Mt. Blue Sky

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 4/26/2026, By: chin1997
Info: Climbed the West Ridge from Guanella Pass route on 4/25/26. Start time at 8am end time roughly 4pm. The start of the trail was firm in the morning from the previous night's freeze. Snow on the trail in the lower meadows after breaking away from the Bierstadt Trail. This gave way to a clear trail about a half mile from the start of the gully. Conditions in the gully and rest of the route to the summit were clear. No microspikes needed. Gaiters in the last half mile on the way out would have been nice. Warm base temps later in the day made the last 1.5 miles very muddy. This is a longer route but no one on it. A good option if you want to avoid crowds before the Mt. Blue Sky Road opens up Memorial Day Weekend 2026. 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 3/30/2026, By: noktoff
Info: Willows had me sinking to my waist, recommend snow shoes if traveling over them late in the day, also gully between spalding and the sawtooth is very loose right now. And the tundra above tree line is also a bit sandy. Good conditions otherwise above tree line snow completely avoidable outside the willows and road walk. 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 2/5/2026, By: khavos
Info: Put a new trench in today so get it while it lasts! Poles and snowshoes were useful today. Gomer’s gully was pretty dry and the easiest part of the day. 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 1/1/2026, By: Laxer04
Info: Went up Blue Sky from Spalding / Guanella Pass. The road is dry in spots and mostly packed down. We hiked in boots for most of it but snowshoes were helpful getting through the willows and up to the ridge. Once you are on the ridge it's basically Summer conditions to Spalding and over to Blue Sky.

We ran into 9 moose in the willows 

Route: West Ridge from Echo Lake
Posted On: 1/5/2026, By: SlowMagpie
Info: Parked near Echo Lake Lodge. Fairly consistent snow until you reach the slope leading to the saddle. Some snow/ice between saddle and summit. Snowshoes unnecessary on this route, but microspikes were very helpful descending the slope. Could probably use hiking shoes if you're light, but I used snow boots and was happy to avoid wet feet in some of the deeper snow. 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 12/14/2025, By: man_of_nature
Info: Calf deep snow or so in the willows. Brought snowshoes but didn't use them. Once you turn East onto the spur up to spalding the snow is intermittent. Almost clear on the south side of the ridge all the way to Blue Sky. 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 11/9/2025, By: arenm
Info: Less than 1" of snow on the ground from the TH to the gully. Mostly clear up the gully and firm snowpack, 1-3" to the west ridge. West ridge was mostly dry. Very windy on the summit. Micro spikes were helpful, but may not be needed for everyone. Still very doable, at least until the next significant snow. 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 10/28/2025, By: elliebeauchamp
Info: We took Gomer's gully on the ascent and the descent, not too much snow and we didn't need spikes the whole time. A bit windy at the top of Mt Spalding to the summit of Blue Sky. We took the ridge direct which was class 3/4 but I recommend staying on the west ridge class 2 trail for less wind and exposure. Bring gloves for the wind! It did get muddy on the way down when the sun was up. I recommend looking at the photos uploaded for the trail through the willows to know when to turn off. 11 miles total and from 7am-1pm for us. Very fun! 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 10/26/2025, By: KevinInFoCo
Info: Failed attempt on 10/25. Turned back about 1/3 of the way up Gomer's Gully. It was doable but bouldering up the gully was a little sketchy in the snow, especially for my dog (80 lb shepherd mix, has climbed fifteen 14ers). There's about 2 inches of snow in the gully. Trail in from Guanella Pass was easy, just hard packed snow. I had spikes but didn't use them though they might have helped some. 

Route: Bierstadt, Sawtooth, Blue Sky
Posted On: 10/17/2025, By: Piotr
Info: Bierstadt trail is 90% dry, whatever snow/ice there is can be bypassed. Coming down from Bierstadt to Sawtooth was more of a pain due to snow. Sawtooth has dry snow and kicked steps, it was doable without the spikes/ice ax. Evans trail 75% snow covered, again snow is pretty dry, doable without spikes. 

Route: West Ridge from Spalding, descended NE slopes
Posted On: 10/3/2025, By: Alpine_Iris
Info: ankle deep snow getting from spalding to the west ridge. patchy snow on the west ridge, you could probably hop rocks all the way if you really wanted to. calf deep snow descending NE slopes to the road, warren and rogers were much drier. 

Route: Summit Lake/Mt.Warren from Echo Lake
Posted On: 9/25/2025, By: Piotr
Info: Trail dry to Chicago Lakes, then 6-9" of snow from 12K to Summit Lake. Road from Summit Lake is mostly dry, but according to crews there are two-foot drifts higher up. Whoever broke trail from Chicago Lakes to Summit Lake - great job, thank you! 

Route: West Ridge from Echo Lake
Posted On: 9/21/2025, By: Another Steve
Info: A little snow from last week's storm lingering on the top of the ridge, but most everything that fell today melted. As of this morning the route was still clear of snow (but who knows after Tuesday's storms). No issues on the approach from Echo lake up to Summit lake. Cold and windy. 

Route: Bierstadt, Sawtooth, Blue Sky
Posted On: 9/6/2025, By: kmyi
Info: Got to parking lot around 3:15am. Several cars/tents that were there overnight and a few others but definitely spots in main lot and lot across the street. Big digital sign on road reminding you not to park on the side of the road or you will be towed. There are new boards on the boardwalks as you begin and they are very nice and stable. They were frosted over this morning so we had to walk carefully. At this time in the morning there were some icy spots up high where the water is coming down over the rocks. It is mostly avoidable but just be careful. If a rock is wet, it may be slippery. A few icy spots on Blue Sky but are avoidable. The muddy bog in the alders is not joke. If you take your time you can usually find a not so muddy path on the side or through the alders a bit. The mud is intermittent so when you think you're finished with the mud, there's more.
Other than those few things the conditions are still nice. A few yellow and orange coloring on some aspens coming from 285 on guanella pass. 

Route: Bierstadt, Sawtooth, Blue Sky
Posted On: 7/30/2025, By: ECF55
Info: This is just a driving report, but while on US-285 today, I marveled at how much white color there was on Blue Sky and Bierstadt. They were the only two peaks that looked this way. It’s unclear to me if it was hail or snow, but it certainly looked like fresh frozen precipitation from the recent storms. Can anyone confirm with firsthand experience?