4/5/2019 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 4/8/2019, By: thomasdds Info: We attempted to summit Friday evening, 4/5/2019. The conditions are very poor on this route. I would suggest avoiding this route the rest of the season. Due to warm weather the snow is very slushy. There is a .5 mile stretch on the Colorado Trail that is snow free. We made it above 10,000 feet and were post-holing with snowshoes most of the time off the Colorado Trail before turning back. |
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3/31/2019 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 4/1/2019, By: wintersage Info: Had to park 1.5 miles from the trailhead as well; there is a nice cutoff that can hold multiple parked cards. From there to the summit, postholing was minimal as the snow was packed. We brought snowshoes but none of us needed to put them on and microspikes were sufficient. Overall an incredibly long, tiring day on the ridge. Not much wind but it was snowing pretty hard and visibility was very poor. |
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3/28/2019 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 3/29/2019, By: CaptainSuburbia Info: Parked 1.5 miles from trailhead. We booted the road and put snowshoes on at trailhead. From there to treeline the snow was very soft but postholing was minimal. We followed an old ski track which helped. Microspikes or just boots were fine from treeline to summit. The ridge was mostly windblown, and when we did encounter snow it was solid with only the occasional posthole. The biggest problem was the constant high wind (some of the highest I have encountered this winter) on this very long, exposed ridge. So after summiting we made the mistake of returning via the east ridge to get out of the wind. While trying to undercut one of the many ridge high points, we encountered some pretty serious avalanche terrain which forced us into the basin too early. We definitely should have stayed on the ridge proper to it's conclusion. It was a long slog out of the basin to the Colorado trail through mushy snow. The Colorado trail was even worse. We pretty much postholed for 3 miles back to the SE ridge junction. |
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11/22/2018 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 11/26/2018, By: RBeaudry Info: Decent packed trail up until the two sequential clearings ~1 mile before the treeline, then ankle to thigh deep boot packing. Dry crystal snow below the treeline, thin sun crust in places. Unlikely that flotation would keep you on top. Above the treeline there was little snow, and what was there had an eggshell sun crust as well. Perfect base conditions for extreme avalanche danger. My boot prints follow the "South Slopes Direct Route" up Columbia, a tremendously poor route. Look over your right shoulder as you break the treeline, if the entire face isn't covered a snow seam will mark good trail up to the ridge. Found half of an omnifuel stove; message me to claim! |
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11/18/2018 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 11/19/2018, By: cottonmountaineering Info: Road to TH is a small amount of packed snow, after reaching the ridge there are varying snow conditions in about a half to foot of snow. Once above treeline ridge becomes windswept and travel is much faster than lower on the mountain Used microspikes but snow was not deep/consolidated enough to use snowshoes below treeline |
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9/18/2018 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 9/18/2018, By: derekesq Info: First, I'll echo the recent report by ma1919 regarding the great work by CFI so far. The completed parts are excellent. If you are climbing Columbia before the work is complete here are some observations from my hike of Columbia on Sept. 11. Currently it appears there is no connection from the trail where it exits treeline to the new trail (clearly visible to the right as you exit treeline and start to ascend). I, and the other 4 parties I saw, proceeded up the current trail and then, when each realized that trail was not going to the new trail, cut right to get to it. So if you are going to Columbia, you will have to go right across the boulders if you want to reach the new trail. Also, when descending - unless you want to go down the "old" trail of 1,500 feet of horrible, loose dirt/scree, don't just follow the trail at the top - you have to go further southeast and likely off trail to get above where the CFI crew is and cut down off trial to connect to the good trail. I made the mistake of just following the trail. But if you just follow the trail you will descend scree hell (the old trail). Don't do this to yourself. |
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9/13/2018 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 9/13/2018, By: ma1919 Info: Talked to the CFI crew on the mountain today. This is their last week of work for the season. The trail is usable up to about 12700 ft, but it does not connect to the old trail at top or bottom (at least I didn't see a connection at the bottom going up or down). The trail crew said that people are free to use the new trail, but you will have to traverse a steep, loose scree slope to get back on route above the end of the new trail. The rock tram is down for the season as well. Thanks to the trail crews for all the great work. The new trail is VERY nice, probably the best I've hiked on any 14er and a huge improvement over the existing route! |
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7/14/2018 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 7/17/2018, By: Kdudziak Info: Start 5:45 am, Summit 11:00 am. First 14er of the season (29th in all), and my boyfriend probably could have shaved off another hour if it wasn't for me. This was a tough, but scenic route. I'd consider the route an easy Class 2. The most challenging parts were the distance, steep grades, and several false summits that made the route mentally taxing. Trail is very steep, particularly in the trees when you leave the Colorado Trail (~0.8 mi from Road). Route has full summer conditions and was dry the whole way. There is no water along this route, so bring what you need. The trail is faint, and abruptly disappears at times. It's easy to follow once it meets up with the standard route. Particularly in the woods, it would be nearly impossible to follow the trail in the dark, so if you get an early start, expect to forge your own path. Even in the light, it was often difficult to follow -there are a couple of large areas with downed trees that force you to go around. With some patience and sharp eyes, it's not too hard to make a detour and find the trail again on the other side. There were lots of carins in the woods so just keep an eye out. The last 200m of the woods we did some bushwacking and even on the way down, my boyfriend and I couldn't find the actual path. There are carins set up at several spots at the edge of the woods, presumably to identify the start of the path, so my boyfriend and I each choose one and tried to follow it; however, the second you enter the woods, there's no clear path or additional carins to guide you. This is the only part of woods hiking that wasn't well marked and it seems like the carins that were set up are a bit of halfhearted effort. Perhaps we were just too tired for route finding at this point. I took high and he took low and eventually we were able to meet up with the trail again. Once you are out of the woods, the path is a lot less consistent, but if you have your route description and photos from 14ers.com is easy enough to head in the right direction. My Garmin measured 6.02 mi exactly both directions. We also used the AllTrail App as a spot check- the GPX tracks appeared to be reliable, but the reported distances were about a half mile off of my Garmin. AllTrails reports the route as being 10.5 mi RT, which is not the case. The elevation estimates were consistent with the 14er directions, so at least that feature seems accurate. |
