Mt. Bierstadt

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 5/10/2026, By: DorothyK
Info: Frozen mud in the willows.. turns to snow at a little above 12k. Nicely packed down. Used microspikes. On the way down, very muddy through the willows. Great conditions overall; come get it while it lasts. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 5/11/2026, By: evanb
Info: Bottom covered in melting ice; likely to become mud. Snow and wind on upper portion. Moderately packed on trail. Crampons recommended. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 5/4/2026, By: caesarsalad
Info: From the trailhead to about 12k feet has some of the worst mud I’ve ever seen on a trail. Bring boots you don’t mind getting quite dirty.

At 12.2k when you gain the ridge it becomes packed snow, packed enough I wanted microspikes both up and down. I don’t think there’s enough snow to ski, there’s just no base; see photos. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 5/3/2026, By: nodoubt99
Info: Consistent snow after the first mile. Spikes and poles aren't needed though they would help. Most of the snow is packed down so the trail is easy to follow and you will not have a hard time walking in it. Extremely windy at the top 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 5/6/2026, By: danijrocks
Info: Started at 6am but got to trailhead around 5:30, try to get to trailhead as early as possible as it fills up quickly and there were only a few spots when we got there! Packed snow the entire way up, microspikes were very helpful and make the trail very manageable, could be possible w/o but the people we saw without them were definitely sliding quite a bit, weather was absolutely gorgeous- sunny no wind at base or summit. Definitely get an early start- was getting quite slushy on the way down around 9am, mud is HORRIBLE so just be ok with getting wet feet.

Awesome day out beautiful area! Highly recommend! 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 5/2/2026, By: aja3
Info: Got on trial around 6:40am, snow the whole way up, 3-4" on the lower section about 6-8" on the upper. Whoever broke trial is a true hero, after that the path was pretty well compressed for most of the climb. Would have been rough without micro-spikes and poles. Softer coming down, lower 1/4 section of snow melted and became mud. Very little wind. Beautiful day. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 5/1/2026, By: dustinrisley
Info: everything was A OK up until the final scramble. enough snow in between the boulders on the final scramble that I was very hesitant to traverse them in fear of stepping in a major gap and getting hurt, but this is only my second fourteener so I'm sure someone with more experience would be fine.

wind below the ridge - low
wind on the ridge - HIGH
snow coverage - fairly High. definitely needed / used my spike and poles

path - lots of it completely covered by snow, being my first time was hard to find in several places 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 4/27/2026, By: orislotky
Info: Started around 4 am on Saturday morning. Windy near the bottom and at the top. Such a beautiful morning! Ground was hard, not much snow until about 13,000 feet. A little slippery at the top, but still made it without having to put on any traction devices. Overall, super great day and felt like an early morning in June! Blue Sky looked amazing, and sawtooth ridge was tempting. Got a little muddy already on the way down, but there were so many people out. What a lovely spring 14er. My 16th! 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 4/22/2026, By: Ronsammons
Info: Guanella Pass is open despite what Google Maps will tell you. Ice and wind at and near the summit were a bit challenging but not the worst. I think that slogging through the mud on the return was nearly as taxing as the ice at the top. That said, it was a beautiful day. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 4/21/2026, By: gschwartzkopf
Info: Guanella Pass road is clear and dry to the summit. The lower Bierstadt trail through the willows was frozen in the morning and then extremely muddy in the warm afternoon. Gaiters will definitely help. The trail above 12,500’ is mostly snow-covered, so microspikes are still very helpful. The weather on 4/20 was calm and warm. Almost felt like a summer day. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 4/5/2026, By: HikesInGeologicTime
Info: BYOTP if using the women’s room (or just use the men’s, which still has some left). Also BYOB(icycle) if you’re decent at riding/walking one past the handful of icy patches on the road, because otherwise, that road is dry. Enough packed snow on the trail above ~12,500 that I appreciated my microspikes for the descent, though surer-footed hikers can (and, from my observations, did) get by fine without. Flotation would be an exercise in pointless suffering, unless you really want to do some extra weight training, in which case you’d have the full length of the route to work those shoulders. Can add pics (incl. of surrounding peaks) tonight if I remember to check comments. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 3/20/2026, By: Alpine_Exchange_36
Info: Snow on the road up from the winter trailhead and throughout most the trail. It was in good condition in the morning but as the day went on postholing became more and more common especially in the willows. Try to get out early if you can.

I used spikes. I saw people using snowshoes and but that seemed like overkill. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 3/16/2026, By: zbert
Info: The road to the trailhead was good and packed by a snowmobile at some point after the most recent snow. The trail was in good condition and packed until above treeline, where it got slightly harder to follow due to wind drifts. The wind was absolutely wild and knocking us off our feet a bit. Didn't use snow shoes or spikes. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 3/9/2026, By: MMAfightingClimber
Info: Snowshoes not needed, we didn’t use em. But they could help. Highway trench from winter closure to 12,200ft, soft snow and no tracks (wind) from 12,200 up to the ridge. 

Route: West Slopes
Posted On: 3/8/2026, By: djacobson
Info: Started at the winter closure. Left the road around 11,100 feet and went through the woods to avoid extra time under the avy slope. Rejoined the road at the next switchback, then around 11,460 went through the willows (most pleasant snowshoe/willow encounter I’ve ever had) to the east side of the lake then joined the summer trail. I included a picture of the slope around 11,800ft but it’s all wind blown. Road was packed but snowshoes certainly helped. Trail is also pretty packed but I was glad to have snowshoes. We wore them until the final ridge where we switched to spikes. B-lined on decent and plunge stepped most of the way. Things were melting super quickly. We did see two folks without snowshoes who also summited so chose your own adventure.