5am start. The valley for the approach was freezing. We turned back just after getting out of the trees due to freezing fingers and toes. Second day started later for warmth, but with a tired group from the day before, the pace wouldn't have been fast enough. For anyone looking to go this weekend, we broke a solid snowshoe trail up to just out of the trees. Should save you a lot of time and effort. Dress warmer than the forecast implies though because that approach valley is a cold one. Hope someone uses the snowshoe trail we broke to make for a good ascent. |