Pikes Peak

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/4/2021, By: NhRob
Info: Summited on 6/3/21. Started at 5:30, reached summit at around 8:45, and back to the Crags trailhead by 11.

Snow showed up around 12,500 and stayed around the rest of the hike from there to the summit with patches of bare trail on the flatter section before Devils Playground - nothing too deep, probably a foot/foot and a half in places but rocks starting to show all over. I didn't use any traction for the entire trip but was postholing a bit for the first mile coming off of the summit around 9a - the snow was super soft at that point.

Beautiful day with only a few other groups out there and some friendly waves from the construction crew up top! 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/1/2021, By: RabidTapir
Info: Started at Crags Trailhead at 5:00am, summited at about 9:30am, and was back at 12:15pm. I brought snowshoes, but didn't use them. Didn't use crampons or microspikes either. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/28/2021, By: RabidTapir
Info: Via the Barr Trail because the Crags trail was closed due to spraying trees (Crags should be open as of 5/27/2021). Long story short, my friend didn't want to continue much past Barr Camp, but I went on. I had set a time to meet him, so I had to turn around 800ft elevation/1mile short of the summit. I'm pretty stupid or determined, which ever you prefer, so I think I could have made it. I wouldn't recommend it without snowshoes, unless you like going through snow at your knees and sometimes waist. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/19/2021, By: ReginaThomas
Info: Per city of Colorado Springs the Summit of Pikes is now closed to Pedestrian and vehicular traffic til 06/15/2021 now. This was extended from 05/23/2021 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/15/2021, By: andy_schlichting
Info: Started at 5:45 from the Crags Trailhead and was happy to see the road is open and in good shape. I was the only car in the lot at the start, but there were probably a dozen there when I left. The trail was in decent shape on the way up as the crust was still frozen and traction was good with crampons. Of course the summit is still under construction so there's not much to see or do up there. If you go before they finish that, be respectful of their site and obviously stay away from where they're working, which is the majority of the summit, including everything on the east side. I'm not sure I was supposed to be up there, but nobody seemed to mind--I got a couple of smiles and waves by trucks driving by when I went over to the shoulder of the road on the west side to take some photos.

The descent wasn't as great as the ascent--the sun had melted the crust so traction wasn't as good and I even postholed a few times, especially right at tree line. The weather held out as I got back to the car just after 1, though I heard a few rumbles of thunder on the way down while I was about a mile from the trailhead.

I wouldn't recommend it without some traction. The summit push is pretty tough navigating deep snow in between the boulders/large rocks, but I don't think snowshoes would've helped any there. In dry conditions, that would be an easy scramble, but it's just a lot of work and careful stepping and balance right now. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/14/2021, By: olgav100
Info: Dry to Bottomless Pit (mile 7), then patchy to tree line. After mile 9.5, as always, go as free as you want, unless you like starring at the app (I don't). As the previous 3 months in the snow, I made my way by knowing the general direction to mile marker 10, then shortly after cutting up the gully to 16 Golden Stairs straight up, from there actually following the "trail" which was fully covered with snow sloped up. Last field, as before, is sketchy due to hard packed snow even as the rest of it is soft-ish and punchy. I brought my best GF who's had a huge fear of heights, and it took me making steps as slow/deep as I could to help her get to the top. We did. BTW, to the previous poster, East Slopes don't have avalanche. One still has to know how to navigate snow up high, and spikes are a must still (put them on at that mile marker 10 prior gully climb). Went down straight through the gully (once past those Golden steps) to the tree line to save time, as the weather rolled. Kinda my "normal" for the winter ascends. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/8/2021, By: bananabobby
Info: Started at 3AM. Completely dry until Barr Camp. I used spikes after that. The trail was mostly covered with snow and ice. Sometimes the packed trail followed the actual trail and sometimes it got steeper to skip some switchbacks. Great conditions until around 9AM. Made it to 13200' and turned around because the day was heating up and I'm no avy expert but there was lots of snow at a steep angle melting above me and 20 miles seemed good enough. Happy I made the call an hour later when the trail started getting super sloshy and posthole-rific. A few steps were waist deep, took some time to get out. I would recommend starting earlier or being faster than me. I passed dozens of groups on my way down, hope everyone was able to summit safely! 

