Pikes Peak

Route: Bottomless Pit
Posted On: 6/5/2017, By: chrisrikli
Info: My intent was to climb the Y Couloir however I lost my right crampon shortly after arriving starting out of the Bottomless Pit so I had to abort.

Once you break from Barr, the trail gets drifted over quickly. I did lots of bushwhacking and routefinding. Be prepared for lots of sidehilling in snowshoes or postholing without them. If you haven't been on the trail before (I hadn't) I'd really encourage a partner who knows the route or a GPX track to follow.

Snow conditions are definitely set up for loose wet and wet slab slides. I didn't get far enough up to couloir to make good observations there but on the approach I observed debris from an R1D1* loose wet slide on the north face and an R5D2* wet slab slide in one of the western couloirs.

*I'm not an avvie pro, these are my guesses as an amateur. 

Route: Barr Trail
Posted On: 5/28/2017, By: Fishert2
Info: Trail clear all the way through Barr Camp. A few snow piles in the shade off the trail until you pass the turn off for Bottomless Pit. Once you pass that turn off and continue up the trail it becomes snow packed and is firm enough to walk on without snowshoes. Made it to just under the a-frame. Turned around at the big freshly downed pine tree smack dab in the middle of the trail. Blister on my foot got the best of me. Would recommend snowshoes for anyone trying to summit, or checking to see if a report is posted from someone who may have summited that day. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/15/2017, By: soloclimber97
Info: The road to the Crags is closed, there's a sign on the gate that says all access is temporarily suspended. I learned this the hard way this morning a 5:00 AM. 

Route: Y Couloir Direct Finish
Posted On: 5/7/2017, By: Kevin Baker
Info: No overnight freeze, so the snow was very soft to the split. We found better snow on the left side of the couloir. Conditions improve near the top from a climber's perspective with more windblown hard pack. The exit has more bare rock and ice than in previous years. Skiers will have to downclimb the top 10-15 feet for the direct finish. 

Route: South East Gully
Posted On: 5/7/2017, By: Incline Fanatic
Info: Summited Friday,,, to Barr Camp virtually clear of snow,,, last 100 some packed snow but no traction needed. Mile to bottomless pit sign mix of bare trail and packed snow... from there to A-Frame was consistent packed snow... I was there early so snow was packed--no traction needed. Past A-Frame I went to SE gully and straight up. 20-30 yards into gully I was postholing to my knees at 8am,,, I put on my snowshoes I thought I carried all that way for nothing. Was slow going, one tracking pole (without a basket) could plunge 4 feet deep. Before I hit the 16 Golden stairs sign I was sinking a couple inches with the snowshoes and sliding backwards (steep). Took off the shoes and climbed the rocks straight up. Trail was barely visible in areas if you knew where to look. I didn't go back down since it looked very wet and slushy on the way up. In retrospect better route might have been to cross the gully and hug the left side more up the ridge and outta the gully but I forgot my Kahtoolas do the only traction I had came from the snowshoes. Hot days, it's melting fast. 

Route: Glen Cove
Posted On: 4/23/2017, By: d_baker
Info: New snow bonded well with previous surface. Climbed The Chimney, and came down it today.
A lone boarder climbed Little Italy, boarded down, then climbed The Chimney. He told me conditions in Little Italy were similar to the conditions in The Chimney.
Saw another crew climbing the W's (aka, Three Pigs).

New snow was boot top deep in most places, mostly from wind deposit. Good climbing, with underlying slab surface a little crusty/icy, but not crazy hard. Slab felt supportable and stable.

Views of the N face (Y couloir, et al) of Pikes looks good, as has been mentioned in bmcqueen's report. 

Route: Railroad Couloir
Posted On: 4/23/2017, By: bmcqueen
Info: Climbed the Railroad Couloir from Barr Camp and returned down east face gully back to Barr Trail. We did a fair bit of trail breaking into Bottomless Pit and found the Railroad to be softer than we would have liked due to the new snow. Another day or two of good freeze thaw and both it and Y should be great (one of our party skied the Y on the way down and said it was INCREDIBLE). East face gully was great plunge stepping down for 1,600 vertical, then Barr trail has a pretty good trench the rest of the way down to Barr Camp. 

Route: Y Couloir
Posted On: 4/15/2017, By: Wildernessjane
Info: Climbed the Y Couloir (left branch) via the Barr trail and Bottomless Pit this morning. Coverage was really good in the couloir and the snow was very firm. There was some wallowing, but this could be mostly avoided by staying to the left. There was a fair bit of post holing after the turnoff for Bottomless Pit. We did not take snowshoes because one member of our party did not have them, so we ended up traversing high in the basin where it was more windswept. 

