Mt. Bross

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 3/5/2020, By: davebobk47
Info: Snowshoes worked best up the road. Stashed them just past Kite Lake TH. Carried microspikes but never used them. 

Route: "S Gully"
Posted On: 1/26/2020, By: Posthole Pete
Info: Was able to drive up to 11,100 when the road became blocked by wind drift. A car had attempted and failed to pass the wind drift so this where I decided to start. Was quite windy down low but just lots of gusts and not too much sustained. Very easy finding the mouth of the gully. Once in the gully the wind died down. Snow was easy to climb on my split all the way up until about 13,450. Ditched the split there and hiked dry rock and scree all the way to the summit. Had a fantastic ride from 13,450 all the way back to my truck. 

Route: "Dolly Varden Gully"
Posted On: 1/26/2020, By: srtaylor1317
Info: Parked near Paris Mill and snowshoed to Mineral Park trailhead. There were 3 or 5 inches of fresh snow, and I was making fresh tracks at 7am (photo 1). The gully is easy to find, and you just keep going up (photo 2 is of mineral park trailhead area). There were a couple places down low with deep drifts to plow through, but snow was mostly consolidated once in the actual gully. Photo 3 is looking up from maybe halfway. Snow is continuous until around 13,500', and then it's rock-hopping (scree) to the summit. Photo 4 shows the elevation at which the snow finally gives out to rock. Snowshoes or equivalent flotation are a must-have, and ice axe recommended for easy self-arrest on the return trip (I glissaded/slid around 800 vertical feet in all, near as I can tell). I brought microspikes and never used them. Never having taken this route to the summit, I was nervous about the description of the gully and only being fun with good snow coverage. I suspect the conditions right now are basically perfect. Definitely recommended! Also, there is no risk of avalanche at present. The slopes above the gully are wind-swept and bare, even though the gully has plenty of snow coverage. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 12/23/2019, By: CaptainSuburbia
Info: Did full loop starting with Democrat. Conditions for the most part same as previous report. Another mostly windless day until I got to Bross. Wore microspikes for entire day, snowshoes could be useful for road but not neccessary. Not another soul out there. I was surprised not to see any other snowflakers on such a great weather day. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 12/22/2019, By: dwoodward13
Info: Did the loop today starting with Bross. Bross is mostly windblown once gaining some elevation out of Kite Lake. There are 1 or 2 snow slopes, but you could bypass them on rock if you wanted. Route to the base of Cameron is dry. The trail bypassing Cameron is starting to load up a bit in spots. Might be better to go over Cameron both ways after the next storm. Trail to Lincoln is a mix of snow and dry rock; similar story for the trail from Cameron down to the Democrat Saddle. Snowfield on the upper reaches of Democrat can be avoided. Heading back down to Kite Lake, we followed the trail until it started down a headwall near 12,500 and stuck to a rock rib. The trail crossed a loaded slope and the party that put in a booter from Kite Lake up to there sidehilled some steep slopes, with steep slopes above it. We followed the old mining road back down to the lake thats just to the east of the summer trail on a rib. Brought spikes, crampons, and snowshoes and only used the snowshoes from 12,500 back to the car. Shockingly windless for most of the day today! 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 10/26/2019, By: Wentzl
Info: Did BroLiCa yesterday, 10/25/19. Cold and windy. Started up Bross. Some deep soft snow on the flats leading to Bross. Once on the mountain, not bad. Circuit to Lincoln Cameron and Democrat, carried axe and crampons but didn't need either. Too worn out to finish Democrat, bit snow coming off from the Democrat/Cameron saddle was the worst for postholing all day. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 10/5/2019, By: aim54pheonix
Info: Trail is completely dry except for a small 50 ft section right at the beginning. From just below the Cameron summit until off of Bross, the wind was blowing pretty hard. Be sure to pack something that can block the wind. The overall temps were probably between 30-40 after the sun came up so as long as you can block the wind, it was a pretty nice day. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 8/24/2019, By: TheClassyDuck
Info: Crazy day on Mt. Bross. Parking was a nightmare at 0500 as it was already backed up to the second switchback. My buddy and I initially planned to do the Decalibron, but that quickly changed as the peak conditions deteriorated fast starting at 13,500'. We're moving into wind season now so be careful guys! We made it to the summit and were battered by some insane winds. Besides that, the trail is the typical loose and chunky Bross we all love. Crazy day to summit. Stay safe everyone. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 8/19/2019, By: lizstoyan
Info: Got to the trailhead about 5:15am and were able to park really close to the parking lot. We decided to go up Bross first, so the order was Bross - Lincoln - Cameron - Democrat. I didn't want to go down Bross, since I had heard it was steep with loose rock, and I HATE descending as it is, aka my knees always kill and I'm always just fighting not falling haha. Times were roughly: 5:30am start , summited Bross 7:30am, Lincoln 8:20am, Cameron 8:45am, Democrat 11am (we stopped for lunch and were not pushing pace at this point), back to car at 12:45pm. No snow issues - anything that is present is easily avoidable. We had great conditions, though extremely windy on Bross and Lincoln. Awesome hike all around! 

