Mt. Bross

Route: "S Gully"
Posted On: 5/27/2019, By: mia_dandrea
Info: Beautiful day up on Bross. Took the S Gully up and there is still a lot of snow. Started around 7am and the trail from Kite lake was packed down pretty well before the gully and I was fine in just boots to start. Snowshoes or skis necessary for nearly the entire gully. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 5/14/2019, By: pgerskovich
Info: I started at the closed gate at 7am. I made it to the entry area for the west slope route and it appeared that most of the footprints were going up the right side of the gully (rather than the standard route up the left side). So I followed the footprints up the left side. The snow was solid and crusty enough to use crampons. (When I got higher up I saw the problem with using the standard route up the left side of the gully, there is no good way to cross over the gully and make it up the left side.) So whoever made the path up the right side had the right idea. On my way back down (around noon) the snow was getting mushy. I needed to put snowshoes on to trudge back to the parking lot. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 5/11/2019, By: Thevirtualsherpa
Info: Parking at Winter TH closure, snow from that point to the summit. We broke trail up the west ridge which is almost 100% covered in snow. Summit was a wind factory, but cool sharing it with Bill (even though I didn't introduce myself). Areas look "in" with recent snow but are notably not (raises hand as I found out the hard way). If anyone finds a gopro Hero4 in the spring/summer months, would greatly appreciate a DM. 

Route: "S Gully"
Posted On: 5/12/2019, By: BillMiddlebrook
Info: Parked at the current gate/closure 1.4 miles below the lake. We skinned up the remaining road and skinned up the S Gully and to the summit. Then skied the S Gully which had a mix of powder, crust and rocks hiding under the surface up high. On this day, I give the skin ascent an "A-" and the ski a "B-" Last photo courtesy of Otina. 

Route: "S Gully"
Posted On: 5/6/2019, By: Madison08
Info: The road is open about 1.2 miles from kite lake. We did not need to use our snowshoes at all on the approach (yay!). The S gully is in perfect condition right now and it is filled in all the way to the ridge, no scree to deal with at all. I'm attaching a picture near the bottom of the gully. 

Route: "S Gully"
Posted On: 4/27/2019, By: gregpeak
Info: I climbed and skied the S gully today. There was about 4 inches of new snow last night which made for good turns low in the gully. It was very windy so the upper half of the gully is pretty icy. The snow goes to about 150 ft below the summit. 

Route: "S Gully"
Posted On: 4/6/2019, By: spoony
Info: Skied the S Gully from Kite Lake snow closure this morning. The snow was frozen nearly solid on the road, past Kite Lake, and into the lower third of the gully. I was there early, so it had not had any sun yet, but I suspect it would soften up with a little heat. I would caution, however, that it was merely a supportive crust and not a truly consolidated spring snowpack. Not that avalanche issues were a concern, but if that crust breaks down in the sun, you'll be post-holing. The middle of the gully had some soft wind filled snow and the top had firm, almost icy conditions. Traction would be helpful or you can kick you ski boots in like a brute (like I did). The snow petered out about a quarter mile from the summit. It would be very tough to get a true summit ski on any route at this point...too much wind, I guess. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 2/9/2019, By: wintersage
Info: Had to start at the Paris Mill parking lot which added 6mi RT. Walking from Paris Mill to Kite Lake was pretty easy; the snow was packed from the SnowCat tracks, wind, other hikers from days prior, etc. A little windy at Kite Lake trailhead but otherwise a peaceful day up to the 13,000ft point -- there, the winds really picked up and googles + windbreaker were definitely needed. The slopes of Bross were much rockier than Democrat or Lincoln's but the climb wasn't as bad as I expected. The scree wasn't too lose and walking on the rocks was often a little easier than walking on the slippery hard snow. I used microspikes the entire way to the summit and back. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 7/5/2018, By: adamski3119
Info: Finished Decalibron by doing Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross. Summer conditions the entire way and all remaining snowfields are off trail. Democrat conditions looked to be the same. Weston Pass fire was visible for a good amount of the hike above 13k. If you plan on doing any peaks in the area, be aware of wind direction as Kenosha Pass was really socked in by smoke. Busy, as expected, but a great day to be on the trail! 

