Pikes Peak

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Posted On: 7/3/2011, By: madbuck
Info: Entirely snow and ice-free on Barr/Pikes Peak Marathon route. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/27/2011, By: toekramp
Info: Fantastic conditions all the way to the top. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/24/2011, By: iquack08
Info: The trail via Crags is now snow-free again. There are only small patches of snow that are negligible. All the snow that was on the trail based on the Monday trip report is pretty much gone. Boots are preferred, but trail runners are acceptable. 

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Posted On: 6/24/2011, By: hugemike
Info: Just a bit of snow near the 16 steps at the top. Snow is completely avoidable. 

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Posted On: 6/13/2011, By: BillinCSprings
Info: Took the Barr trail yesterday - absolutely spectacular day. No snow at all below tree-line. And only a handfull of places above treeline did it cover the climbing route. Overall, "America's Mountain" is in good shape for the main 2011 climbing season. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 6/11/2011, By: dannyg23
Info: Basically snow free from Crags to the top. In 2 or 3 places there was some snow covering the trail, but you could just walk around it if you had a mind to. I wore shorts and a T-shirt with regular shoes so I think summer hiking season is officially here, at least on Pikes. For anybody interested in the couloir's - they didn't seem to have enough snow. I had considered trying RR couloir but was glad I ended up leaving my ice axe home. I saw a few people at the top that may have come up that way though - they were dressed for it anyway. 

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Posted On: 6/10/2011, By: pklotzbach
Info: I ran up Pike's Peak via the Barr Trail up to the A-Frame this morning. The trail is virtually ice and snow free to that point. There are a couple of very minor patches of ice on the way up, but those are easily avoidable. I talked with Theresa from Barr Camp on the way down, and she said that the trail is basically snow-free until about two miles to go. Then, there is some snow to contend with. If you go up early, perhaps some sort of traction device would be useful, but the rest of the day, you will probably just be dealing with a little bit of slush. Since the trail gets a decent bit of sun, I would suspect that the rest of the snow will be gone in a few more days. Hope this helps! 

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Posted On: 6/6/2011, By: Brighteyes
Info: Little snow or ice on most of Barr Trail, then Challenging footing conditions above 12000 due to heavy ice/melt. Hiked with large group of 35+ able high school students. Haze from wildfires slowed sunmelt but by 0900 the ice was very slick. Not much postholing though. Decided greater part of valor for such a large group with various hiking experiences was to return from Summit by cog railway to Mountain View. 

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Posted On: 5/15/2011, By: lordhelmut
Info: Skied the Y-Couloir on Pikes yesterday 5/14/11. Got to the road right before 9, road was plowed initially to just above Devil's Playground, but by noon, they had it plowed to the summit. Hiked up from 13,500 to summit, eyed all 3 branches of the Y and decided on the skier's right branch. There is continuous snow from top to bottom. A little thin up high off the top, just have to ski around the rocks, but enough snow to make some solid corn turns. About halfway down, right around where there is some car wreckage, there is a 15-20 foot cliff you have to negotiate. If you climb over the left side above the wreckage, you can continue the ski all the way down to Bottomless Pit.

We climbed up the Railroad, which is not in by any means, completely unskiable basically the entire way down. Get this line sooner rather than later, it will not be in for very long (although the 7-day forecast looks like it'll drop a little snow and whatever is there you won't melt out very fast). 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/9/2011, By: Soccer4Life
Info: Headed up the trail around 8:30 am and found that the trail was mostly snow free below the tree line. There were several patches of snow though which micro spikes would help greatly. Traction is not required as I did not use micro spikes and gave mine to a group member who said they helped a lot. Once above the treeline we lost the trail in several places due to large snow fields but still traction is not required if you plan a route around the snow. Even around 10:30 am the snow was still hard enough to walk on without postholing. After crossing the road there were still several snow fields to avoid. The last 1.5 miles of the road was closed to cars so we hiked up the road to avoid the snow up the final pitch to the summit. The summit house was open though. Heading back to the car all the snow was significantly softer and we tried as hard as we could to stay of the soft snow until we got below the treeline. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/10/2011, By: holdznfoldz
Info: We camped at the Crags trailhead and headed out around 6:30am. There were several icy patches on the trail but microspikes are not necessary. These same patches became slush on the descent. We summitted at about 12:15pm, ofcourse right when the cog unloaded. The wind was pretty aggrevating, gusts had to been 20 to 30 mph. The snow on the class 2 section just below the summit created some concern be sure you are confident in your footing. Gaiters are beneficial after you reach the first intersection with Pikes Peak road. Other than that a good climb and glad to start the summit season!

Thanks
Jeff 

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Posted On: 5/8/2011, By: kman
Info: Summited Pikes Peak Saturday May 7 via the Y Couloir, but descended the East Face back to the parking lot. There is a lot of snow on the entire East Face above timberline. From A-Frame to Barr Camp, not anything "significant" - some deep drifts, but good boot pack through them. From Barr Camp to the trailhead/parking lot the trail is bone dry. Picture #1 shows how much snow there is to negotiate. Picture #2 shows part of the trail that traverses the East Face. Picture #3 shows a small snow slide covering the trail. Picture #4 shows the area toward the "Cirque" and the obvious trail covered in snow. 

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Posted On: 5/8/2011, By: kman
Info: Summited Pikes Peak up and down via Barr Trail to Bottomless Pit, up the Y Couloir and then down the East Face. Snowshoes definitely recommended from Barr Trail cut-off to Bottomless Pit. The Couloir itself is not in the "best" shape - lot of wind crusted top layers with about a foot of powdery snow underneath followed by a more consolidated layer below that on the bottom and middle sections. The upper half was nicely consolidated with good Alpine conditions (IMO). Consider this climb carefully if attempting, until conditions improve. Picture #1 is a view looking down the lower section of the Couloir. Picture #2 shows part of the middle section of the Couloir. Picture #3 shows the view down the upper part of the Couloir about 40 feet from the summit. Picture #4 shows the view looking down the upper section of the Couloir about 5 feet from the summit. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 5/9/2011, By: metalmountain
Info: Reached the summit from the Crag's. There are still patches of snow on the trail below tree line. We had microspikes but never used them. The snow was soft enough that you could still get decent traction with sliding too much, with the help of some poles. Above tree line it was problably 60-70% snow still. Most was pretty solid though, very minimal postholing. It was melting off fast it seemed, some of our morning boot tracks were melted through to the ground on our way down. 

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Posted On: 4/23/2011, By: Kevin Baker
Info: Attempted the Y today (6th annual trip) and turned back at 13200' as the snow was in very poor condition. There isn't much snow on the north face, but it is still in winter condition. Wind slab on top of sugar, probably the worst conditions I've seen in a couloir. It may be a couple weeks or more before it's in spring shape, but it won't be in for long unless we have a wet May.