Pikes Peak

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 7/10/2016, By: jimwei
Info: Parked at Crag's Trailhead at 6:15 am and there were only a few cars there. Route is perfectly clear except for maybe 50 ft of snow on the crest of the first ridge at 12,700. My cousin visiting from North Carolina suffered from altitude headache and shoes without good treads so we took it pretty slow. We both suffered from donuts overdose on the way down. 4 hours to the top. about 2.75 hours down. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 7/3/2016, By: mountaincass111
Info: The peak is in summer conditions. One major snowfield left but you should have no problem passing through it. Top of route is full of boulders which become very slippery when wet. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/28/2016, By: graberz
Info: As previously mentioned the Trail is in summer conditions. only two very small snow fields remain that are barely worth mentioning. Several groups summited today. 

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Posted On: 6/13/2016, By: loganmckenna
Info: Hiked to Camp Barr Fri 6/10/16. Got rained on a bit, but otherwise the trail is beautiful. Spent the night at Camp Barr. I was on the trail by 7:00 am, summit at 11:30. Barr trail is basically clear, with only patches of snow until about 12,500 feet. A LOT of active melt, and in the next few days even more of the trail will be exposed. After that, I was able to follow the trial pretty easily with alternating 100 yd sections of snow that had firm steps kicked in and then clear trail. I experienced little post-holing. The last 500 feet of elevation I lost the trail and cut left at the sign for the 16 golden steps and made straight for the summit. Again, nice deep snow pockets from previous hikers that held up well. No need for snowshoes or spikes. Nobody that was carrying snowshoes that I talked to even put them on. I had spikes but didn't use them. Again, rapid melt and the trail will quickly be clear. 

Route: Barr Trail
Posted On: 6/5/2016, By: Dep41500
Info: Started at the trailhead at 5 am. Weather was forecast in the 70's and clear. Made Barr Camp by 9:30am. 4.8 miles from the summit we ran into snow, going in up to our hips in some places and lost the trail. After some searching, we found the trail and hiked to the A frame where the trail was lost. A lot of snow- could not continue on Barr Trail. We went up left of where the Barr Trail would be, climbing up the rocky face. Took a total of 12 hours to summit. 

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Posted On: 5/31/2016, By: bradyj
Info: Hero's Traverse and the Y was full of snow from start to finish. Snow was in decent condition. Soft in spots. Crust in others. 

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Posted On: 5/30/2016, By: se0615
Info: Summited Pikes Peak on 05/29/16. Thought some may want an update if planning on hiking it in the next couple days. Stayed at Barr Camp on night of 5-28. Left at 6 a.m. the morning of 05-29.
Getting an early start was key. We were able to summit by 10:30 a.m. thanks to the snow being nice and frozen still. Went to the a-frame and pretty much straight up from there. Went up the southeast ridge and then traversed across to come up right at the summit house. On snow most of the way. No snowshoes were necessary, only because we left first thing in the morning before the sun could put too much heat on the snow. You could definitely tell that there were many who had postholed before us. Spikes are a must for stability. It did start to rain about 1 p.m. The highway to the top was still closed as of 05/29.
Gorgeous day. 

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Posted On: 5/23/2016, By: Wayne Smart
Info: I took the tram to the top of Pikes Peak on Sunday intending to hike down the Barr Camp trail only to find that the trail was completely covered by snow and not visible. Two strong young climbers had just come up and said the last part was through knee-deep snow and very difficult. I took the tram down and got off at the Barr Camp exit and came down that way. The trail was totally clear except for many, many hikers and runners. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/21/2016, By: xrcdrvr
Info: Hiked up to 12k feet on Craggs Trail. Trail isn't too hard to find right now but we stayed in prior hikers tracks that will bring you up west of actual trail. Snow was soft and deep so we just kept sinking with snow shoes. I also tried post holing but that was worse. May want to wait a week or two for snow to melt before attempting summit. We got on trail at 0620 and turned around 12k ft at 0930. Was harder to get back down because we knew it was getting warmer and softer. 

