10/7/2017 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 10/8/2017, By: alyannkar Info: Snow began at the switchbacks directly after tree line. The snow was patchy and traction not necessary. After exiting the road, the snow was more consistent, especially throughout the ridge/rocky areas. |
|
10/5/2017 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 10/6/2017, By: JasonKline Info: Road is clear of snow until the upper switchbacks. After that, the snow gets increasingly deeper on the road. Off the road, the snow is sporadic but is generally only a few inches deep when present. I didn't use microspikes or snowshoes, but they could have been useful on certain sections of the road (there were tracks where other people used snowshoes on parts of the road). There will probably be a lot more snow soon. |
|
10/1/2017 Route: South Slopes to West Slopes Posted On: 10/2/2017, By: CVAC Info: Approached from Browns Lake on the south side. Minimal snow in trees, light snow to 13k, variable after. Windy conditions created a combination of bare spots and drifts. Traction moderately useful, but not required. |
|
10/1/2017 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 10/1/2017, By: ArtM Info: Windy & cold. Gusts around 20-30 mph, maybe higher at the west ridge and above about 12,500 ft. Snow depth on trail increases above 12,000 ft, drifting with wind. Some postholing areas too. High winds made it hard to walk at times today. Did not summit, turned around at abt 13,500 ft on SE side, due to cold and wind, on one of the last few pitches. Nobody else seen up in summit area today. |
|
9/13/2017 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 9/13/2017, By: RockyMountainMustang Info: Leaves are changing. Creek crossing has stones for hikers, not terribly deep for a truck. That road is rough... We saw oil dripped for a few miles from someone who bashed their engine on a rock, and some other folks sadly had a rock rip their brake line and they had to get a tow from above treeline. This road is rough and VERY rocky. Like driving or hiking up a creek bed of huge river rock a lot of the way. I would only recommend a jeep or quad for going to the very top, as the corners on the switchbacks are tight and the road is narrow. Pick-ups can make it up to the good camping near treeline provided you have excellent tires, 4wd, and lots of power. We walked from 2wd. Took about 5 hours to get up. Recommend leaving around 3am, and just doing it as a night hike on a weekday, it's very straightforward and well-signed. A bit of frozen dew around 14k made talus slippery up top. It's a long day, but only difficult due to mileage. Found some pretty views despite most saying it's an ugly 14er... The trails not much to write home about, but the mountains look stunning with the fall foliage |
|
8/25/2017 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 8/31/2017, By: wbuck Info: Snow from the night before presented no problem for our mid-morning hike but snow is flying in the high country! Everything about this mountain is easy to navigate and easy to find but the hike itself is frankly, quite boring. The road is tough to walk on due to ruts and slopes which is hard on the ankles and the road is steep so the knees take a beating on the way down. As you drive in, the road gets better and better. The worst is at the bottom. We parked around 10,300'. 0745 start, 1230 summit, down at 1630. I did have my uncle with me who had flown in from California the evening before. 14 miles, 3800' gain. |
|
7/20/2017 Route: East slopes from Raspberry Gulch Posted On: 7/20/2017, By: AcornMan Info: Starting at the Raspberry Gulch trailhead, the hike up the old mining road is easy to follow all the way to the saddle. That's the end of the trail though. From there, you're on your own, starting with a steep ascent through the trees until it levels out, then one more steep right at the tree line. From that point, you can see the entire route, first south on one ridge and then west on a second ridge that leads up to the summit. Although the second ridge looks daunting, it's actually pretty easy because the route takes you behind the prominences that make it look so difficult, and it's not very steep. I found the first ridge to be more challenging because it's steeper overall. The descent is pretty straightforward, but be careful going through the trees, particularly on the steep slope leading back to the saddle, because it's easy to drift to the north and miss the old mining road. I got caught in a nasty hail storm and lost my bearings, so I had to backtrack uphill to get back to the route. It took me 5 hours to summit and almost 3.75 hours for the return trip, but that includes about 30-40 minutes of being "lost." If I hadn't gotten off track during my descent, the return trip would have been closer to 3 hours, though I was moving faster than usual to try to outrun a storm (which did not work at all). |
