Mt. Democrat

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 6/15/2025, By: carmitz001
Info: Great day for an afternoon loop of DeCaLiBron. There were a lot of short snowfields on the route, which had enough footprints to make the snow supportive. Democrat had the most snow of the four peaks. I glissaded a few times from Democrat's summit en route to Cameron, but the fall lines were a bit too far south, so I ended up sidehilling talus to get back on the trail. The trails from Cameron to Lincoln to Bross were pleasant; the other trails up high were frustrating due to loose scree and talus. I'm glad CFI has Democrat on their list of projects! The "S" Gully on Bross did not appear to have continuous snow, so I suffered through the standard descent. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 6/14/2025, By: nickdanielson
Info: Completed DeCaLiBron Loop via Kite Lake TH. Got to the TH around 3:40-3:45am (few car campers at the TH, plenty of open spots however) - departed Kite Lake TH at 4:00am, returned to car by 8:30am. Not super busy until coming down off Democrat at the end (chose to go the counter-clockwise route, starting with Bross, Lincoln, Cameron, and finishing with Democrat). Glad I went that route as ultimately Democrat was the toughest of the four IMO. I'd recommend spikes or hiking sticks simply for the section ascending and descending Democrat around 13,700'-14,000' area. I did it without either, but in hindsight would've wore my spikes if I brought them. The snow did make for a bit of a challenge for a couple hundred feet of vertical gain but nothing crazy. Other than that, only other challenge that came up was getting lost and sidetracked off the trail for a few short sections before finding my way back; however, not a big deal. Absolutely beautiful views, a fun hike, and spectacular location not far from I-70, Denver, etc. I will do again. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 6/15/2025, By: eaferstl
Info: Full access to kite lake th. Snow on very few areas. Was able to do Cameron, Lincoln and Bross without spikes. Needed them for Democrat though. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 6/12/2025, By: MaryinColorado
Info: Just wanted to share that the gate is still closed. Doesn't add much extra mileage or anything, but parking is pretty limited before the gate closure, so good to take into account going into the weekend. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 6/8/2025, By: Jake_W
Info: DeCaLiBron is in good shape with an early start. Got started at 4:15 AM from the gate a little over a mile down from Kite Lake and didn’t have any issues with postholing. Went clockwise up Democrat first. No floatation or traction used but poles could be useful in parts. Still plenty of snow that will continue to melt out but with an early start, it isn’t bad. Wind made it feel more like winter conditions but overall, no major areas to worry about. About 5 hours 45 minutes round trip 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 6/5/2025, By: bangerth
Info: Made the whole loop in a storm that was definitely closer to winter conditions than summer: 25F and 30-40 mph continuous winds. There is still quite a lot of snow in the basin, and all of it is unsupportive. You'll posthole at least once on every snow patch you step on, often to the knee or hip. In the basin, one can avoid many of these snowfields, but many still have to be crossed at least briefly. From the saddle to the top of Democrat, there are several snow fields, most of which are at least partly supportive and with a hard crust. I glissaded most of them back down to the saddle. From there, one can follow the ridge to Cameron and then Lincoln on mostly rock; the few snow fields one has to cross again lead to postholing, but it wasn't too bad. The storm blowing over the ridge with snow crystals and sand grains led to substantial involuntary facial exfoliation, and that wasn't too fun. From Lincoln to Bross was pretty easy; the snow field below the summit of Cameron was easy to cross. From Bross, I glissaded the S Couloir from 13,950 all the way down to 12,750. The top is a bit steep, given that most of the couloir is hard snow and ice, but it never felt unsafe. 

Route: South Slope
Posted On: 6/3/2025, By: jotey777
Info: South Slope Couloir is done for the season. Got to 12,800 on the south slope and saw that the lower couloirs all had small avys. Took a short 200-foot couloir to the SW ride and hiked up the class 2 on rock from there. The snow in the couloir we did was way too soft - very difficult not to break through; very difficult to get a foothold. Turned into some class 3 with using hands. Also used rocks on the side of the couloir to ascend. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 5/29/2025, By: andibertolina
Info: Went up the snow-filled gully to Bross, over to Lincoln then skied the little summit couloir off Lincoln. Traversed over to Cameron and then up to Democrat. I skied the East face of the sub-summit off Democrat with near corn conditions and plenty of snow to ski back to the Kite Lake TH. Not enough snow to ski from Bross to Cameron but plenty on the ridge between Cameron- Lincoln. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 5/25/2025, By: notidealbutfine
Info: Started at the gate closure located 1.1 miles below the Kite lake trailhead. Missed my alarm and didn't start till 5:30 a.m. Hiked with microspikes on my boots for the majority of the day with the exception of the road walk. Brought snowshoes but didn't end up using them. Also forgot my trekking poles, but not a big deal for this hike. The snow was solid earlier in the day. Pretty continuous snow from the trailhead up Democrat to Cameron and Lincoln. Minimal snow from Lincoln to Bross to South Bross and descent. 10.46 miles / 4,259' gain / 5 hours / 38 minutes 

