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. |
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4/24/2014 Route: Via Little Browns Creek Posted On: 4/25/2014, By: freeinthehills Info: Went up Little Brown's Creek and S. Ridge of Antero. Trail good to 9500 or so just past junction with Colorado Trail. Put skins on about there and experienced intermittent snow til rounding the ridge on S. Side. Trail dries out intermittently til about 10400 then snow. Right now there's snow to within 50 to 80 ft of the summit on the S. Side. The junction from the S. Face to the ridge is drying out. a week maybe two left, but with cold weather and snow anything could happen. Through in a photo of the N. Side from Mt. Princeton Rd. Looks like one line skier's right may go. IDK though |
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3/21/2014 Route: Raspberry Gulch/East Ridge Posted On: 3/22/2014, By: KyleS Info: County Rd 272 is closed at the intersection with CR274 about 1.75 miles from the summer trailhead. The snow in the valley near the summer trailhead is unpredictable at best and there is definitely unconsolidated sugar to sink into. I highly recommend avoiding the summer trailhead altogether by making an ascending traverse across the mostly-dry south side of Pt. 11038 to the saddle (We did this on the way down and it was definitely preferable). Above the saddle lies about 1600 vertical feet of postholey garbage, the first 1000 feet of which being a life-force sucking 35 degree slope. Although it's roughly a mile from the saddle to treeline (probably more due to our switchbacks and meandering in search of supportive snow), we spent 3 hours wallowing through this section. Above treeline, conditions were ideal - tolerable wind and a mostly-dry ridge. We made it from treeline to Pt. 13105 in an hour, but had reached our previously agreed upon turn-around time and with nasty looking storm clouds moving in, we made our retreat. It could be said that a "trench" is in place from the saddle to treeline, but I'll offer zero warranty of its suitability. Also note that the uphill and downhill trenches vary slightly in sections and although the downhill trench will be deeper and more visible, the uphill trench is a more reasonable route if you can follow it. Much of the trip downhill was sort of waist-deep snowshoe plunge-stepping and the resulting trench would be miserable to climb. |
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3/9/2014 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 3/10/2014, By: Exiled Michigander Info: There are no problems driving to the Baldwin Gulch 2WD trailhead, but that is as far as you can get currently. There is a good packed trail all the way to the turnoff for Upper Browns Road that continues toward Baldwin Lake, but there was no apparent packed trail going up Upper Browns Road. The spurs are largely windblown. I only made it to 13,750--no summit this time. Image # 1: At treeline along Upper Browns Road, looking south. The spur I used is in the middle of the two gullies. Image # 2: Looking up the spur I used (the one just south of the gully where Upper Browns Road switchbacks) with Antero in the distance. Image # 3: Looking back down the spur, with Point 13,870 in the background. Image #4: Looking north at the final 0.6 miles of the ridge from around 13,700. |
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12/31/2013 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 12/31/2013, By: Yikes Info: Solid trench to creek crossing. High winds have been filling in parts of the trench above the crossing, but you can still make out where the packed snow is. I tried a little bit w/o snowshoes near treeline and was sinking in even in the trench, so would recommend bringing snowshoes. I went straight up the 3rd (last) gully. Snow conditions were very stable (like a green groomed run). At the final road crossing, I went up the road/trail to the plateau and then started traversing to the saddle. Was pretty slow crossing the large talus with very high winds. From the saddle, the bootpack is still there. Bring ice axe if you want to glissade the gully. I just walked down with microspikes. |
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12/26/2013 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 12/26/2013, By: SnowAlien Info: Well established trench all the way up to ~11.7k, ~3 miles from TH (possibly even further, but didn't check). Ascended the rock rib (short-cutting switchbacks) angling for the saddle @13.7k. Frozen talus made it an acceptable ascent route. Little bit of snow near the summit ridge. Existing bootpack minimizes post-holing. Go get it! |
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12/21/2013 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 12/21/2013, By: Yikes Info: Decent trench up to treeline via Baldwin Gulch. Very little snow above treeline. Did not attempt to summit (treeline was enough of a workout for Annie dog). |
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10/19/2013 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 10/20/2013, By: climbingbiz Info: The road has snow it as soon as you leave the 2wd trailhead. We were able to drive up to about 10,700ft in a modified 4wd. We stopped because there was water flowing down the road and it was covered in ice. A stock xtera made it less than a mile past the 2wd trailhead and stopped before a steep icy bit in the road. The snow is not deep, but the road is very slippery in places. People on ATV's made it up above 12,000 fit a ways into the switchbacks. The trail was a mix of dry conditions and walking through ankle deep snow. The deepest drifts were knee deep. Did not need gators, traction, or snow shoes. |
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10/13/2013 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 10/13/2013, By: BrentRichter Info: Very little snow on the trail except on the road above 13k and no snow on the peak |