Mt. Bross

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 7/28/2017, By: Madeline
Info: The road leading up to Kite Lake from Alma was easier than I anticipated (we have a minivan with little clearance). I went up the night before and made it all the way through into the camp, at dark we arrived. There are a few bumps but the road condition now is not as bad as some we've all done. We payed 3$ parking and stayed the night with a few other cars in the rain. In the am, there were 62 cars in the lot and parked out down the road, as far as you could see. Leave early, by 5:30am, especially if you're a novice or have kids. This is an easier 14er (many did it in 4-5 hours) but prepare for early afternoon storms this time of year. Prepare to abandon hitting all 4, if the sky changes. Once you hear thunder, it's already too late. There is a mining trail down right before Bross summit (after saddle between Cameron and Bross), if you need to go wait out a storm. 

Route: Decalibron
Posted On: 6/24/2017, By: timtty
Info: Did Cameron, Lincoln and Bross. All snow is avoidable. There are two streams to cross with plenty of stones to step on. Road to trailhead is randier then it was last year past the lower parking area, good clearance will suffice. 

Route: "Dolly Varden Gully"
Posted On: 5/24/2017, By: cardgenius
Info: It's filled in from the bottom to the summit with the recent snow. Snow is mixed conditions. Soft and punchy, then hard packed and stable. Made for a long day. Was crazy windy and could barely see our boot tracks on the ski down so their probably gone by now.

Made it 1/4 mile down the road before we got stopped by a drift. Had we mauvered around it we could have driven close to a mile down the road before really having to stop. 

Route: Decalibron
Posted On: 4/25/2017, By: tcphoto87
Info: From Lincoln to Bross the trail was mostly rocky with small patches of snow. After coming down Lincoln I didn't put my spikes back on the remainder of the trip back down to the winter closure. (which was a little over a mile from Kite Lake) The summit looked entirely dry. The whole way down back toward Kite Lake was hell though, I couldn't tell if we lost the trail or not but the entire way down the ridge was loose unstable rocks that fell/sank with every step you took. We were following the path/footsteps that everyone else seemed to have taken but I can't imagine that being the actual trail. I noticed halfway down the ridge there was an obvious dry trail to the left on the opposite side but I couldn't tell how to get to it without dropping way off the ridge and climbing back up to that trail. Once we made it back down off the ridge the remainder was all snowy but it was still pretty packed and we didn't need our spikes. We parked around 6:45am and got back to the car around 5pm but we also took our time. It was a little over 8 miles total 

Route: "Dolly Varden Gully"
Posted On: 4/17/2017, By: Grover
Info: You can skin ~66% of Rd. 415 after parking off of Kite Lake Road. There are some dry sections, with one large dry section about 1 mile in. Snow goes from the summer trailhead up to ~13,600' (and higher, if you angle to the right, towards the actual Mt. Bross summit). I decided to exit the snow at 13,600', and started hiking up to the summit ridge that connects South Bross and Bross. The snow is sastrugi hard pack above ~12,500' and is not fun ski or ride down. Below 12,500' it was soft spring corn snow and you could let it loose. And if you are wondering, I started riding down at 2 p.m., so it was still hard pack snow that late in the day. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 3/16/2017, By: stevelknight
Info: Hard packed in the morning, slushy afternoons and evenings. Bross is the least snow covered of the peaks in the area. Came in from winter trail head. FYI Bathroom is full of snow, nearly to the ceiling. Wind was extremely strong. Came down the east side of Bross on a large patch of snow, and slid down our asses. Took about 10 minutes instead of taking the trail that would have been an hour, probably. Recommend bringing a rain fly or something to sit on and use that. Man it was a blast! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 2/15/2017, By: MagnetarCo
Info: Walked in from the winter trailhead closure the path was hard packed or snow blown and no snowshoes or skis were necessary as there was no postholing. Snow conditions on Mount Bross were wind blown and very hard packed/bullet snow. I wore full crampons as I do not feel microspikes would be sufficient. A winter storm was moving in, so the winds were gusting to 50 mph with blowing snow, causing whiteout conditions at times. Overall the route was in fine shape with little post holing. 

Route: Decalibron
Posted On: 1/25/2017, By: Eagle Eye
Info: Mt Bross, S Mt Bross and Mt Cameron on Jan 22nd, 2017

Route: Decalibron Loop CCW
Starting Point: Paris Mill site (winter closure)
Start Time:
Summit:
Return to TH:
Participant: Mike Via

Trip Report:
Info on Mt Bross, S Mt Bross and Mt Cameron: I shortened a reverse Decalibron trip due to high wind. Starting at winter closure 2.6 miles from Kite Lake at the Paris Mill site, wore snowshoes past the lake and to the switchover point at 13,100 ft on the ramp up to Mt Bross. Put on microspikes there. From the top of gully, most of the distance to Mt Bross, S Mt Bross and Mt Cameron were in wind I could barely walk against. As I left Mt Cameron summit I saw sdkeil and 2 others silhouettes on the summit of Mt Democrat. The wind died down considerably about halfway down to the Cameron/Democrat saddle. 