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Posted On: 5/21/2016, By: EatinHardtack
Info: Skied the Y today. Didn't go all the way to the Bottomless Pit as the snow has not consolidated and the climb out was a post hole sweatfest. The direct entrance is good to go from the tip as is the one to its northwest. The other two further to the NW looked like there may be some down climbing. Again the snow was not the greatest for climbing but decent for skiing. Lots of roller ball and point release stuff happening on the face. The Railroad looked ok but not as good as last year, lots of debris and it is not as clean at the top (rocks). The summit house couloir was decent looking but again lots of small slough and roller balls coming from the rocks. In all I'm not sure how long the Northface will hold snow for a ski this season, the temperature at the summit was 41 at 11am. Going to go fast with more days like this. But from a climbing perspective the NF should be good for a few for sure. 

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Posted On: 5/23/2016, By: J Wade
Info: We started from the base of the incline this weekend at 4am and made it to Barr Camp by about 8am and the A Frame by 9. There was some snow from the Barr Camp to the A Frame but a lot more once we started climbing the bowl. We put on snow shoes just after the A Frame and slogged our way up to the summit, reaching it by 12:00. The trail was not visible and the snow (without shoes) was knee deep in places. However, it would have been possible to make the summit without snow shows by sticking to the rocky areas. The snow is melting quickly and may soon expose the Barr trail. 

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Posted On: 5/7/2016, By: cascadecoach
Info: Approximately 18-mile ski traverse from Crags Campground to Manitou Springs, ski descent of East Face Gully to Barr Camp via Cabin Creek Gully. There still is two feet of snow at Crags Campground. Slopes above campground look prime for skiing. East Face Gully is in good shape, but melting quick. I was able to ski continuous snow from the Cog tracks all the way down to within 1/2 mile of Barr Camp, when I left the Cabin Creek Gully and exited skier's left to Barr Trail. Skied Barr Trail to Barr Camp, snow patchy below Barr Camp. 18 miles, 12 hours, 4000' vertical on skis, six miles on foot below Barr Camp. No evidence of avalanche activity in East Face Gully, but point releases by ramparts on north side of cirque. 

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Posted On: 4/19/2016, By: JasonCrane
Info: Two days on Barr Trail at Pikes Peak, but no summit (4/18-4/19). Did an overnight tent in snowy conditions at Barr Camp around the 6.5 mile marker. The trail is mud & slush for the first 3 miles up to the top of the Manitou Incline. The trail is surprisingly broken-in for the entire way to Barr Camp, despite massive snowfall during Winter Storm Vexo from 4/15-4/17/16. Although the trail is discernible, it deteriorates in condition & depth as you approach Barr Camp. Snow shoes or skis are advisable. Could only able to push 1 mile past Barr Camp due to consistent knee high post-holing, then retreated when conditions turned to thigh/waist high post-holing. The trail was still partially discernible up to mile 8 or so. You would essentially be breaking trail from mile 8 onward. Pikes Peak & surroundings remained obscured by dense cloud cover from Friday until late Monday afternoon, 4/19. 

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Posted On: 4/3/2016, By: kentmw
Info: Snow was present from the whole hike from the top of the manitou incline on. There was a good trench in place all the way to Barr Camp; microspikes were all that was needed. 1/2-3/4 mile past barr camp, tracks ended and we started to break trail through the deep snow. Snowshoes were mandatory from this point on. We got off the summer trail at some point, but took a pretty direct route route to the A-Frame. Above treeline there was still a lot of snow we had to break trail through. We stayed on the south facing slope of the east face (we never crossed the gully and went to the cirque overlook/1 mile sign) and took a more direct route to the 16 golden stairs before summiting not too much later. The summit had opened not too much earlier to car traffic and the cog railway so we hitchhiked down. A ranger on the summit told us there was whumpf sounds and cracks reported by someone who went up the northwest slopes that day as well. We experienced no signs of avalanche concerns on our route. 

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Posted On: 3/12/2016, By: jimwei
Info: Barr Trail is dry from Hydro trailhead to No Name Creek. Then it's mixed of dry patches and snow covered sections to Barr Camp. After Barr Camp, it's hard packed to the treeline. Above the treeline, it's mixed, some dry sections and some snows. Right after the 2 miles to go sign, the trail crosses two snowfields that made me wish I had more than just my spikes. I avoided those snowfields on the descent by going directly from the grand traverse to the big boulder formation at 12,500. The top mile has a lot snow on the trail but not much snow elsewhere. Summit is bone dry. 5am start, 11am at the summit. Not much of a breeze even on the summit. 3 hours coming down.