Pikes Peak

Route: Y Couloir
Posted On: 5/31/2020, By: slawrence2011
Info: Great long day on pikes peak today, still hiking back to Manitou springs at 8 p.m! I started from crags campground around 6 and climbed up the normal trail. I got to the summit around noon and was set up to ski down the right side of y couloir (from below) at 1. I had to down climb about 30 ft of rock and slush until I could get to a spot where it was wide enough to put my skis on. After that, the couloir was excellent with great slush. There were a couple of chokes, primarily one with about 15 to 20 feet of drop about two-thirds of the way down, that I could barely side step down with my short skis. I could have probably straight lined through, but didn't want to risk it with no one else out there. I got to the bottom around 1:30, but the snow ended around 12,500, so it took an hour or so to get to the bottom of the bottomless pit. Weather was rolling in, so I was not able to climb back up to 13,000 feet on rum doodle ridge as planned in order to down climb to where my car was parked. Instead I came down to Manitou springs on the barr, but at least I got down! From talking to another group that climbed up the left side y couloir, snow ran out way lower. also railroad couloir appears to be fully out. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/28/2020, By: hogantheepic
Info: Almost entirely devoid of snow. Sections at the top do have snow, but not enough to actually cover the rocks. Spikes and snowshoes not necessary anymore this season. Summer conditions are present on this route! 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/24/2020, By: wolfgangstiller
Info: A few snow fields on the route but no ice. Microspikes or crampons not needed but poles useful. The first snow field is just above Devil's Playground and it's better not to bypass as you would be damaging the delicate high altitude vegetation. 

Route: Y Couloir Direct
Posted On: 5/25/2020, By: Jonathan Deffenbaugh
Info: Before the late season Memorial weekend snow storm, had great snow climbing conditions following the Y Direct variation. 1,500'+ vertical of continuous snow. Perfect kickstepping conditions. Great alpine experience! Would also say the same for the right branch as well. Would not say the same for the other North Face routes (i.e. Railroad, Y Left Branch, etc.) Expect mixed climbing conditions on those routes. Met three skiers who came in on the Hero's traverse. Route wasn't in good shape, ended up being a sketchy traverse for them. Descent via the Barr Trail was snow-free, enjoy! 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/26/2020, By: jakesoren10
Info: Hiked Pikes on Saturday 5/23 from the Crags TH. Got to the TH just after 6am and it was already full, found parking close by.
Trail was beautiful, with awesome views. No snow to speak of until after the Devils Playground parking area, very easily done (no spikes, etc).
Beautiful day on the summit, although TONS of construction. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/23/2020, By: bdlangton
Info: Parking lot was 80% full at 5:15am on a Saturday, though there is more parking at the Ring the Peak trailhead not far down the road (empty at 5:15am). Conditions are similar to previous reports: mostly snow free, and the few patches are easy to navigate through. Started at 5:30am. Summit at 7:45am with no construction work going on and didn't see anyone else. On the way down, the last 3-ish miles saw a lot of people going up (before then it was pretty sparse). Done at 9:15am. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/22/2020, By: jsnbabcock
Info: The route is clear almost from trailhead to peak. The only exceptions are a few patches that remain just past Devil's Playground. The only ones of note are 1.) a large patch just across the road from Devil's Playground and 2.) a portion of the path just past Point 13363 that is completely snowed in. Thankfully 2.) can easily be easily bypassed by skirting around it on the road. All snow patches remained solid through the morning with only minimal postholling on the return trip in the afternoon.

The only other point of note is that the sign signaling the turnoff from the Crags trail to the route up Pikes Peak has gone missing, so don't overshoot it.

The peak itself is utter garbage. Any spot that wasn't taken up by the construction (now in full force) was filled with visitors. This was on a random Thursday too, so just be prepared. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/18/2020, By: mtgoatmike
Info: Trail is dry through the forest, once up to Devil's Playground you encounter manageable snow patches, the largest is after the first road crossing.

The summit was a construction mess, made it to the summit sign for a picture then headed back downhill.

3 hours to summit from Crags parking lot, 3 hours to return. 

Route: Railroad Couloir
Posted On: 5/18/2020, By: fakejox
Info: Stepped off ~0445 from Manitou and made it to Bottomless Pit a little after 0900, with plans to ascend via the Y couloir. Continuous snow still starts around the wrecked car. Unfortunately, that snow was extremely soft, with an additional 2-3" layer of fresh dippin dots from the night prior. We ascended a rockband parallel to the initial portion of the couloir for approximately 300-400 feet, but still encountered unsupportive mashed potatoes that seemed primed for a wet slide. To avert this risk in the Y, we opted to divert to the railroad couloir, which entailed snow-dusted talus hopping interspersed with brief segments of consolidated, kick-steppable snow patches. We summited and made our way back down to Manitou via the mostly dry (save for 2-3 brief drifted snow patches >13,000') Barr trail. Found a Samsung phone on the Bottomless Pit trail and a marooned bag of dog poo in the terminal segment of Barr trail, DM if either is yours. 