|
7/13/2017 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 7/13/2017, By: Flyingfish Info: There is one patch of snow on the road at about 12,500 but it is easily avoidable. The stream right when you turn onto 278 is running very high right now so I would be cautious about driving across it. It rained last night then got very cold so the last pitch was icy on the rocks so beware with that as the route is on the west side of the mountain so morning sun does not warm it. |
|
7/1/2017 Route: Little Brown's Posted On: 7/5/2018, By: KRAZY Info: If you are planning on the Little Brown's route, be advised that the water is not flowing in all spots in Little Brown's Creek. If you are planning a camping trip and ascent, this could impact your trip. We found water at the TH and between 10,500 feet and approx. 11,800. This creek usually flows year around, I believe. We were very surprised to find it dry in spots. |
|
6/24/2017 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 6/26/2017, By: Marmot96 Info: The road/trail is snow free to the summit. Once the road ends around 13,800, there is still a very small amount of snow so taking the ridge direct avoids all snow completely. Creek crossing is fine and there are rocks so you can easily hop across. |
|
6/16/2017 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 6/17/2017, By: mountainmanAJ Info: Summited Antero on 6/16 started from about 1mi up 277 road at 5:45am. The road is clear and easy until after the creek crossing (like 11,000 ft?) about 3/4 mi after the creek there is patchy snow that is melting FAST. I would doubt if there was any left in 2 weeks. There are still some parts of the road around the switchbacks that are completely covered in snow but they are short (30-50ft) sections and are easy to cross. Otherwise it was a mellow and really straight forward hike, no extra gear needed. When you get to the summit ridge there is still snow along the south/southeast face of the ridge. If you stay just left of the snowfield it is easy to navigate to the summit. |
|
6/2/2017 Route: East Ridge (from Raspberry Gulch TH) Posted On: 6/3/2017, By: Reub Info: Solo climbed the nontraditional route described by these two trip reports: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=10173 https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=17029 - Stats: 9.5 miles, 5000' net, Class 2+. - Duration: 4:30 to go up, 3:10 to come down. - Trailhead: easy 4wd road, a car driven competently could probably do it. - Conditions: no flotation or traction needed. - Comments: Need map and compass and/or GPS through the forest (the ridge actually continues through the forest and the goal is to stay on the top/middle of it the whole way). If the forest stretch were made into a proper trail with switchbacks, instead of a bushwack, this route would be superior to the normal route except for above timberline this is a very long ridge so you must really watch the weather. There aren't any bail points; for example, from the summit it is at least 2 more hours you are going to be on the ridge. A few photos are attached. Happy climbing. |
|
5/28/2017 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 5/28/2017, By: kayleenann8 Info: Left from the 2WD TH at 2:30 am. Summitted Antero at 8:45 am. Didn't use traction or floatation. If going up early, you're probably okay leaving the snowshoes at home. The snow is very compressed the entire way up. I'd recommend bringing some traction though because once the sun hits the hard packed snow it gets a little slick. I brought crampons (didn't pull them out) but saw someone with micro spikes. Great glissading conditions! |
|
4/11/2017 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 4/12/2017, By: RWSchaffer Info: The road was dry to the Baldwin Gulch Jeep Road. The Baldwin Gulch Jeep Road has nearly continuous snow; don't be discouraged by the ATV tracks and dry sections at the beginning of the Baldwin Gulch Jeep Road as they last for only a few hundred feet. I headed up the more northerly gully in Antero's west flank and found it to be an even more gentle snowshoe ascent than the standard gully; it's also even more of a terrain trap. Fortunately, I observed no instability other than sun rollers along the road. Snow became thinner to the point of nonexistence near the top of the gully. The east side of the south ridge holds ample snow which made for a pleasant scramble with traction and ice axe. What looks like a cornice is actually a pocket in the edge of the snowfield that provided some shelter from the wind. |
|
3/17/2017 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 3/18/2017, By: Lithic Info: Started from 2WD TH @7:15, and followed trail until treeline, where we took off on a variation. The snow was firm enough before noon so that we only used microspikes on the way up, but NEEDED snowshoes 80% of the way down. Short trip report with pics to come.. |