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7/4/2018 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 7/10/2018, By: hsiegel3 Info: Beautiful weather on the 4th. The CFI work on the route is amazing. The crew were hard at work on Independence Day and had helpful suggestions for trail finding above their work area. Hiking as a family (ages 11 to 50) can be challenging but six of us made the summit. The trail could use signs on the lower part where it splits off from the Mt. Massive trail. |
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6/25/2018 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 6/25/2018, By: lukeneedsnewsocks Info: The new trail on Mt Columbia is coming along very well. You can hike on it while they're working on it. When you're heading into the gully it is very easy to pick out on the right hand side. There is a trail split about 30 yards from the trees with a cairns marking the way to get to the new trail. New trail bypasses the worst spots of the gully but you still have to contend with the upper trail to the ridge (which isn't that bad). If you choose to take the new trail all the way up to where it dead ends, you'll need to make sure you stay to the left when you start walking on the tundra (there is a sort of ridge you should be able traverse under to get to the old trail). I made the mistake of staying too far right which puts you on the tundra too long (sorry plants!) thinking the old trail would cut further left. It doesn't. When you're coming down, you can see the new trail below and can choose to take the old trail down further toward the gully and join up by cutting over on what looks like a slightly flatter spot, or when the old trail starts to veer harder to the right, cut left across the tundra. (You should notice the "sort of" ridge you want to stay under as you come down the old trail). You can't see the new trail until you get pretty far left and drop down a bit. I'm not sure if any of that makes sense, but the key is, take the new trail, cut over when you know you're above the gully (having the coordinates from the route description is very helpful), and you should be good. |
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6/23/2018 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 6/24/2018, By: bwleachuk Info: No snow on the route this year (a big difference from last year), so my Microspikes and ice axe were superfluous. The turnoff to the Columbia route is tricky to spot. I had a Garmin device and the topo coordinates from this website; otherwise, there would have been more guesswork. As you reach ~11700ft in elevation, there's a clearing with 5 pathways and a bunch of campsites nearby. On the right there's a large cairn. Turn right there for Columbia. It's unsigned, unfortunately. Then follow the trail until you come out of the woods and find other fork with a smaller cairn. Turn right again. (Keep turning right at every turn, basically). Then as you approach 12,000 you will see the main route up ahead and a new trail being built on the right. Get over to the new trail -- don't go on the route recommended on 14.ers. It's a scree field hell. The new path isn't complete but it's MUCH better and you can trek back left across the tundra at the top of that path and rejoin the main trail about the scree couloir. I wish like hell I had done this! The rest of the route is pretty standard. Plenty of false summits but the climbing above 13,250ft isn't bad. Good luck! |
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6/19/2018 Route: Harvard and Columbia Traverse Posted On: 6/19/2018, By: pbarn Info: Beautiful summer conditions into Horn Fork Basin and up to Harvard. Traverse over to Columbia was long and tedious. There are still several snowfields in the talus field on the east side of the ridge - these must be negotiated carefully. Avoiding them adds time to your journey but is the safest option. The one I had to cross ended up postholing me up to me waist, and I think it could have been potentially more dangerous. Remember, this traverse is a long and arduous slog, take care on it! |
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6/9/2018 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 6/10/2018, By: little_castaldo Info: Went up southeast ridge and down the west slopes. Both trails are bone dry. When you gain the SE ridge, don't be fooled by the false summit - you have to go around the ridge and Columbia is on the far right. Also, the false summits have false summits...you can save some gain by skirting them to the left or right. Going down the west slopes was TERRIBLE until reaching the new trail (new trail was AWESOME). |
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6/7/2018 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 6/18/2018, By: gnblase Info: The trail for the first 3.5 miles until tree line is fantastic. Only about 1500 ft of elevation is gained during this first part of the hike which leaves almost 3000 ft for the last 2 miles. After tree line it was very hard to pick up a decent trail. We started going up through the rock and eventually found the trail off to the right. The trail is not nice. It is very loose dirt and very steep. It was a hard, long 2 miles up to the summit. Be aware that there are multiple false summits. The view from the summit is fantastic. Coming down was as challenging if not more challenging than coming up since the trail is so steep and mostly dirt with small rock. This will be a great hike once the entire trail is redone in a few years. |
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5/27/2018 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 5/28/2018, By: Eagle Eye Info: Nice trail conditions from the TH to the Mt Columbia cut-off. Then a little bit of snow, mud, and draining muck in the woods going thru the cut-off. There is a short snow field at the route descriptions treeline gully. A very nice new trail (often with steps) is still under construction starting low on the west slope, its long switchbacks avoid scree moving upward and then it ends abruptly. Yellow and Orange trail markers seem to mark the general direction the trail will continue. SMOOTH SAILING to the summit! |