Route: Cross Couloir Posted On: 2023-05-29, By: Tartay Info: Flotation needed starting at the summer Trailhead. Snow starts fairly patchy near the TH and gets more and more consistent as you climb the pass. Postholing, even with snowshoes from around 10am on. Extremely slow going. Consistent snow from the campsites to bowl of tears. Flotation needed. Started climb from 12K at 7am and had some postholing from around 12.5-13,000 as the snow was being warmed by rocks. Entering the couloir at 13K, the snow becomes much better and held well all the way to summit. |
|
Route: North Ridge Posted On: 2023-05-01, By: dummycode Info: Continuous snow on road starting at 8,300 feet (half mile from winter TH). Pretty efficient travel with a decent skin track below treeline and fairly solid windboard above. We were able to skin to the summit with only ~50 feet of rock hopping. The couloir itself skied great! Small wind slab (1 foot crown at deepest point) at the top of the couloir and another about halfway down had failed a day or two prior. Wet snow made for a slow egress both in the drainage and down the road back to winter TH. |
|
Route: North Ridge Posted On: 2023-04-11, By: milesmorris Info: Climbed North Ridge, skied Cross Couloir. At and near tree line snow was challenging to travel on as it was continuously collapsing. Be sure there as been a good freeze from when I went to when you go up. Top 1k was challenging as snow was not supportable between rocks (pow). Snow on summit. Cross Couloir had 4in pow on top of a supportable crust (1st dust layer). This dust layer provided a good surface to slide on in had pits at the top of chute. I also observed another layer 8in deep that was a good surface for snow to slide on. Also, large cornices surround the couloir. I would not recommend ascending the couloir anytime soon. Also the couloir does not go all the way through, there is a mandatory double, 6ft to a 15ft air, if you don't exit the couloir skiers right before this choke. Couloir skied very well. Incredible descent! |
|
Route: North Ridge Posted On: 2022-12-27, By: randallson Info: Parked at the winter closure. The road up had a faint snowmobile track from a week or two ago. Tigiwon community house was locked but a window was open. The outhouse at the summer trailhead was also locked. The snowshoeing from here on out was laborious. However, the summer trail was relatively easy to follow and route finding was not an issue. I set up camp at Half Moon Pass. The next morning I took the winter detour to avoid any avalanche concerns on the summer trail. It was deep and tedious snowshoeing down and then up to treeline. The ridge above treeline was was mostly bare rock and was a nice reprieve. |
|
Route: North Ridge Posted On: 2022-10-30, By: isaacbauman Info: The North Ridge route from the trailhead took 13 hours (7am-8pm). We needed headlamps as darkness set in before we could finish. The snow we encountered was not packed at all. Once the trail reaches 12,000 feet the snow gets up to waist deep in places with hidden rocks everywhere underneath. Progress significantly slowed at this point and snowshoes would be a must (we didn't have). Everyone's shins were really banged up after the hike. Most of the group had to turn around at 13,400 feet. This weekend was likely one of the last slightly doable weekend's before the road closes. |
|
Route: Halo Ridge Posted On: 2022-10-17, By: tylerreedjohnson Info: Holy Cross and Halo Ridge are gorgeous right now with a mild amount of snow. Very little snow to worry about on the ridge proper and none of it poses any problems, no need for spikes etc. ( Do being those spikes if you're descending down North Ridge though, first mile down is steep and icey) |
|
Route: North Ridge Posted On: 2022-10-16, By: climbingyogi Info: Beautiful day on HC! Absolutely no wind. There's snow along the ridge that's pretty well-packed down to the summit. Definitely recommend bringing spikes though. Left the TH at 8:40am, summitted at 12:45. Stayed on the summit til 1:45pm. Back to car at 5:15pm. Came across the flowers and sign in the last photo on the descent. Does anyone know if it's some type of memorial? |
|
Route: Halo Ridge Posted On: 2022-10-02, By: colin j Info: Snowy, like the rest of the Sawatch. I bailed just beyond Notch Mountain Shelter. Continuous snow starts near treeline and ranges from 2 to 6 inches. Getting to notch shelter isn't difficult; the boulder hopping beyond is very tedious right now; lots of trapdoors and slick rock. Given how slow I was going and today's narrow weather window I turned around about a quarter mile beyond the shelter. |
