Mt. Blue Sky

Route: sunrise couloir
Posted On: 6/29/2014, By: centrifuge
Info: Sunrise is still in, the overhang on the cornice at the top is gone but there is now a 90 degree wall to climb over at the top. The normal exit on climbers right is out and we found an exit that only required two moves over 80 degrees on the left hand side of the snow, or you can exit on the rocks to the right hand side. We scoped out Crystal and it's melted out at the top. The West Ridge route is in good condition as well :)

Here is a link to a video from the climb, I made sure to include clips where you can see the condition of the upper portion of the climb http://vimeo.com/99483353 

Route: North Face Moderate
Posted On: 6/14/2014, By: jeffskio
Info: We hit the base of north face moderate route at 7 am and there was some mixed climbing the last 80 feet. We exited a little to the left of the normal exit. Snow stayed firm in the shade till about 8 am. I also did a second lap and climbed the west gully at 9 am with my skis and skied down. Still a 6 foot drop off the cornice and minor runnels. 

Route: 
Posted On: 6/14/2014, By: pgunnz
Info: The Northeast face is in pretty good condition. The biggest issue you will have is finding the trail off of the road since it is buried under a snow bank. Your best option is to find where the snow bank is lowest and start making your way up to connect with the trail. Over all there are only a few snow fields left on the face so snow is not an issue once you get past the snow bank next to the road. 

Route: Egis
Posted On: 6/12/2014, By: justiner
Info: Everything on Evans looks pretty good. Very little snow on the Sawtooth where it's actually an issue - didn't don crampons or use an axe (grumble grumble all those miles, all that weight). One place that it is, is on one the last towers - there's a part where you scamper up a bit, before sneaking to the east. I never liked the scamper up on snow, as I usually hit it pretty late in the day, and it's just a mess to try. Rather, I climbed the rocks to the right. If you're not comfortable with that, don't do the route. There was minimal snow on that horrid gravel incline that seems to me at least the crux of the climb, given the exposure - I opted for the higher version of the route: you'll need to scramble up a slight slot before it - there's a dark granite hunk of rock that marks the beginning.

The Snave is also still in, be aware that the easiest way is probably to exit to the climber's right, and that a big hunk of cornice on that exact line really really wants to calf off. I'd say the chunk is about 5' square, so be very careful, it is def. detached from the rest of the cornice. Lots of other snow routes on that face look great for climbing. I passed a party of 3 that were hiking up the route to Spalding hoping to hit chutes on Grey Wolf. That would have been unwise, as they don't bottom out - they look real thin. I agree with the advice that one should climb UP what one wants to slide DOWN, but that's just me. I think it's obvious from the top, but that's not always the case. Hoo boy, talking of couloirs, there's a beautiful one on Rosalie Peak of all places, just beautiful, totally in, what an incredible scene.

2nd apron also looks nice and dry! The rock there looks so nice. 

Route: North Face Moderate
Posted On: 6/7/2014, By: Mike Shepherd
Info: Temperature upon arrival at the Summit Lake parking lot read 32F, but skys were clear up high. Everything else below was covered in a thick cloud layer. There have been some wet sluffs on Evans but none on the north moderate route. It's well shaded in the morning, and we had some wind and cloud cover that prevented the sun from ever softening the surface while we were on it

The north moderate route is full of graupel that is welded together pretty well in most places. In most places you can kick good steps with some effort or front point. There were a few areas that you will punch through the crust a little but these are few and far between. The top of the route is melted out and you'll have to do some scrambling for the ridge to the summit. 

Route: 
Posted On: 6/3/2014, By: MaxHiker
Info: Don't normally post much but didn't see much recently. Sorry I didn't get a better picture of the actual NE face. There were ski tracks off the summit parking lot. Great day. Some strong winds on the way down. We got a neighbor his first 14er hike. Great day. 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 6/1/2014, By: HoosierPioneer
Info: I'll start by saying we didn't reach the summit but not for a lack of effort. Snowshoes would have been a huge help today as we were postholing the majority of the four miles (round trip) that we spent on the trail from the parking lot to the tree covered hill. Snow is still pretty deep in some areas (waist deep on my 6ft buddy and I) and on perfect sunny hiking days like today, it liked to give way to hidden pools of water as you traverse through what are usually the swampy areas. The banks around Scott Gomer creek are still pretty snow covered and if following the Bierstadt trail you'll probably have to get a running jump to get over it in the next couple of days. As you move away from the Bierstadt trail there are patches of the creek that are still snow covered and frozen over so if you are following closely to the creek you'll want to watch out for those so as not to accidentally fall through and end up under the ice pack. We didn't make it to the gully (too much postholing killed the legs and knees) but it still looked pretty snow covered and so we planned to go the long way towards Grey Wolf and Mt. Spalding. To make a long story short, perfect day for a hike...really, really needed snowshoes. 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 3/20/2014, By: SnowAlien
Info: Took a day off to hike Mt. Evans with good weather & wind forecast. The road is well packed down from snowshoe/ski/snowmobile traffic. Took an early turn from the road and cut into the basin. The snow is firm enough and skis provided plenty of floatation. Skinned directly to Scott Gomer drainage and up towards Gray Wolf. Stashed skis at 12.5k and hiked to the summit and back in ski boots - not very comfortable but manageable. Fairly long day but skiing down from 12.5k made it a bit shorter. I would recommend bringing skis for this approach. Saw a big herd of sheep.

