10/19/2014 Route: From Little Browns Creek Posted On: 10/20/2014, By: seoulman Info: Patchy snow from about 1km below the treeline. Postholing to the ankles in a few places, but mostly avoidable following other hikers compacted footprints or slight deviatons from the trail. Trail above the treeline is covered by drifts in places, nothing some creative bushwacking can‘t take care of. 4wd trail is mostly snow covered, but not icy. Crestline mostly snow free. Microspikes and a pole helpful, but not absolutely necessary. |
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10/18/2014 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 10/19/2014, By: LoveThisSite Info: Mostly continuous snow starting from about 11,800 ft on the road. Traction unnecessary, unless you intentionally want to take direct lines up snowfields. Poles are useful. |
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10/6/2014 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 10/7/2014, By: trinkner Info: The recent snow is nearly entirely melted away on Antero. The road is passable up to 12,800 feet, although I didn‘t drive it, as my 4WD switch on my truck chose the 2WD trailhead as its moment of failure. :-( There is only a tiny bit of snow on the talus of the final summit push, and I never had to step in it. By the way, if you‘re looking for a peaceful ascent of Antero -- without the buzz of ATVs, trucks, and gem hunters -- try hiking on an October Monday. Yesterday, I see a single person on the mountain and my truck in the 2WD parking area was the only vehicle I saw all day. In fact, although I had feared a perpetual crowd on Antero, yesterday‘s climb was the most solitary climb I‘ve had of my 30 ascents in Colorado. I even saw a bull moose near the parking lot! |
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10/1/2014 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 10/1/2014, By: KTC88 Info: The road is clear to about 12800. After that it is covered by drifted snow and not passable by vehicles. It is pretty easy to walk on the side of the road. I took the road to the ridge, then followed the ridge straight to the summit. The ridge was covered in 4-8" of snow and many of the rocks under the snow had a layer of ice. While footing was slippery, I didn‘t feel the need to use microspikes. |
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8/2/2014 Route: Little Brown's Creek Posted On: 8/4/2014, By: Erich Info: Final summit approach talus was very slippery and frosty in the morning (applies to standard route, too). Bring your grippiest shoes. Poles actually helped even in the talus. Looked like the dogs were having trouble, too. Otherwise, the Little Brown‘s Creek trail was beautiful up to where it meets the roads. |
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6/30/2014 Route: Raspberry Gulch - East Ridge Posted On: 6/30/2014, By: esagas Info: The Raspberry Gulch 4WD road is in great shape. I drove a 2WD vehicle 1.6 miles in before I decided to park. Summer conditions all the way to the summit (the East Ridge is bone dry). Stick to the top of the ridge to avoid slipping and sliding on loose rocks. |
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6/30/2014 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 6/30/2014, By: SolarAlex Info: Road is dry to upper parking lot, with the exception of 2 spots with some water running down the road. The creek crossing is no more than 12 inches deep and I had zero issue coming or going. I was driving a Tacoma 4 door for reference. There is one tiny patch of snow higher up on the trail/road but its easily crossed and will be gone in a few days probably. Otherwise the trail is dry. I wouldn‘t drive anything less than a 4x4 with solid ground clearance. |
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6/30/2014 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 7/7/2014, By: Jeffmessy Info: FYI since its hard to find what type of trucks can make it to the top trail heads. I have a Ford F150 Crew cab, 2011. The road to tree line is brutal. Slow go with large rocks, ect. I had enough clearance in factory truck to get to tree line. No scrapes. On the way down I did scrape bottom twice. Road is narrow with few places to pass. Up in morning and down after lunch helps with any log jams. Mt. Princeton road is mainly dirt with only a few rocks to radio tower. Road is very, very narrow with a few large dirt mounds for drainage. 4wd is needed and some clearance. If trucks met on road it would be a problem. Up in the morning and down after lunch. |
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6/28/2014 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 6/29/2014, By: RckyMtBob Info: Trail is snow free except on small remaining drift toward the top of the jeep road switchbacks. Very easy to cross across. No need for spike, axes or floatation. Remaining snow on summit ridge was easy to avoid by staying left and above the snow. Clear day, windy and cold in the morning. Camped just past the creek crossing. |
