Route: Waverly Gulch Posted On: 2023-05-22, By: Posthole Pete Info: Started the day with some lovely river crossings. The warm air helped with that a ton. Relatively easy bushwhack to get up into the gully. Found what appeared to be a very old trail so followed that most of the way before dropping into the gully. Once on snow in the gully, we skinned all the way to the summit (from around 11k). The freeze ended up being extremely reasonable. Had fantastic powdered corn turns off the summit down to about 12k. Then had great corn back to put shoe stash at 11k. Ended up with about 3.5k of continuous riding. Following our track back in to the river was much easier with daylight. Afternoon river crossings were much more pleasant! |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2022-11-28, By: bmcqueen Info: Traverse to Oxford had less snow than Belford, but more than enough wind to go around. |
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Route: Ox Southeast Slopes --> Belford --> Elkhead Pass Posted On: 2022-10-16, By: lang_daly Info: Very little snow, harder bushwhacking down low than expected. A few snow patches going over to Belford but can be avoided or done without traction. No snow down to Elkhead pass from the Belford summit either. |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2022-10-13, By: mightycuine Info: 1-3" of snow in shaded/north aspects of the trail up to Belford starting at 13k. A couple spots are starting to get icy. Traction/poles are helpful depending on your comfort level, but not necessary. On the traverse to Oxford, there is one shady section on the downclimb from Belford where traction may be useful. Aspens in Missouri Gulch are brown/bare at this point, but still yellow at lower elevations along CR 390 and the Arkansas River. |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2022-09-26, By: NativeTransplant Info: All clear, summer conditions no snow. |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2022-08-06, By: Syde0004 Info: Had the summit to myself for a while. Was windy and cold otherwise the trail conditions were great. |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2022-08-04, By: Mark Goldstein Info: Mt Belford & Mt Oxford dry, nice, summer conditions. No snow noted. Thank you CFI for improving the trail. |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2022-06-14, By: JacerJack Info: Oxford (from Belford) is 99% snow free, except for one small ~10 yard patch of snow that is easily navigable without traction and will melt very soon. Standard Bel/Ox combo is doable in non-waterproof trail runners without traction. Elkhead pass side is still holding quite a bit of snow, but melting fast. Snow isn't very deep, so postholing shouldn't be an issue; more just wet and sloppy. Lots of mud and slushy snow below the Missouri turnoff. Trail is completely submerged in swift runoff down closer to the Belford/Missouri split. Would recommend descending Belford via the standard route for next week or two. |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2022-06-11, By: lnh507 Info: Perfect bluebird day on Oxford/Belford. The route is total summer conditions- one small snowfield on the way up Oxford which I did move slowly through on the way down due to postholing potential (only actually punched through once), but it's short. Other than that, the only couple small snowfields on the way up Belford were easily avoidable but there was no need to bypass as they were so brief and shallow. I think they were gone on the way down. |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2022-06-03, By: kalestew Info: Mostly dry all the way up Belford, first snow crossings are small and happened near 13,600'. Moving at 5 AM it was hard packed and easy to walk on, but way softer on the descent (around 10 AM for us). Most snow is seen along the Belford ridge descending towards Oxford, conditions get muddier as the day goes on. Missouri looks like she's holding more snow, so different story on the other side of Elkhead Pass. |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2022-05-19, By: btillack Info: I tackled Belford, Oxford, and Missouri today (5/19/22) from the Missouri Gulch TH. Road is dry and passable for 2WD. Beyond the Belford-Elkhead Pass junction the snow on the Missouri switchbacks caused some postholing nightmares. It was like wading through thigh-deep water disguised as snow. So do this early in the morning to avoid such misery. Snow on the Belford trail to its summit and even beyond to Oxford is nearly non-existent. So no postholing issues there. Wind was ferocious. |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2022-04-24, By: Will_E Info: Did Belford/Oxford from Missouri Gulch Saturday. Road is mostly dry to the TH, anything can get there. I was following fresh tracks to tree line, the trench was in place to the creek crossing, then just a single set of tracks. I put snowshoes on just before the creek crossing. Only needed snowshoes for a short distance past treeline, wind blown the rest of the way. Wind was miserable Saturday, especially from Belford to Oxford, just like every other time I've been up there. Never saw the other hiker, I'm guessing they went up Missouri. |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2022-03-04, By: lkk8815 Info: Parked 3.1 miles below the Missouri Gulch TH where plowing stops, warm temps haven't melted out the road any further past that. Road is hard packed to the Missouri Gulch TH. Wore snow shoes once on the trail, didn't look like anyone had been there in a while. Rebreaking the trail for that first mile wasn't terrible since it's easy to follow where the old trench is underneath new snow, at least up until the open slide area at 10,800' where things got dire. Used up a lot of energy to wallow through this section, it took me over an hour just to get through 300'. The snow was deep and very soft probably from the warm weather cooking it