Route: Y Col
Posted On: 5/7/2021, By: Sbenfield
Info: Did not summit! Started early from below Crags (winter closure) in hopes on going up Y col. Went up devils playground and down a snowy rum doodle ridge. By the time we were close to Y col, snow was very heavy & not pleasant. Also observed avalanch debris in the Y & the railroad col. Large ice patches also observed on the Y. Hero's traverse looked difficult to access due to big cornice as well. Called it a day after climbing back up rum doodle ridge. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/1/2021, By: globreal
Info: The Forest service says the Crags/Devils Playground Winter road closure is in effect until May 15th. Rode mtn bikes up to summer TH today which worked perfect. Can do this climb without snowshoes but postholing happened from 12,500-11,800 coming down.
Microspikes make life happy. Do NOT leave them behind.
Summit house construction is happening full steam ahead but you CAN still climb the northwest slopes. Just stay behind the construction fence and away from the work going on. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 4/4/2021, By: olgav100
Info: Dry trail up to Experimental forest split, then packed snow to Barr camp, then snow trench to A-frame. Above tree line you're on your own. From mile 9 took a direct approach to mile 10, then a bit on trail (that flat section across), from the middle of it shot straight up the gully to mile marker 11, from there across to Golden steps sign, and beyond go as you wish. Same way down, so it should be a serious path if interested in steep climb. Micro-spikes only above tree line. Should melt more this weekend. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 3/20/2021, By: fsun71
Info: Good snowpack and broken in trail from USFS gate to around 11000'. Post holing and unbroken terrain beyond this point - snowshoes or other flotation necessary. Turned around at 11500' due to lack of flotation. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 3/20/2021, By: +Gravy
Info: Avalanche conditions past about 10000' (and maybe lower).

Small avalanche triggered at 10600'.
Shit my pants.

Two facet layers:
First layer is 1" below surface and expected to worsen given the warm temps followed by additional snowfall on top Sun night.

Deeper layer is 16"+ down, extremely hard, and hollow underneath.

Will post full trip report soon.

Expect Devils Playgrd trail to continue to present high avalanche risk over coming week or more. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 3/7/2021, By: ckaplan01
Info: Clear route to summit with favorable weather and low winds only beginning in the afternoon. Trail is well-worn by now, but postholes are deep and in some areas unstable even where well-defined. Trail is off course after mile 12-ish, but the route is stable. A set of stairs is worn up the center gully, if you feel up to it. Spikes still required, no flotation needed though. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 3/5/2021, By: olgav100
Info: It's a "what was I thinking" kind of day, after 8 inches of snow Thursday afternoon and night...Snow all the way, starting with ankle deep below Barr Camp, moving to mid-shin, knee, and occasional all the way to the "upper thigh submerged". Yes on route finding. On the way down just took some slides down. Definitely spikes, snowshoes might have helped, but they would have slowed me down in other ways. Make sure you got navigation tools above tree line. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 3/4/2021, By: JaredJohnson
Info: Spikes pretty much mandatory from the beginning of Barr trail all the way to the summit. Easy trip to Barr camp in spikes. No snowshoes were needed on this day, although there was some junky snow it was way up high and unpredictable, they would have got in the way. There were some sketchy spots up high that required some skill to stay safe. It was mostly important to stay with the standard route, but on the way up there was one section where it was important to stick with the tracks that turned left to go more straight up rather than follow the trail for a very long switchback. Staying on the standard route there required traversing really sketchy steep snow and my axe was useless in it.

In short, doable in spikes but be careful and plan to get slowed down on the final 1000-2000ft. And of course maybe wind and new snow will change everything

Getting to the true summit and back off of it to the trail requires either a detour with 500ft extra elevation change each way, or some luck to succeed in breaking the rules on avoiding construction areas. Sucks.