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6/21/2014 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 6/22/2014, By: robinbk Info: Conditions from the last update (6/14/14) are still pretty much valid. The creek crossing at 10,800 is 12-16 inches at most -- I drove across in a Forester with no excitement. If you can drive to the creek crossing, you should be able to drive to 12,000, where a small snowdrift can be plowed through or driven around. However, highway vehicles will be blocked at 12,400 by a drift that half-blocks the road. ATVs or bikes can make it almost to the top of the switchbacks, but there the road is still completely blocked by a large drift. For hiking purposes, the route is 100% clear all the way to the summit (no spikes or ice axe required, and no glissading opportunities). |
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6/14/2014 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 6/14/2014, By: aliciaf Info: Creek crossing about 1.5-2 feet or so high in deepest spot. Could rock hop across to stay dry. Road very wet after creek crossing (a stream is basically running down the middle of it). Snow free road up to about tree line (just below 12,000‘). Here, there are a few patches of snow with tire tracks in them. I don‘t recall seeing any vehicles above this spot, but a V8 truck parked just below this first snow patch. The road from here is mostly dry, with some wet spots here and there. A few sections of the road are covered in snow drifts, but are easily crossable by foot. However, the road won‘t be driveable to 13,700‘ for some time because these drifts almost completely block the road. Sloppy & muddy spots at the end of the Jeep road (13,700‘). Ridge almost completely dry, easy to see the trail. A few snowy/icy spots to maneuver around, but not difficult. The few snow fields that remain can be avoided. The final pitch is completely snow free to the summit. |
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6/7/2014 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 6/8/2014, By: MissH Info: Road clear of snow past the river. River is flowing full and crosses road in a couple places - possible to hop across rocks and keep your feet dry! Gully snow piles cross the road-trail in about 5 places, all passable without traction if you are careful, or you can climb up over the snow. They are melting fast so they may be gone soon. Summer is finally here - I could count the times I postholed on one hand only! Photo 1 - River crossing Photo 2 - Ridge to summit Photo 3 - Biggest snow-gully crossing |
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6/4/2014 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 6/9/2014, By: ebromfield Info: The road is dry up to the stream crossing, after that the run-off flows down it until close to treeline. You can walk on most of it without submerging your boots. Recommend trekking poles or a large stick for balance on the stream crossing in the morning as some of the rocks were underwater and slick when I crossed. At the start of the road switchbacks is a nice easy snow climb for about 800 feet up a couple of gulleys. I would recommend if you want to get out with the crampons, and it allows you to bypass many of the switchbacks and regain the road at about 12,800 ft. I went up the first gully and found 1-2 feet of solid snow that is excellent to climb before the sun hits it around 7:30. On the summit pitch I stayed close to the top of the ridge and avoided most all of the east facing snow fields that get soft early. |
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6/1/2014 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 6/2/2014, By: mrickers Info: Went up Antero and Cronin on 6/1. Last road update is still valid, snow drifts start very soon after the creek crossing. I lugged snowshoes, but never used them. The snow is mostly avoidable. A little postholing was had on the way down, not worth slowshoes though. Ice axe was useful for a glissade down the gully next to the road switchbacks. Photo #1: Low on the Jeep road Photo #2: Unavoidable snow just before the road switchbacks at 12k Photo #3: Gully shortcut by the road switchbacks Photo #4: Summit pitch from the end of the Jeep road at 13,800‘ |
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5/3/2014 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 5/4/2014, By: OscarMayerSweener Info: Climbed Cronin, White and Antero yesterday. The Baldwin Gulch jeep road was passable on foot without really needing flotation until the creek crossing. The road above there was mostly consolidated spring snow. The south side of the peak is melting off quickly, but the bumpy class 2 ridge had some good cornices on it that required some picky route finding. Smooth sailing after that. Snow on Cronin and Whit was mostly consolidated/slushy in the afternoon, although Cronin‘s eastern face was showing some wet movement in the afternoon. Skiing would have been epic in the morning. |
