Mt. Blue Sky

Route: West Ridge from Summit Lake
Posted On: 7/4/2026, By: snazzypeets
Info: Summer conditions. No snow. Lots of critter activity! If you’re starting in the dark keep your eyes peeled for the right trail. Once you get up and over Spaulding, keep an eye out for the Little Rock towers. 

Route: West Ridge from Summit Lake
Posted On: 7/1/2026, By: masonpips
Info: Parked at 6 and it was smoky but cleared as we went up. We had a large group of 9 but probably only saw 3-4 other small groups. Pretty quiet for a holiday week! Really windy and cold at the start but great conditions at the summit. We took the "unmaintained" trail straight down from the parking lot to do a loop and shorten the way back. Awesome day! 

Route: West Ridge from Summit Lake
Posted On: 6/30/2026, By: dolphan39
Info: Conditions were great today but was a bit smoky in the morning. Cleared up later in the morning. The wind was brutal from 7 AM until 2 PM (we took a long time at the summit). Hat and gloves for early morning needed. 

Route: Road ride from Echo Lake
Posted On: 6/29/2026, By: blazintoes
Info: I rode up late yesterday afternoon hoping to make the summit for sunset, spend the night, and continue my moonset picture project and Bada Bing try outs.

With the road closed all of last year for construction, I was eager to see what had been accomplished. The nicest surprise was the section around Summit Lake (roughly mile 9–10), which has been completely repaved. It’s only about a mile long, but it’s smooth and beautifully done. It also appears that water mitigation and drainage improvements were made in that area.

The remainder of the 14-mile road is largely as I remembered it. The numerous transverse cracks across the pavement still make for a pretty chattery descent. Another cyclist yelled to me on his way down that he had turned around because of the wind. He wasn’t kidding. The wind tried to punt me off the road before I even reached Summit Lake. Fortunately, it eased just enough later in the evening for me to safely continue.

I made the summit in time for sunset and bivied near the top. Sleep was minimal between the constant wind hammering the summit and the smell of wildfire smoke drifting through all night. Probably not my smartest plan.

The morning made it worthwhile, though. I got the red moonset photo I’d come for before starting the descent.

On the ride down, it felt like some additional smoothing or patching had been done between about mile 8 and mile 5, making that stretch noticeably less rough than I remembered. The worst pavement remains between roughly mile 5 and mile 3 near the Mount Goliath area, where the repeated cracks make for the bumpiest riding. The final couple of miles toward the entrance are smooth sailing again.

Road conditions aside, the wildflowers are outstanding right now and made for a beautiful ride. Despite the wind, smoke, and rough pavement, it was another memorable trip up one of Colorado’s classic climbs. 

Route: West Ridge from Summit Lake
Posted On: 6/23/2026, By: angry
Info: summer conditions 

Route: West Ridge from Summit Lake
Posted On: 6/15/2026, By: Alpine_Exchange_36
Info: Trail is in good condition, no snow or anything like that. Just make sure to stay right just after the lake unless you want to do some scrambling. 

Route: West Ridge from Summit Lake
Posted On: 6/8/2026, By: jmramsey01
Info: Had a great day. Began hiking around 6:45 AM from Summit Lake and summited by 8:30. Trail is in great shape. Borderline summer conditions, I can count on 1 hand the number of times I was hiking in snow and was only for about 30 seconds each. Didn't use poles or microspikes and was fine. Snowy spots definitely got slippery after 9:00 though. 

Route: Bierstadt, Sawtooth, Blue Sky
Posted On: 6/8/2026, By: ayance88
Info: Completed the Sawtooth on Saturday. There was a little bit of snow when first dropping off of Bierstadt that made me question putting on traction and one other spot when crossing over to the other side of the ridge traversing the wall to get out. We were able to leave them off and you can stay out of the snow if you are intentional. The willows were a boggy mess on the way out. +/- 8 hrs for our group and overall, a really fun traverse 

Route: North Face Moderate
Posted On: 6/8/2026, By: Mccabemammoth
Info: Left the summit lake parking lot around 6:45, temperature already around 48 degrees in the sun, thinking we were too late in the morning to make it to the top but figured we would go check it out. There was much more snow than I thought there would be after the warm days last week.

Once we got onto the shelf (take care to avoid restoration area), the snow was still frozen in the shade. We started to the left of the tiny lake and decided to push for the ridge, and about halfway up the sun began to hit the snow. Once in the sun, the snow got soft very quick and we began postholing about 2/3 up. It only took about 20 minutes to reach the ridge from there. Crampons and ice axe were very useful in the lower firm snow.

We walked over to Blue Sky summit and then took the west ridge down. Forecast called for thunderstorms around noon, but they started to form much earlier, around 10:30. Fortunately, we were already down to the car by then. 

Route: West Ridge from Summit Lake
Posted On: 5/30/2026, By: spgriff2
Info: Good conditions, excellent day. It would have been nice if there was a little less wind and snow, but you work with what you have. Stunning clouds to the north covering Longs, against the backdrop of G+Ts, and blue bird skies of over the south park basin. This was my first time doing this hike and I would do it again.

I had my spikes on me and probably *should* have used them in a spot or two, but otherwise the snow was mostly firm before 8AM. I'm 6'4", 190 and was post holeing some after 8AM. There is some slick ice here and there so if you're thinking about doing this in the next week or two keep an eye out for it. I almost tripped twice after NOT seeing it at first. 

Route: North Face Steep
Posted On: 5/22/2026, By: jmanner
Info: Amazingly I was able to connect snow from the summit to the north face. It was ugly and many Billy-goat jumps were made, but it went. The line itself is thin from the ridge and is somewhat scary with skis on, but it’s doable. Snow tonight won’t hurt. Good booter up the face now. 

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 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.