6/10/2020 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 6/11/2020, By: JROSKA Info: The new trail is awesome. I had no trouble finding the starting point to it and I love the rock stairs; CFI has done a very nice job. The last 200-300 feet below the ridge isn't finished yet but there are lots of trail segments and helpful cairns. There are also two very large cairns at the access point to the ridge which is helpful for the descent. There are still a few snowfields in the forest after the turnoff from the main Horn Fork trail (just past photo #6 in Bill's route description). One of these caused me to briefly lose the trail on the descent. Just be mindful of where the trail of where the trail goes under the snow in that section on the ascent & you'll be fine. |
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6/5/2020 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 6/6/2020, By: bryanonfilm Info: Standard route essentially summer conditions barring a few tiny snow spots. Traction not necessary. |
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6/3/2020 Route: Harvard and Columbia Traverse Posted On: 6/5/2020, By: Toobaboy Info: While the peak itself is pretty clear and dry, the traverse was not. Lots of snow on the east side of the ridge connecting Harvard and Columbia. Sloppy conditions (and no flotation) had me doing a lot more Class 3-ish scrambling than anticipated. |
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5/23/2020 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 5/25/2020, By: JasonG144 Info: Snow starts at about 11K feet and goes to 12k feet on Columbia west slopes. Firm enough without need for flotation on the way up, softened up and needed flotation on the way down around 11am (or have serious post holing). I would not want to attempt without flotation. Two weeks or so and conditions should melt out substantially. Coulior on Columbia looked pretty well filled in and good shape. Standard route on Harvard still has more snow than Columbia West Slopes so keep that in mind from a post holing perspective. |
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5/22/2020 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 5/22/2020, By: Unknown Info: Took one for the team and hit the standard route. Between trenching avoiding drifts and setting boot pack it took me 6.5mi up. Descended the couloir or gully which is fading fast. Stayed near the rocks because I only had poles and crampons. Late start as well. Give this one a few weeks unless you're desperate. |
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4/26/2020 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 4/27/2020, By: Balcao2546+ Info: If you go for Columbia or Harvard you must bring SNOWSHOES. Postholed like crazy on the return trip. You can drive about 1.1 miles until snow on the road becomes rough. Would not recommend going all the way up unless you have 4X4. Once past the first bridge there is a rough patch on the trail with a lot of soft snow. Also start early unless you want to walk in the dark. 14.75 mile round trip that was 14.5 hrs |
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4/6/2020 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 4/6/2020, By: Unknown Info: Parked 1-1/4 mile below the TH split. Booted to the CO trail, snowshoes from the switchback split to treeline. Mixed conditions afterwards, turned around early today. Trench is in place but snow is very soft even in early morning. |
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3/17/2020 Route: East Ridge via Three Elks Posted On: 3/18/2020, By: brauda02 Info: I wore snowshoes from 10,000' to just under 12,000'. I broke trail through deep powder most of the way. There were a few spots that were firm, but I was sinking down with most steps. Anything that was firm was soft when I returned in the evening. Gerry Roach says to turn NW at a bench at 11,400'. I was looking for a literal bench before realizing this was a terrain feature. The basin had firmer snow and was dry in some spots. I picked a line to gain the ridge that was farther up the basin than described. The climb up to the ridge, and the ridge itself, was mostly dry and windblown. There are 3 false summits as you work the ridge and it takes a long time. I didn't use micros or an ice ax until the last pitch to the summit. 15 hour day. |
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2/1/2020 Route: East ridge- Frenchmans Creek Posted On: 2/2/2020, By: woody8742 Info: We were able to boot pack in to the Colorado trail junction with fairly minimal postholing and set up camp. Used snowshoes to treeline and stashed them there before starting the ridge. The trench is still in and made the trip significantly faster than it has any right to be in February. |
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1/26/2020 Route: East Ridge via Frenchman Creek Posted On: 1/26/2020, By: supranihilest Info: The trench from last week is still in. Just past the Frenchman Creek Trail/Colorado Trail junction hang a left (south) and follow our snowshoe tracks to treeline. We used our snowshoes all the way from the car to a few hundred feet above treeline then stashed them; they were not needed above. The remaining ridge is a mix of dry rock and tundra and mixed snow and boulders. Some of it's tedious, some of it's quick. There's a couple of bumps you have to go over in both directions but nothing crazy. Ice axe and traction are not needed, flotation is only needed until treeline. |
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1/20/2020 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 1/20/2020, By: brauda02 Info: I made it to the summit ridge at 13,700 before turning around. It was a long day and decided that last push to the summit would have taken too long. Plus there would have been postholing along the ridge in areas. This could probably be avoided by some rock hopping. We put a solid trench in up to the gully after breaking trail for most of the day. The gulley is steep and loose, but can easily avoid any snow/ice. |
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1/4/2020 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 1/4/2020, By: CaptainSuburbia Info: I was able to drive my 4wd truck to within 1 mile of trailhead. Booted to trailhead from there as the road has seen plenty of hikers and skiers. Wore snowshoes from there to treeline breaking trail most of the way after leaving the ColoradoTrail. No traction was needed on ridge. Only postholed in a few small sections. |
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11/9/2019 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 11/10/2019, By: daway8 Info: Trail has intermittent light to moderate snow coverage. Flotation not needed. Didn't use traction on the way up but put on microspikes once back down below treeline. The Colorado Trail (which this starts on) had a few icy spots. Some spots in the woods (beyond the Colorado Trail) had a foot or so of snow but good tracks to follow. Many totally dry patches. Above treeline snow can be avoided much of the way except a short snowy scramble just below the summit. |
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10/15/2019 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 10/16/2019, By: luke314 Info: About 5 days after the season's first snowfall, the standard route had melted out almost entirely. Some sugar in the trees and on a few dirt portions of the trail; had to leave the (new and awesome) trail in the talus slopes a few times to keep boots dry -- but overall beautiful and dry! Harvard is great, but especially with the new trail work, more people should climb Columbia on its own! |
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9/14/2019 Route: Harvard and Columbia Traverse Posted On: 9/17/2019, By: noexit33 Info: Had amazing weather for this route and no snow. Traverse was actually pretty easy to route find from Harvard. After getting around point 13516 we kept as high as we could until reaching a ridge with a steep drop-off, then worked our way down the more solid class 3 rock along the S side of the obnoxious gully. We ended up dropping to 12700 before beginning the ascent to Columbia. Coming down from Columbia we didn't see the new trail at first. We could have missed it but we didn't pick it up until about 12800. nobody working on the trail on that Saturday but their equipment was still there. No signs to stay off but there was a sign alerting hikers to stay on the trail and be aware of trail crews. Overall quite a long day. We spent about 10 hours total hiking and 30 minutes in breaks at the summits. |
