Mt. Columbia

Route: Standard
Posted On: 6/9/2012, By: ColoradoLawDobe
Info: Lower portion of the trail only had approx 5 downed trees as many which were once crossing the trail have been cut. The upper portion had multiple downed trees, but all were easy to detour around or hop over. The trees probably added 10 minutes extra roundtrip to the climb time. Other than the trees the trail is in great summer shape! 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 6/11/2012, By: sheller
Info: Very little snow at the top and easy to skirt. There are still a number of trees down- probably around 30 which will add on a bit of hiking time to both Harvard and Columbia. One area in particular had a bunch of trees down which made it a mess to move around and we took about 10 mins to find the trail on the way back down. 

Route: Columbia traverse to Harvard
Posted On: 6/1/2012, By: a6ftcruton
Info: Climbed Columbia Thursday morning and traversed to Harvard.I kept reading about all the downed trees at Shavano/Tabeguache, but between the two, Harvard has A LOT more trees down across the trail. It‘s not too hard to stay with the trail, but you have to do lots of maneuvering over, around, between. (I did Tab/Shav today and didn‘t have to step off of the trail one, all the way to the summit because it‘s all been cleaned up so well.) Having done the whole thing, I would definitely recommend going UP Columbia and DOWN from Harvard, unless you are a champion scree-skier. No real snow to contend with getting up Columbia, but there are still a few large stretches holding on behind the ridge. They‘re avoidable if you are comfortable skirting deeper into the valley, which would definitely add mileage and elevation lost that has to be regained (on top of the 1,500+ you already have to lose). That said, I did it with no problems in trail runners (with great traction) with trekking poles, but would have felt more comfortable if I‘d had a whippet or ice axe on one stretch. If I‘d have been two hours later, I would have been sliding around more and getting really wet feet. Also, that traverse is LONG! Took me about 3 hours. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 5/27/2012, By: MountainHiker
Info: Columbia SE Ridge. Route mostly clear of snow. Down low any snow can be avoided. Higher up only a few small spots to cross. A pole might be helpful. An axe would only be needed if you decided to bail down a couloir into Three Elk Valley. 

Route: We got off route, then snow route
Posted On: 5/11/2012, By: Rcizzle
Info: Condition/Trip report hybrid, hopefully the long story short will give you any information you need. Beta for the Horn Fork Basin is basically the same as the last condition update. Road to TH is great. First 2.5 miles are basically dry with a little bit of live tree fall (about 5). We hiked that real kwick. From there on my partner and I experienced a big loss in momentum. We had a postholopolus or postholupoluzza in combination with like a bizzillion fallen trees on the trail that probably added and extra mile of meandering to. Then we lost the trail in the snow and the fallen trees and wandered around for a bit never finding the turnoffs for the standard route. How about the weather? Well we left GJ at 3am without a cloud in the sky, got to Leadville at 6...not a cloud in the sky. Started our hike at 7:15 not a cloud in the sky. Meandered through the forest until we broke treeline at 9:45 not a cloud in the sky and hot! 9:50 we have A cloud. 9:55 we got lots of em. 10:10 we got very dark clouds and my partner and I decided to take a direct scramble to the summit ridge (not recommended scree mud mix). The alpine standard route is completely dry. 10:30 its snowing, 10:40 we just some thunder, 11:30 we lost all visibility. 12 we got the summit with a glorious view of nothing. It SNOWED THE REST OF THE DAY! It was lightly sticking at about 13,500K and above, However, it was sticking at Tennessee Pass at 5. The snow route described by Bill‘s route description is what we descended. We had a mud scree mix for about half of the coliour. However, we were able to glissade for around 1000 ft. The route below treeline from the snow route was a bit of bush whack, but it was much more efficient than the ridiculous amount of tree fall on the standard trail. We avoided all of our problems of the morning except for the fact the fog made seeing 15 yards ahead very difficult. The snow was really coming down by the time we left. It should be unlikely that much accumulation occurs very far below near North Cottonwood TH, however, with the rate of precipitation and the lack of wind thereof, there could be a couple inches above and just below treeline. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 5/8/2012, By: zxbraves
Info: First 2 miles to the trail junction between Columbia and Harvard are not bad, just a few downed trees and snow patches most of which can be avoided. Then the next mile and a half is rough, lots of knee deep soft snow, and lots of downed trees over the trail. We did it without snow shoes, and I'm not sure how much better things would have been with them. Above the treeline the snow is mostly clear and things were dry. And coming down Harvard we found a couple of nice spots to glissade. I'm thinking it might be another month before the rest of that snow melts out in the trees though. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 4/22/2012, By: Justin9
Info: N Cottonwood Creek trailhead is dry and accessible by any vehicle. The trail thru the trees is snow - microspikes not necessary. Trail above tree line is pretty dry except for the final summit ridge however on the ridge you can still avoid 90% or more of the snow by staying just to the left of the ridge. We did not use snowshoes on the way down, but wished we had them as we postholed up to our thighs for 3 miles or more back to the TH. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 4/20/2012, By: dehrlich101
Info: Mount Columbia Southeast Ridge: The Harvard Lakes TH is accessible to any vehicle. The departure point is easy to miss. There are two cairns on the left side of the Colorado Trail, the second one marks the trail. There are several cairns marking the way up the ridge. You can avoid the pockets of snow by staying just below the ridge to the left (south). Once above treeline the ridge is mostly clear, and any deep snow is avoidable. There is snow on the ridge towards the summit, most is avoidable. Great day overall! We didn‘t use any microspikes, gators, or snowshoes. Microspikes and gators could be useful towards the top but aren‘t necessary. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 4/17/2012, By: 14klimb
Info: Road clear and dry to Harvard Lakes trailhead. There are still some small pockets of snow along the ridge just below treeline that could be avoided easily. Took microspikes but didn‘t need them. 