Route: East Slope
Posted On: 5/10/2025, By: HikesInGeologicTime
Info: Partner and I decided to go up and down East Slope because it was decently filled in and was lower avy risk than South Chutes when we descended in early afternoon, though we were not the only ones setting off small rollerballs and debris, though other skiers who did ski the chutes at the same time we were heading down reported having a good and safe time. Continuous snow from summit to Kite Lake (as long as you have no issues with doing a bit of a rock dance at the summit). Also possible to stay entirely on snow until the last few feet before the current highest parking by diverting off the road shortly below Kite Lake and into the drainage to skiers’ left, then reconnecting with the road through the uppermost switchbacks and down. Dry patches had appeared by mid-afternoon, however. With how hot it has been and is forecasted to be, would recommend hitting it ASAP (preferably tomorrow) and starting predawn to avoid postholing as much as possible. 

Route: North Couloirs
Posted On: 5/4/2025, By: Thevirtualsherpa
Info: North Couloirs are in and full of powder (likely with a refresh this week). Thought I was running behind with a 1230pm drop from the summit but the snow rode like gold. Reservoir still closed at Winter gate and really no point in even trying to drive past that point for weeks to come. 10/10 recommend this line. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 4/25/2025, By: climbnowworklater
Info: Pic of Democrat from S gully on Bross. 

Route: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, Bross
Posted On: 4/22/2025, By: wolfemann
Info: Storm put down about a foot of powder. Road still easily passable for 4WD, potentially passable for 2WD to 1.5 mi from Kite Lake. Snowshoe conditions were very poor, significant sinking and lots of effort into breaking trail, but that means you get a bit of a trench to just past Kite Lake (turned around 3/4 mi past, as expected post-storm, due to poor weather conditions lingering). Unexpectedly warm temps despite the wind and intermittent snow led to heavy balling on the way up to the saddle by just after 10 am and we saw a few small wet loose avalanches release on the E face where the sun was cooking the most. Will be nice in a few days if the snow becomes bulletproof. From Quandry on 4/20, the W side of the Democrat-Cameron ridge to complete Decalibron looks good, the only issue is getting up there. 

Route: South Slope
Posted On: 4/10/2025, By: Danger_D
Info: South Slope skied like a dream today. A sedan could make it .7 miles past the Paris Mill and high clearance could go another .2ish miles before a big drift. Road melted out in a few places but you can skin most of it. Ski crampons very useful for the slopes after you leave the summer trailhead. The first big gully on the S Face is about 45 degrees but conditions were great to boot it. After the gully the snow softened up a bit making booting more of a pain, but feel free to use our hard earned bootpack. Top of summit ridge is crusty with 2 spots where you have to billygoat, and those spots will probably get bigger quickly. You can ski off the summit if but your skis might pay for it. We dropped at 12:45 after a solid freeze and it was glorious corn the whole way down. 4:30 up, 0:45 back to car. Beta for other climbs: S gully on Bross is very thin and melted quite a ways from the summit. North and East faces of Buckskin are very, very thin. East face of Arkansas looked quite nice. Boudoir Couloir on horseshoe looked in on the drive up, but don't quote me on that one. 

Route: East Slope
Posted On: 4/9/2025, By: Jumpman
Info: Road was impassible approx. 1.6mi from trail head. On average snow was about mid to high calf from start to summit with select areas of hard packed snow (mostly between 12.6 and 13k). Made for slow walking at times. Was mostly cloudy but when sun came out the snow got soft quickly. Had to put on microspikes at about 12600 but could have used sooner - did not use snowshoes. Used trekking poles the whole way but never felt the need for ice axe or crampons. Winds above 20mph above 13.2k. Route finding was difficult at times throughout the day due to the relatively fresh snow but still intuitive if gps route (gaia) was in hand. Total trip: 8hrs, 6.5mi, 2750ft gain (ish).