Route: Bross, Lincoln, Cameron
Posted On: 6/10/2018, By: RedheadedHiker
Info: First off, the road to Kite Lake is in impeccable condition right now. No major ruts, so I wouldn't even say that 4WD is needed. There are a couple of significant humps as you're close to the Kite Lake parking lot, but if your car can't make it over those, then just park in an appropriate spot along the road. Please note: the city of Alma left a fee envelope on every car that was parked along the road, so you may wish to go ahead and pay the fee even though you're not parking in the lot. It appears they are monitoring this. To gain access to the trailhead, of course, one must cross the creek. Since it was 5 a.m., the "snow bridge" across the creek was frozen solid, thus there was no need to try and cross through the water itself. Please note, however, that upon return, parts of the "snow bridge" appeared to be suspiciously slushy, so instead of chancing going across it and postholing through to the creek, I just went ahead and attempted to cross the creek in a narrow spot. Since I had summitted Democrat before, I decided to take the route up Bross, the route that follows the gully and then crosses it in order to gain the ridge. The entire route was free of snow, and I assure you was much easier to go up than it would be to come down! The trail below the summit contained some snow but easy enough to walk on or on the dry part next to it. The route from Bross over to Lincoln was dry with the exception of a small snowfield. Footprints were well-formed about half of the way and then a little bit slick the other half, but I found no need to haul out my traction; I just stepped carefully and used my poles for balance. The rest of the way to Lincoln was perfectly dry. From before the saddle, it appears there is snow to cross on the final stretch to Lincoln's summit, but it's actually just snow that's on the edge, and the trail route itself is completely dry. The route from the Lincoln-Cameron saddle up to the Cameron summit was also completely dry, as was the entire route down Cameron and finally descending from the Democrat-Cameron saddle back down to the trailhead. NOTE: There is a lot of runoff coming down onto parts of the trail as you descend to the trailhead, so just be wary of very slick, wet rocks, and wary of stepping in water and then stepping onto a dry rock that then suddenly becomes very slick. All in all, shockingly dry conditions. The trail up Democrat also looked shockingly dry, the entire trail exposed and no difficult snow crossings, from what I could tell. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 5/29/2018, By: David_H
Info: Started up Bross first. 90% dry trail to summit. Traverse to Cameron had one snow patch that was slightly concerning due to ice and lack of ability to stop yourself from sliding down 75 ft. Lincoln looked pretty dry, but did not pursue. Traverse from Cameron to democrat junction - mainly dry, but featured a couple small snow patches, which can be avoided. Standard route up democrat still has quite a bit of snow on lower portion, but melting fast. Made for postholing on decent. Watched a couple groups navigate the upper portion with ease. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 5/27/2018, By: James2015
Info: Road is open to Kite Lake, and snow is melting fast. Gf hadn't hiked it yet, so we set up the West Slope ugliness as a Spring warmup. A little snow down low, but otherwise dry to ridge. No spikes or flotation needed all day. She wanted to tag Cameron, so we then looped over and then down Democrat standard route. 3 fun, long glissades made getting down fun and fast, but snow won't be there for long. A nice day with a little wind in places. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 5/22/2018, By: drewshotwell
Info: The road to Kite Lake is clearing up, I think we got about a half mile from the trailhead. Don't attempt going too far if you're in a 2WD, the width of the road doesn't afford an easy turnaround. The snow is nothing debilitating to the route; we didn't need microspikes throughout, though there were some sections that it may have helped to bring them for the sake of the self-assurance of safety. The snow was perfectly hard in the morning, but later slushy, and snow patches became a nuisance to cross, though not long enough to justify snowshoes. I'd conjecture the slops will be fully summer-hiker friendly within the course of the next few weeks, but what do I know. 

Route: "S Gully"
Posted On: 3/17/2018, By: JonHandshake
Info: PLAN: Park at Paris Mills and skin up to the summit of Bross via the West Slopes route and then ski/snowboard down the South Gully. DRIVING/PARKING: There was not enough snow to justify parking at Paris Mills, so we started driving toward Kite Lake. There were already several people parked about 2miles from Kite Lake, so we did the same. This was a mistake; my 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo could have absolutely made it through the snow. In fact, after about half a mile, I took off my skis and began to boot-hike to Kite Lake. ASCENT: After seeing how baron the mountain was, we decided not to skin up the West Slopes (couldn't have if we tried; there was no snow) and instead skinned/boot-hiked up the South Gully. At lower elevations, the snow was soft, but the pack became more dense and even icy at higher elevations. In fact, it was so icy toward the summit that we had to boot-pack to the top - which was a challenge considering how Bross is basically a giant mound of loose scree. There was a narrow ribbon of snow down throughout the Gully, but it was icy and rocky. Nevertheless, we went for it. DESCENT: Having seen the quality of the snow on the way up, we knew we'd have to unclip from our skis/snowboards several times in order to walk over large patches of rock. We used our BCA inclinometer at what we believed to be the steepest point near the summit, and measured a slope angle of 36 degrees. It was icy and steep at first, but that posed no issue for these native New Yorkers. When the slope angle decreased at a lower elevation, the snow started to soften up - but we did have to weave in and out of rocks. We unclipped to walk over rocks 3 times, but after that we were able to ride to Kite Lake and even further. TIMES: 5:30AM - parked. 6:30am - Started hiking. 12pm - summit. 1pm - back at the car. AVALANCHE RISK: Of course, whenever you ski down a 14er you should do your own HW in the days leading up to your trip, make decisions based on the experience and risk profile of those in your group, and everyone in your group should have avy rescue gear (a beacon, probe, and shovel - at minimum). Last night, my partner and I agreed the risk was low. Today, we made many observations that confirmed our assessment. There is a storm coming in tonight, and tomorrow may be a different story. In fact, our original plan was to go tomorrow, but when we first learned of the storm we made the decision to go today instead. Have fun and be safe! 

Route: "S Gully"
Posted On: 3/13/2018, By: Kcmartinez22
Info: Came up the winter route/ South Gully to Summit Bross, and then Lincoln and Cameron today. Snow was in good shape but not as set as it is on Sherman. Also, turn right towards the West ridge at the picnic area and stay high to reach the south gully. I've put a nice trench in to follow. The snow in the lower basin is shady. Not to sound like a wuss, when the gully turns right at the top of the S, it's pretty steep. Way steeper than the south gully on Sherman. And the snow is continuous to the summit ridge. However, i joined the standard trail just below that. I used snow shoes the entire way up and then ditched Them for spikes at the bross summit. I've read previous reports saying they're not needed. However, to be safe i would wear them. While there isn't much snow on bross and Cameron summits. There is a sketchy snow field you have to cross below Cameron to reach Lincoln. It would also be super slick without them on the Cameron ridge to the Democrat saddle. I left them on all the way down.