Route: SE Ridge
Posted On: 3/31/2012, By: PedroCO
Info: Haravard Lake TH accessible by any vehicle. CO trail clear to ridge. On SE ridge we needed snowshoes in a few places. Easier to avoid the snow on the S side of the ridge. No snowshoes or spikes required above treeline. 10.5 hrs round trip. 

Route: 3 Elk
Posted On: 3/14/2012, By: janetlightburn
Info: With 2wd the last .8 miles of the road to the 3 Elk TH was not passable, which made my day a 12 mile close to a 12 mile day instead of a 10 mile day. Minimal snow to the 3 Elk turn off but after the next mile the snow got much deeper. No human tracks to follow but luckily there was an elk track to follow, where the snow was a little less loose than what was outside the elk track. Seems the elk knew where he was going because the track lead almost to treeline. After treeline there was windblown snow and tundra along Columbia‘s east ridge, and tons of false summits. It took me 4.5 hours to the summit. During the early morning ascent, the snow between 11500 and 12000 was frozen, but it got pretty soft on the way down and I probably should have stayed further north on the ridge to decrease the avalanche danger. Down safely though. 

Route: SE ridge
Posted On: 2/12/2012, By: Yikes
Info: Driveable to Harvard Lakes TH with SUV and some luck - deep snow. Trench is back in to treeline; snow depth varies from bare ground to 32". Snowshoes not needed once you get above the big hill at treeline. The ridge was mostly dry. Most of the snow on the ridge was crusty and supported weight. No evidence of any avy danger; the only questionable slope was the one at treeline and it didn't exhibit any signs of instability. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 10/10/2011, By: bhaydin
Info: Very quiet day with near perfect conditions. Three Elk Trail has little snow (1-3 inches) until just below treeline. There is a well tracked trail regardless, so no troubles there. Climbing the headwall was pretty straightforward until just below the ridge. In the gully I climbed, there was at most 18" in the deepest parts, but nice and firm snow. The ridge is pretty windswept, but several areas are holding snow making boulder-hopping a little more precarious. Image 1 = Meadow looking at route; Image 2 = Gully view; Image 3= East Ridge from summit; Image 4 = Horn Fork Basin from summit (note Bear Lake) 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 9/24/2011, By: sad2
Info: Hiked Columbia SE Ridge on Sat. 9/24. Only two short patches of snow along the route. Nice route if you like solitude. Not a good route to do on a windy day as you will be above treeline for 4-5 hours. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 9/5/2011, By: carolyndeluca
Info: We hiked this route on Sept. 2. The trail conditions up the gulch and on the shoulder were very poor. Erosion, loose rock and soil made the ascent very difficult. I would check out another route which might be preferable to this one.