Route: Railroad Couloir
Posted On: 3/20/2017, By: Tim Edinger
Info: The Railroad Couloir is not in condition. Neither is the Y Couloir IMO. At least the upper 3rd of both are bare or marginal. Would not be worth the calories to try and descend on skis or a snowboard. Unless there is another storm this season, these two couloirs are not going to give anyone much juice. 

Route: East Slope - Barr Trail
Posted On: 3/20/2017, By: Dlbma30677
Info: Per US Forest Service the Crags Campground trailhead is closed until June 2017, therefore eliminating the northwest slopes route to summit Pikes Peak for now. I hiked the Eastern Slopes route aka Barr Trail route to the summit. This route is easy to follow, well-maintained and well-travelled.

https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/trailheadsview.php?thparm=fr08

The beginning of the hike is hot and bright. Recommend wide-brimmed hat, polarized sunglasses, sunscreen and wearing long-sleeved athletic shirt and pants to begin. Too hot for long underwear at start of trail. I saw several incline-runners with bloody knees and saw one girl sprain her ankle from trying to descend too quickly from the incline so please be careful. Having two trekking poles will help with stability throughout the hike.

Only difficulty I had with the route was after mile marker 5 where Barr Trail to Pikes Peak goes the the RIGHT and Mount View Trail (wrong way) goes to the left.

Water available just after mile 3, mile 5, Barr camp (mile 6.5) and at the timberline A-frame.

Traction helpful during ascent from Barr camp (mile 6.5) to 200 yards past the timberline A-frame (mile 9). This section is sloppy in the afternoon during descent. Picture below is in a sunny area but postholing likely in the shade with snow thigh-high.

For the final ascent try to KEEP LEFT and aim for the ribbon of white across the face about 12 of the way up which is the actual trail. See photo of mountain face, thanks Luis for sending! Trail will be easier to recognize in person. You can navigate around the patches of snow on the face of Pikes until the very top. The last train departed the summit on 3:30pm on Sunday March 19th.

Lastly, I want to heartily recommend staying at Barr Camp (fee) if overnighting. I got very helpful condition info from the caretakers as well as several other campers who had just submitted earlier in the day. The caretakers printed the weather.gov multi-day summit conditions forecast for me at breakfast which was also very helpful. And the pure maple syrup on the buckwheat pancakes was d-e-e-e-licious. 

Route: North Face/Upper Barr Trail
Posted On: 3/12/2017, By: aholle88
Info: Just a quick update on the North face conditions. Seems statewide that most north facing routes are seriously lacking in the snow department thanks to our windy winter, and Pike's is no exception. Do not let the snow in a couple of the photos fool you, there is minimal snow below the top sections of the couloirs.

Also included is a picture looking down the East Face/Gully with Barr Trail visible. Saw 3 climbers coming up to summit yesterday. Trail looks to be packed with snow, did not speak with climbers but it did not look like snowshoes would be necessary at all. 

Route: Barr Trail
Posted On: 3/9/2017, By: ROPjason
Info: I climbed the Barr Trail on Saturday afternoon up to A-Frame. I didn't use snowshoes or any sort of traction device. The trail is thoroughly packed down to where post-holing is not likely. On Sunday, I traversed to the crater where I reached the summit via the Southeast Cirque. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 1/13/2017, By: bmcqueen
Info: JQDivide and I did Pikes today from Crags (see his TH report). There is a prominent but rogue trench going left shortly after the turnoff to Pikes. Don't take the rogue trench. It leads in a circle.

We wore snowshoes up through the trees and up past Devil's Playground then switched to spikes. Cairns are visible higher on the mountain if you take the time to find them. No avy danger if you stay en route. Slope east of Little Pikes has some windloading, but all very solid. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 1/9/2017, By: Dean82
Info: Hiked right up to Little Pikes on Saturday. The snow conditions weren't bad at all, but the wind was. Their is a boot pack all the way to treeline. After that you will have to make your own trail to the plateau because of the wind. The snow is not deep above treeline, but microspikes and gaiters help. 

Route: 
Posted On: 12/24/2016, By: Carbinematt
Info: Went up from crags 12/22/16. The trail from the campground to where it crosses the road was all snowshoes. Had to pull off the shoes and add traction around 12,750. Above 13000 was pretty miserable, visability 30', temps in the teens and wind driven ice that cut into any exposed skin. Once to the saddle the trail only seen by the cairns. Trail invisible due to drifts once off the wide flat before the final ascent. Had to turn around about 13,600 due to dangerous conditions. Got onto the road as soon as possible, turns out the road was shut down at mm13 (go figure). Great test of endurance for the cold and looking forward to coming back on a sunny day.