Mt. Bross

Route: "S Gully"
Posted On: 6/19/2015, By: Tim A
Info: Ascended Bross via the little-publicized snow route from Kite Lake, which is so much better than doing the standard route.


Snow coverage is good for the entire gully, starting low in the basin and working to within probably 100 vertical feet of the summit.


Started at 530am, base of gully at 615, summit at 8am. Bottom half of gully was mellow enough with a bootpack that I barebooted it. Upper half I switched to crampons and axe, as it steepens and was bulletproof snow that early. Sun didn't hit it until around 830, after I'd ascended the entire gully.

Attempted traverse to Cameron and Lincoln but lots of snow still on the ridgeline and it was very punchy even by 830am, with no way around it. Since I'd cached my snowshoes halfway up the gully, I turned around. Take snowshoes up the peaks if you plan on traversing any of them.

On the descent, snow softened up enough for a smooth glissade, and I ran into a guy skinning up at that time as well (~930am), when the snow was soft enough to not need traction. Talked to him after he skied down, said it was great conditions. 

Route: "S Gully"
Posted On: 6/8/2015, By: r_grizz
Info: Climbed and skied Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross. Kite Lake Road is impassable at Sweet Home Mine, about 1.5 miles above Paris Mill. The hardest part of the day was breaking trail for the standard traverse route from Lincoln, under the Cameron summit, to the saddle with Bross. The Mt. Bross "S" gully was in so fat with nearly perfect corn snow conditions for my afternoon descent. It was pretty warm, and everything's melting quickly. I pity the fool who's up there without flotation any later than 10:00 AM. Lots of very large wet slides on the southeast face of Democrat (picture #6). One other thing to note is that the creek draining out of Kite Lake is running very fast and could be pretty dangerous if you get too close. You'll want to cross up and over that drainage well before you get all the way up to the main Kite Lake Trailhead area. I had to backtrack quite a ways to find a good spot. Overall, it was a great day. Better get out there and get that snow while you can though. 

Route: East Slopes from Moose Creek
Posted On: 5/25/2015, By: a day in the life
Info: Parked at intersection of Quartzville and Zinc. Skinned from the road and up the crest of the ridge all the way to the summit. Coverage is worse above 13,800 and there's a fair amount of sidestepping and route finding required to keep your skis on for the duration. I chose to bootpack about 100' of the final 300. We skied frozen crust from summit to about 13,200 and then spring snow and corn below that. Lower angle route if you stick to ridge crest, and no signs of instability. The snowpack on the ridge seemed to be less than a foot deep in most places but the coverage was surprisingly broad given the shallow depth.

Also skied Lincoln 5/24 from the same parking spot/TH via quartzville creek/crest drive route. Great coverage and you can keep keep slope angle to a max of about 30 degrees. Steepest sections of route were around 13,200' and then immediately below the summit. Both areas were hard and frozen with no signs if instability early in the morning. You can ski continuously from Summit to quartzville road. There were a few inches of new snow Sunday morning and saw fresh bear tracks around 11,500' at 5:45 am. From 40 feet away it was confusing as to why there would be foot prints at that time of day running perpendicular to the route. 

Route: Northeast Face (from Cameron Amphitheatre)
Posted On: 5/25/2015, By: DanielL
Info: I'd never heard of anyone skiing Bross' NE face from the Cameron Amphitheatre, so decided to go try it out while the coverage is as good as it is right now. We parked at Moose Creek and were able to skin all the way up from the Quartzville/Crest Rd intersection to the summit of Bross, switchbacking up powder on the NE face where it gets a bit steeper (32-35 degrees tops). We could also have skinned up to the Bross-Cameron saddle, which is less steep, and gone from there up the ridge. Coverage was amazing until about the top 200' below Bross' summit, but there was still a (barely) continuous line we pieced together.