Route: Y Couloir
Posted On: 5/19/2020, By: Jhorne6
Info: Got started a little late from Barr camp at around 630 due to getting pounded with rain and hail setting up our camp the night prior and gear getting wet. Got to the bottomless pit a little after 9. The bottom less pit trail has some drifts but is pretty easy to navigate. Continuous snow starts from the wrecked car. Conditions in the Couloir were a little soft but still supportive even with my partner and I starting the climb at about 1030. A nice little ice bulge was there for the taking at the start of the right branch at the intersection. As long as the warm weather and lack of overnight freezes doesn't get crazy this route should still be in for a few weeks. The detour for the east slopes route at the summit due to the new summit house construction is garbage. Wish they would have done something better for the hikers. Overall great route and day. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/20/2020, By: colingrodzki
Info: Practically zero trouble with snow while taking Devil's Playground trail all the way up. Couple patches here and there, with maybe 3-4 inches at most towards the top. Only wore a thermal long sleeve and pants for 90% of the hike until winds at the top required a windbreaker (obviously prepare and bring layers just in case). Brought my german shep/pyrenees and she handled it fine. Started at 8:30 am, reached summit around 1pm, back at the trailhead at 4pm. Gates were open to park and was free 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/16/2020, By: caitlin521
Info: Gate to the Crags Campground trailhead is now open, so you can drive up and park at the trailhead lot. Lot was about 3/4 full when we arrived at 5:30 a.m.The road and majority of the trail up to the summit are very dry. Above tree line there were a handful of snow covered sections we had to cross over, but nothing that required use of spikes or poles. Most of these sections can be avoided (all but 3 that I counted). Pikes Peak Hwy is open to the summit now too, so it was very crowded on top. Lots of construction at the summit. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/18/2020, By: Will_Quillman
Info: As stated before, no issues to TH. Mainly summer conditions. Using the phone app Gaia, so take elevation marks with a grain of salt. A few unavoidable boot packed snow patches around 12,500ft that were solid on ascent early in the morning. This boot packed snow stayed solid on descent around 9:30am. Bit of solid ice on the 16 golden stairs, really the only ice I encountered. Did not use micro spikes on either the ascent of descent, never felt the need to. Barr Camp postings say that the trail is closed to the summit due to construction. Never saw the "closure" on the ascent, but did happen to notice a yellow cation sign buried in the snow on the descent around 13,600ft. Regardless, about 100ft from the summit, I could hear construction, so I decided to scramble a bit to the northeast as the Barr Trail heads southwest. Was able to fully summit for a short moment near the north side of the pikes complex at the top. Decided I did not want to get yelled at by a construction worker so I quickly climbed back down 100ft and hung out there for a bit. Point of the story, summer conditions and you are not meant to be summiting via the Barr Trail, but you definitely can with a bit of scrambling and a lot of stubbornness against the rules. Not sure how long construction will be going on, maybe someone can shed some light on that subject? 

Route: Y Couloir/Crags/Rumdoodle
Posted On: 5/10/2020, By: Kevin Baker
Info: Road to the Crags TH is still gated just past the Mennonite campground at 9,700 ft even though the road is dry, which adds 1.1 miles each way. Crags route is almost in summer condition other than a few patches of snow. Rumdoodle Ridge is mostly dry. Snow climbing season on Pikes will be short unless there is significant late spring storms. Climbed the Y couloir direct. Very firm conditions throughout the climb. Snow doesn't start until the wrecked car. Good booter in place from previous parties. Far left finish is melted out at the top and far right is very icy at the split. Still continuous snow in the direct finish. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/10/2020, By: whirlejon
Info: Road is still closed at gate about a mile before (just past the Mennonite camp) the Crags trailhead. Road and Trail are both in good shape, not much snow, definitely nothing that can't be avoided with minimal effort.

Left the car at 545a, summited at 920a, back at the car by 1230. Trail was frozen on the ascent, on the return the trail was starting to get muddy (below Devil's Playground), snow was still solid, no issues breaking through the snow.

Parking lot was mostly full at 530a when I arrived, plan accordingly. When I got back to the car a couple officers were giving tickets to folks parked along the road.