Pikes Peak

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/27/2022, By: emadcox
Info: Made it to the A Frame today- beyond that was 2 feet of snow on trail- post holing. The trail is 100% dry to Barr Camp. After Barr Camp it's about a foot of snow that is tramped down and turning into a slush fest once it warms up. There were about a dozen of us who made it to A Frame today- so it's getting pretty tramped down. I'm guessing with the current temps-- trail should be good to go next weekend! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/18/2022, By: olgav100
Info: Pikes Peak - summer conditions. 2 patches of snow near top, nothing to even talk about. Although it will change come Friday...and the following few days. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/15/2022, By: emadcox
Info: Gate is open to TH-- NOTE-- the TH and trails are closed 5/16-5/18 for tree spraying!
Trail is 100% snow free to the top of the ridge. There's one patch of snow up top there- then totally dry to DP
After DP- again- totally dry except for 1-2 small snow fields which are easy to traverse- no spikes needed. The boulder field is also totally clear- no issues there- my 11 year old scampered up it no problem. Winds were low today- gorgeous day to hike the peak . There were 9 cars at the lot at 6:30 on a Sunday morning. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/18/2022, By: Melinda27
Info: Great trail! So unique! Snow up high in last half-mile to 1 mile out. Walked across with yak traks as it got steeper. Hit these areas around 11:30am so they were soft at this time and fairly easy to get a grip. I get nervous coming down snowy areas so I grabbed a ride down. So happy to walk this trail. I didn't know sleeping in my car in the Barr Trail parking lot was not allowed. I did get a friendly reminder of this by the local police. Happy hiking! 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/15/2022, By: jmfb3
Info: The trail is almost completely clear of snow. A couple patches here and there, and 2 longer treks across a snowfield, but really no need for extra traction. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/13/2022, By: ssimon
Info: Crags trailhead was open today. Other than that, not much new to report. The trail is somewhat difficult to follow in places due to some downed trees. There were a few patches of ice, but not enough to justify carrying spikes in my opinion 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/8/2022, By: bsiegs
Info: Very similar conditions to the previous update, mostly dry route. Gate still closed 1.1mi from Crags TH. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/15/2022, By: ejfahren
Info: East face ski descent sufferfest. Railroad and Y-couloir variants were thin or blown out at the summit. East face had a thin strip of snow continuous from summit to 11700', but had to get creative to negotiate the thinnest sections. Firm snow at the top softened to corn-like consistency below 13200'. Contoured from 11700' to regain Barr trail and walked back to Manitou. Pretty poor ski to suck ratio. Once is enough for this line. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/2/2022, By: philvswild
Info: Hiked up from Manitou Springs on Sunday and took the cog down. Above 13k, snow was melting and no more than ankle deep. Spikes were needed and an Ice Axe was helpful. 3 hours to Barr Camp and 9 hours total. 

Route: Y Couloir Direct
Posted On: 5/2/2022, By: Kevin Baker
Info: Snowpack is thinner than some years currently. Lower half has some good sections of firm snow, but from below the split to the top, it is mostly a wallowfest of wind transported snow. Very slow going solo, but good times in the pain cave! The finish has more exposed rock than normal. Microspikes for the Crags approach would be useful. Still a lot of patches of ice below treeline. Road was closed, but train running. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/3/2022, By: Ellenconway1
Info: Had to park 1.1 miles from the trailhead - just after Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp. We were the third car in the parking lot at 6:15am.

Trail was fantastic. Did not use snowshoes or microspikes at all as the trail is mostly dry. All the snow/ice within the tree line was hard packed and didn't last long so never felt like it was worth the effort to put on spikes. Some snowier patches as you get closer to the summit but were hard packed or had a clear path through. The hill after the tree line was harder than the scramble to the summit. Fantastic views throughout the entire hike. The trail needs bigger cairns in some spots - particularly on the hill after the tree line.

We had a friend drive to Devil's Playground (via main entrance to Pikes Peak) to summit and drive us back down.

Parking --> Crag's --> Devil's Playground --> summit --> Devil's Playground = ~12 miles total.

The donuts at the top are worth it!!! 

Route: Hero to the Y
Posted On: 4/23/2022, By: blazintoes
Info: From Crags icy patches here and there. Brought microspikes and never used. Velcro snow up to Devils Playground. West wind 30mph gusts 60. Knocked us down a couple times.

Hiked past Little Pikes to Boulder Park and dropped into the Hero Traverse at 13,400'. Some days you're a hero and some days a zero but today we had Excellent snow conditions all the way across Hero and I wish all my climbing partners could've joined for this hero snow. Wheeee!

Being on the east to north side of Pikes protected us from the evil hurricane above. Looking across Hero it seems it won't go smooth but it does if you stay at 13,000'. Thanks to my friend Keifer for suggesting no rope or gear needed. Just axes, helmet and crampons.

We dropped into the Y couloir and went up the left branch. There is a roadblock at 13,400 with 3 options. Slab right, ice middle, snow covered scree left. I like choss so we went left. Also I've done this before. Go left.

Then we got a glorious 35-40 degrees perfect snow Couloir for the next 500' and it was great torture with the right strong partner. Thanks Andrew! The final techy bit is a 100' boulder jumble that is super fun in crampons.

The new Summit house is amazing. I know, blasphemous but really I only climbed for the doughnuts. Mmmmmm 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 4/21/2022, By: pittbrownie
Info: Snow free to Barr Camp. Fairly little snow to the Bottomless Pit sign. From there snow picks up, and after the "two miles to go" sign it's very slow going. Deep, soft snow and it's fairly difficult to follow the trail. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 4/22/2022, By: Zleisure
Info: Summited Pikes via NW Slopes. Still have to park 1.1 miles from Crag's TH. No need for snowshoes. I hiked in boots from the parking lot until crossing the bridge after the pipes, then put on microspikes from there until the Devil's Playground. I took off my spikes from the Playground until the summit. The microspikes were great going up the hard snow above treeline in the morning when everything was hard and I didn't posthole at all. On the way down the section from the saddle to treeline was quite slushy. I put the microspikes back on entering the trees because with the dry trail, ice patches, snow, and slush mix in the trees, it was just easier to keep the microspikes on. Took me about 5 hours to get up and 3.5 hrs to get down. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 4/22/2022, By: Leos
Info: Summited Pikes, took the train down. Started at 6am, hit Barr around 8:30, A frame around 10:15, but only got to the top around 1:45pm.

Trail up to Barr camp is mostly snow free, didn't need spikes or snowshoes. After that, up to the A frame, it gets pretty icy so I put on spikes, but the snow is compacted so it's easy to keep track of the trail.

After A frame the trail gets a bit harder to follow, but up to ~13000 it's not too bad. I used spikes but didn't need snowshoes. Once you get to the golden stairs, things get more dicey, with a lot of snow, very hard to follow the trail, and potentially dangerous avalanche terrain. Snowshoes were still not helpful, but an axe probably would have been.

I took the scramble up (black arrow) before the golden stairs to avoid some potentially dangerous terrain - left side of the slope has less snow than right side. It may have been a good idea to just take the scramble all the way to the top.

The long traverse before that also felt like a potential risk, especially the part circled in black. It may be possible to avoid it by cutting across and staying on the left side of the slope the whole way - not much snow on that side.