for the last few days. Thankfully the snow was firmer once back in the trees. After leaving the cabin/camping area at 11,300', I stayed high to the left above the standard trail on drier rocks for a bit then went straight up Pecks Peak as the slopes were dry albeit a little loose. Ridge from Pecks to Belford to Oxford all pretty dry, snow patches are mostly avoidable, didn't use any special gear. Went down Belford's NW ridge and did use spikes higher up as I crossed several hard steep snow patches. Once back down in the gulch, I again stayed high and to the right in the rocks to avoid the standard trail which would have been more miserable wallowing through soft snow (it was warm yesterday!) Total stats were ~16.5 miles and 6700', took me 13.5 hours. Long day. |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2022-02-13, By: headsizeburrito Info: Conditions haven't changed since daway8's report other than me packing the snow a bit more, but I was there today and figured I'd add a few pictures. I took the switchbacks pretty much the whole way up and down the NW ridge to Belford. Generally able to find it, though occasionally buried and easily picked up again. In a few places it's pretty firm and steep enough that microspikes worked but were marginal. Overall easy conditions however. Additional comments: Bathroom at BelOx summer TH is unlocked. Road walk from where 390 plowing stops to summer TH adds about 6mi/800ft round trip. |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2022-02-13, By: daway8 Info: Road from where the plowing stops (3.1mi from summer trailhead) still very well packed (but still a no-go for vehicles other than snowmobiles). Trench from a couple of weeks ago was largely filled in but still visible. Going through the old avy zone the old trench was totally gone and a chore to redo. Went up Pecks Peak which I liked MUCH better than that horridly long slop up Belford. From Belford to Oxford was pretty windblown overall but had some surprisingly large patches of snow - some of which was very soft, other spots hard as a rock. Slipped a couple times on the way to Oxford, pulled out my spikes for the return. Wind ramped up dramatically on the way back across - had every single layer in my pack on since the -25F wind-chill was definitely accurate, if not underestimated. |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2022-01-16, By: rosey33 Info: Winter closure about 3.5 miles below summer trailhead. Road is packed by snowmobiles. Snowshoes were helpful on the road and getting above tree-line. It's basically a super highway. |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2021-12-05, By: hanada Info: I took standard route up and was mostly dry. Put on spikes at 2.7 mi bc there was some ice/snow and it was getting steeper. I saw 2 other groups, neither had them, but both made comments about how smart I was for having them. Also some ice between the two peaks. I decended via Southwest slopes route. It looked like nobody had taken this route for awhile. It was fine for the first part, but about a mile from where the turn off for Missouri there is a decent amount of snow. I wished I had brought my gaiters at this point. It was hard to follow trail bc it was so snow covered. There was an extended period of time I was just boulder hopping around to avoid post holing ankle to knee deep in places. Finally when I saw the sign where the trail splits to Missouri, I found my way over through a maze of jumping boulder to boulder or finding hard spots of snow. Then pretty much rest of the trail, until it meets up with standard route, needed traction. Other than that, it was a beautiful day. The views going up Belford were gorgeous!! |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2021-11-23, By: Eagle Eye Info: (Mt Belford standard route and Belford to Mt Oxford trip 11/21/21) Apparently some snow had fallen late Saturday afternoon or night in the area. There was only one other vehicle in the large Missouri Gulch TH lot when I arrived there about 4 am. Another one pulled in about 6 and I started just slightly ahead of 2 groups of two. There was snow coverage but no tracks, the first big creek crossing is in great shape with lots of logs across it. Some areas around the cabin ruins were dry and then snow coverage again. At 11.9 k I briefly lost the start of the switchbacks and then got back in them for the remainder going up Mt Belford. This was the deepest snow I encountered this day, just deep wind-blown powder but sometimes obscuring the summer trail. At the flat saddle spot around 13.9 k snow on the trail became much thinner/dryer. I took some pictures on the Mt Belford summit and none of them are on my phone, I'm not sure why. I continued on toward Mt Oxford and the second deepest snow was on the short ridgeline descending to the Belford-Oxford saddle. Then the remainder of the way had only minor snow. I ran into the couple people I'd been seeing for a while on their way up Mt Oxford when I was coming down. The other two people had summited Mt B, and then descended. The afternoon weather became very calm and nice! I had worn micro spikes the whole day and they were perfect for the conditions. |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2021-11-16, By: Stee Info: Very dry conditions as most have said. There was a good amount of consolidated snow on the trail up Belford above treeline and crossing to Oxford but you could avoid it. I thought microsprikes were great for coming down the steep part of Belford. The wind over to Oxford was pretty brutal. |
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Route: Via Mt. Belford Posted On: 2021-10-03, By: teathyme Info: Road up to Winfield is still clear! Trail was in summer conditions until around 13,000ft. Patchy and powdery snow/ise the rest of the way up to both Belford and Oxford summits. Brought microspikes and had to use them above 13,000 for the steep and icy sections. |