Route: East Slopes from Moose Creek
Posted On: 1/8/2017, By: Eli Boardman
Info: Marmot96 and I climbed Bross, S Bross, Cameron, and Lincoln from the Quartzville Road. The first 0.6 miles through the edge of the forest had lots of deep powder. We decided not to carry snowshoes, but in hindsight this was a mistake because there was lots of postholing. The east ridge was windswept, and there was zero avalanche danger along the route up Bross. The tops of the ridges (connecting South Bross, Bross, Cameron, and Lincoln) were windswept and more-or-less in summer conditions. The wind was incredibly strong all day, forcing us to abandon plans for Democrat. We descended the east slopes of Lincoln to Quartzville TH, and there were a few deeper snow areas near the summit and near treeline that offered the choice between postholing and snowshoeing. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 12/29/2016, By: bmcqueen
Info: I did the loop this morning from the winter closure 2.6 miles below Kite Lake. I did it in reverse, finishing on Democrat. The road is a mixture of dry gravel and drifted snow. I used my snowshoes until about 13k on Bross, then strapped them to my pack and went without traction until the descent from Democrat. Spikes were nice for the descent from Democrat. There was some nice plunge-stepping to get down a couple of stable snow slopes pretty quickly. I almost broke down and put the snowshoes back on for the little bit of willows above Kite Lake to the summer TH, but just suffered through it with a rare post-hole. Most of the snow was windblown and firm and didn't have any issues holding my weight. See Democrat CR for pics of the loop. 

Route: Decalibron
Posted On: 11/19/2016, By: kayleenann8
Info: Some snow is starting to build up on the trail below the saddle. Above the saddle the snow is hard packed. Before sunrise it was quite easy to hike -- on the way down after sunrise it got a little slick -- microspikes would have been helpful but not necessary. Pretty windy!

We continued on to Cameron, Lincoln and Bross. Each peak was increasingly windy. One gust knocked me and my two adventure partners over! No significant on any of those peaks. The trail off bross has accumulated a little snow and is a little hard to follow if you don't know what you are looking for. 

Route: Decalibron
Posted On: 10/16/2016, By: Allagash
Info: other than a few stretches of slushy and packed snow on trail below Cameron, zero snow the rest of the way. Note on descent trail. The 'main' or 'official' trail sign on the Cam/Bross saddle crosses a slightly exposed trail across a north-facing trail atop a long gulch/trough. We (illegally?) walked up the road-trail to top and picked up the westerly facing descent to the regular trail out. 

Route: Decalibron
Posted On: 10/6/2016, By: Ptglhs
Info: Left From Kite lake about 0745. We went up via standard route if doing all four but skipped Democrat as we'd done it last year. Went over the Cameron hump and did Lincoln/Bross and back down from the east. It was cloudy most of the day, with temps in the upper 20's to about 31. The water line from the Camelback froze when it was left out in the air. The was a very light dusting of snow and frost on the ground but it started melting when the sun was out. The wind was sustained at 30mph most of the day, so the windchill was about 13F. I didn't need trekkers at any point. Coming down the West side of Bross was horrid: loose rock and scree everywhere. I was worried I was going to trigger a rock slide. I'm not sure if we got off trail for a while but be warned it may be better to hike back from Bross to Cameron and down the way you came up. 

Route: Decalibron
Posted On: 9/13/2016, By: Klaudiapyc96
Info: We've done the trail on Sunday, a little bit of snow, but not on the trail, weather was beautiful, but the wind was a killer. I recommend starting with a steep part to Bross and ending on Democrat. Great hike! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 9/6/2016, By: MikeK
Info: Really beautiful day to hike up the east side of Bross on Labor Day, with the exception of the wind, which was variable enough to elicit a number of clothes layering changes. Temperatures are getting predictably colder; the winds on the summit were gusting to at least 30-40 knots; using trekking poles became nearly impossible at times. Foot-deep, wet snow that plagued the final pitch on 8-31 was nearly gone. The east slope (Mineral Park TH) was used by only two other people besides myself; the cirque was holiday-weekend crowded, but found plenty of solitude heading up and down Bross itself. Note: If anyone plans to four-wheel or ATV to the summit, be advised that there is a deep washout at about 13.100' on the main trail/Jeep road -- a guy in an average-sized ATV had to back down from that spot; it appears only traversable by foot or bike.