Pic 1 - skinning atop the willows. SquareTop in the background
Pic 2 - gaining the ridge
Pic 3 - Sawtooth is looking snowy
Pic 4 - area near the summit (almost dry) 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 3/16/2014, By: Chicago Transplant
Info: Closed my winter on Mt Evans today, but figured I would post for people who might have a weekday off and are looking to sneak one last peak in before the calendar switches to Spring.

-Typical winter trailhead, road has a couple of short icy patches, parking lot in good shape.
-Road hike well packed out from snowmobile traffic, can carry your snowshoes, was a little softer in the afternoon so I left them on for the descent. The shortcuts for the switchbacks were not trenched, so I stuck to the road.
-Trail to Bierstadt split needed to be rebroken, in the morning and again in the afternoon, despite traffic on Bierstadt. Wind wasn't bad but steady and enough to blow some powder into the trail, luckily it was only about angle deep.
-Willow traverse was better than expect, good consolidation and mostly only ankle deep as well, also needed to rebreak on the exit
-Gully in Bill's route description was dry, but I didn't take it, I left the willows early and worked through some rocks with some willow "trap" postholes, but generally good. Took this to the ridge that forms the left skyline when looking left of the gully from the route description. Stashed snowshoes before gaining the ridge (image 1, early morning so a little dark, sorry I had stashed camera on the way out)
-Ridge was a mix of light snow coverage, grass and talus initially, and very windy. Topping out and traversing below Spaulding was in a wind shelter, initially ankle deep snow then weaving through talus and grass to gain the west ridge proper (image 2, aim for point in center to gain west ridge)
-West ridge trail was initially snow covered and I stayed above it to avoid side hilling the snow patches. Beyond following the trail was the best option with occasionally avoiding a snow covered section on rock. Some wind, but mostly sheltered, all the way to the summit.
-Image 3 is a view of the initial part of the west ridge
-Image 4 is a view to the willow basin below from up high on the initial ridge. 

Route: Mt. Evans Road
Posted On: 2/9/2014, By: shearmodulus
Info: Tried to skin up as far as I could along the Mt. Evans road for some exercise and to check out the developing Avvy conditions. I made it up about 4 miles from the Echo Lake Parking area (turned around at about 12,000 feet due to just miserable winds blowing right into me). LOTS of wind transport with this system. The western aspects of the road were almost completely scoured or solid wind slabs. My tracks were obliterated below treeline on the eastern facing sides in the 3 hours that I was out. I witnessed one large slough on a fairly tree-filled area below the road on my descent. Nothing too big, but I suspect more frequent and larger ones are coming soon.

As I left, the area was getting another dump of heavy, wet snow in the form of big, fat flakes. I don't think conditions will be improving much over the next couple of days. 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 1/21/2014, By: SurfNTurf
Info: The Georgetown side of Guanella Pass, us usual, is plowed to within 1.5 miles of the summer trailhead. The road is basically one giant bootpack. From the top of the pass, the Bierstadt trail was packed down but there was no trench toward Evans. About 2-3 hours of intense trenchbusting saw us at treeline, and from there the route was mostly dry. Lots of "whoomps" and shooting cracks, be careful out there.

We stashed our snowshoes shortly before crossing Scott Gomer Creek. Crossing over the West Ridge of Spalding and onto Evans required only walking on tundra or shallow snow. Once on Evans, most of the summer trail was easy to follow. 

Route: West Ridge from Echo Lake
Posted On: 11/11/2013, By: Hiro
Info: Trail is covered in icy snow off and on from the trailhead to just below (lower) Chicago Lake. Yak or other light traction device might be desired by some, but can be done in tennis shoes if needed (I would avoid rubbers which get hard and slippery when cold).

From about 11k' just below Lower Chicago Lake, there are sheets of ice on the trail, crampons are pretty much required, especially if you are descending. Above Chicago Lakes to Summit Lake, rocks and dirt dominate with much snow as well. I wished I had put on my gaiters for this section (it's that deep sometimes), but not difficult or dangerous - and crampons were not required up at elevation.

We did not go above Summit Lake on this route due to the high wind.

Side note - the road from the summit is basically clear - you could carry your bike up there and ride it down the road. 

Route: West Ridge from Echo Lake
Posted On: 9/29/2013, By: csprang
Info: Anywhere from 1-4" of snow is present from Chicago lakes up to the summit. Small spots of ice but no micro spikes or crampons needed. 

Route: West Ridge from Echo Lake
Posted On: 9/19/2013, By: sergeisorkin
Info: Everything is still dry up there, with the exception of the North-ish face. 

Route: West Ridge from Echo Lake
Posted On: 7/27/2013, By: jefwerner
Info: We ascended Evans after traversing from Bierstadt via the Sawtooth. The Sawtooth was clear of snow and well cairned (but never rely on cairns to get you through). After hiking up to Evans' summit, we returned to Guanella Pass via the West Slopes and headed down Gomer's Gully. The gully trail was steep, but in pretty good condition. Once you get to the valley floor there are several very wet sections, but you should be able to pick your way through without getting too wet. The trail is somewhat braided in sections, but the side spurs seem to come back to the main trail.