Route: East Slopes from Mineral Park
Posted On: 8/5/2019, By: ultradoughboy
Info: This is a great route for those wanting minimal exposure/rock fall for a 14er. The route from TH to the top can be done in a 4WD and 3 side-by-sides were going up as I descended . 4 of the 4.5 miles is out in the open, but is still quiet scenic. Passing by several old mines was cool. Wildflowers in full bloom! Zero snow, zero mud, zero issues the whole way. I think if the road to the trailhead was in better shape, many more would do this route. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 7/26/2019, By: ilikereds
Info: Great day on the trails! I did the Decalibron counter-clockwise and avoided most people until going up Democrat. Left TH at 0530 and summited Bross at 0715. The abandoned truck on the saddle between Bross and Cameron is still there. Encountered first snow on the side of Cameron on the way to Lincoln. Easily traversed! Summited Lincoln at 0812. Summited Cameron at 0847. Made my way down and started seeing a few more people coming up. Summited Democrat at 1027. Route up is challenging. Lots of missing cairns and lots trail often (up and down). Little bit of snow on the false summit that was easy to cross. Saw quite a few heading up around noon with threatening clouds rolling in...not the smartest thing to do! Back at TH at 12:15. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 7/15/2019, By: treymdominick0351
Info: Today I was able to summit all 4. I went counter clockwise and started with Mt. Bross, because everyone else started with Mt democrat. I took B1 the east slope up of Bross and I encountered no snow. From Bross I jumped on the standard route to to Lincoln. there is on snow patch still holding on but you can walk around it, but I just walked on top of it, because the boot pack was nice. No snow on Lincoln, no snow on cameron. I didn't encounter snow again until summiting Democrat. You can avoid all the snow on the way up to the summit, but when you are about .3 miles from the peak you will have to cross a snow field to reach the top. On the way down you will hit a few more snow fields to get to the TH, but there are tracks cut into most of the route so it is easy going on the way down. I didn't use any traction. trail runners and poles is all you might need. round trip distance: 7.68 gain: 3435 ft time from the car and back: 3:15 

Route: "Dolly Varden Gully"
Posted On: 7/14/2019, By: CoulKurt
Info: Snow starts a few hundred feet up from Mineral Point lot. Continues up to about 13500. Skied most of it this morning. Certainly not smooth but maybe 1500 foot of vert. Enjoy. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 7/7/2019, By: wanderingsteve
Info: The route is mostly free of snow. Don't let the snowfields shortly after the trailhead dissuade you. There is one roughly fifty foot snow gully to cross around 13,300 feet. I didn't use any traction on the way up (I did have poles), but did decide to put on my microspikes for the softer snow on the descent. You could get by without them as long as you're comfortable on snow. After that, there is no snow, including on the summit. Loose rocks throughout above 12,500 feet. Be careful descending and if conditions are wet. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 6/28/2019, By: jkuntzman
Info: Bross, Democrat and Lincoln are all basically summer conditions. Theres still some snow but very limited amounts and easily avoided or easy to get thru for the most part. Only issue on Bross was a little over halfway up where the trail where it turns left (see topo map) the route is covered by snow/ice. Probably fine with snowshoes but we tried to go around in the rock which was all loose rock so bad choice. There was a path that seemed like a much better choice off to the right a bit but that's not the official route. Also there's a truck in between Bross and Lincoln that someone had fun destroying. Democrat was covered in snow anywhere from 2-4 ft deep at different spots. Snowshoes were helpful but depending on the time of day, microspikes/crampons would've done just as well or better I think. Glissaded almost the whole way down and that was definitely the right choice. Great hike!