The ski down was fun - we attempted Cameron as well but the winds picked up considerably to 50+ MPH while we were up on the Cameron side of the ridge, and we didn't feel it was worth suffering that much for a repeat ski. Loads of powder, corn and everything in between up there - Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross are all very much in. Go get it! 

Route: "Dolly Varden Gully"
Posted On: 3/27/2015, By: RockCaCO3
Info: The road from Paris Mill to Mineral Park is mostly snow covered. Only had to click out of skis at two spots. The gully has plenty of snow, skinable the entire way. Patches of windblown snow made for good skiing in between the sastrugi. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 3/21/2015, By: JQDivide
Info: Bross has little to no snow on the west side. 

Route: "S Gully"
Posted On: 3/15/2015, By: BillMiddlebrook
Info: Here's a look at the "S" Gully while we were climbing Democrat today. The snow doesn't go to the summit but it's not looking too bad. 

Route: Decalibron
Posted On: 11/1/2014, By: AlexeyD
Info: Did the DeCaLiBron clockwise, as described on this site. Trail mostly clear to Dem-Cam saddle. Spur to Democrat is largely packed-down snow and ice; we used microspikes on way down. Rest of the route is a mix of snow, occasional ice and bare rock. Did not use spikes any more. A pole was useful, esp. for descent from Bross. All this is really just useful through tomorrow, before the next storm buries everything. 

Route: Decalibron
Posted On: 10/20/2014, By: windwaker
Info: Little to no snow. Kite Lake Road up to the trailhead is in good condition as well. Passenger cars will make it almost all the way to the parking lot with the exception of some washout that can be a little tricky if you have a really low car. The last 100ft to the parking lot needed a decent clearance. The trail only had specklings of snow, most could be avoided by just staying to the side of the trial. Aside from a few small bursts of wind, the day was pretty warm and cloud free. 

Route: Decalibron
Posted On: 8/29/2014, By: AlpineCarole
Info: For those who want to hike Bross and do a full loop, please be careful on the way down (in the direction ->Bross->TH). The trail is unconsolidated with small rocks rocks. if you have knees or back problem or few technical skills don't go down on this way. Since it's the last part, lots of us are tired and you can easily slip and get hurt. Also, you should watch out below you. People can get hurt with the gravel you moved. 

Route: Decalibron
Posted On: 7/29/2014, By: emgordon
Info: Easy walk up but very loose going down. No snow or ice and very gentle wind. 

Route: Decalibron
Posted On: 10/19/2013, By: SaraMiller
Info: Brutal. The wind was strong from the beginning at 7am...and all the way up. Took Kite Lake to Democrat to Cameron, skipped out on Lincoln because of the discomfort and complete lack of ANY breaks from the wind. The temp was around 20, but with the 60+ mph gusts, it was WELL BELOW ZERO. From Cameron to Bross did settle SLIGHTLY. Do not be confused, it was still rough, physically pushing me over 3 times...I weigh 120. Not as much snow on the way up, but on the way down, drifts were at 2ft+ in many places and trail was covered with snow most of the way down. 

Route: Decalibron
Posted On: 10/16/2013, By: stevevets689
Info: Gaiters were useful but no traction devices needed yet. Decalibron is in fine shape. Trail is still quite easy to follow. This loop is definitely not in winter conditions yet! Definitely colder than summer, though ;) 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 10/22/2012, By: gabsimonelouise
Info: Hit up Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and lastly Bross, taking the West Slope trail back down to Kite Lake. It was a slow/tough descent as there was snow on some parts of the trail, scree on nearly 3/4 of the trail, and very steep for 1/2 the trail. Looks like an easier ascent than descent, and would recommend starting the 4-peak loop from the Bross side and descending on the Democrat side. 

Route: "S Gully"
Posted On: 4/6/2013, By: leggaj5
Info: Able to drive to the Paris Mine (about 2.5 miles from CO 9); a snow drift blocks the road beyond that, and no vehicle will make it through. Able to skin from the car all the way to about 14k feet where snow steepens and eventually runs out below the ridge.