|
Route: North Ridge Posted On: 2022-09-18, By: ballardwf04 Info: Today was a beautiful bluebird day on MHC. Mostly summer conditions, albeit with dustings of snow near the summit. Beginning to get more chilly, so pack layers for crisper fall ascents. Overall a gorgeous hike with some solid elevation gain. |
|
Route: North Ridge Posted On: 2022-09-04, By: Heisler56 Info: Found a smart watch on the summit 9/4. Message me on Facebook to get it back! @tony.heisler.1 |
|
Route: Halo Ridge Posted On: 2022-09-03, By: mightycuine Info: Up Halo, down standard. Perfect day on Halo Ridge. Only saw one other person on Halo all day, despite it being a holiday weekend. Echoing other comments - This is a serious ridge and should only be attempted by the fit/experienced and with no chance of weather. It took us 4.5 hours to get from the shelter cabin to the summit and another 2 hours to get back to treeline. We packed 3 liters of water each and ran out on the summit. We refilled another liter each at the creek on the way out. Camel up! |
|
Route: Halo Ridge Posted On: 2022-08-30, By: headsizeburrito Info: Some old graupel accumulated in shady spots here and there, but otherwise everything is clear. Good reminder to be prepared for weather, but great conditions all day. Strong flow in East Cross Creek. |
|
Route: North Ridge Posted On: 2022-08-11, By: Clay5981 Info: Started off early afternoon from the Half Moon Trailhead, and arrived at the East Cross Creek (in about 1 hour, 45 minutes) for camping in the designated campsites. These 10 campsites are first come, first serve. There seemed to be plenty of availibility, but during the weekends I would anticipate that these filll-up occasionally. We started off around 6:30 am from the site the following morning, and summitted in about 2 hours and 40 minutes. The trail is essentially class 1 except for the final pitch to the top, which involves scrambling and greater route-finding. Thank you to the amazing Colorado Fourteener Intitiave volunteers who put in so much work (passed a few on this trip) to make these trails so great! This is a perfect 14er to backpack if you're looking to split of the mileage over two days. Total time was about 6.5 hours from start to finish (hike time). Additional note: If you're looking to see the cross outline, consider the Halo Ridge route, as the actual Holy Cross is not visible from the standard route. |
|
Route: Halo Ridge Posted On: 2022-08-06, By: LoneLobo Info: Ascended via Fall Creek Trail to Halo Ridge, around the Bowl of Tears, then down the standard North Ridge route. Was partly cloudy all day, but the weather held fine. I started at 5:40 AM and made it down in early afternoon. Bring a lot of water. I brought over 4 qts, and ended up re-filling another quart at East Cross Creek (before hiking back over Half Moon Pass.) I accidentally left my Victorinox "Swiss Tool Spirit" multi-tool (similar to a Leatherman) lying on the ground, on east side of East Cross Creek. It's on the upstream side of the trail. (If you're approaching the creek while heading toward Mt of Holy Cross, then it's on your left side, right as you get to the creek.) If anyone finds it, I'd love to have it back, and I'll give you a finder's reward. Happy trails. |
|
Route: North Ridge Posted On: 2022-08-02, By: Istoodupthere Info: Ascended standard route, descended Halo Ridge. Started descending Holy Cross at 9:55am. Skies looked fine and forecast wasn't calling for storms so decided to do halo ridge on way back. Dark clouds started rolling in while descending the centennial. Bad spot to be in bad weather. Luckily only some light rain/hail. No trail/cairns on the ridge. Route is pretty self explanatory though. Way too many unnecessary switchbacks imo |
|
Route: North Ridge Posted On: 2022-07-25, By: Split_the_FR Info: Arrived at the half moon trailhead / started up at 6:15. The road was easy to navigate up and there was plenty of parking on the side of the road as the lot was full. As I made it up half moon pass, I noticed the mounting clouds to the west - this could be trouble later on. Nevertheless I trudged on, down the pass and back up to approach the base of the mountain. There were on an off showers almost all the way up to the summit however there was no thunder / lighting to be seen or heard. The trail is very well marked all the way up to the summit with constant cairns in site. The trail is also in great shape - no mud, minimal scree, and most class 2 consists of large/sturdy boulder hopping (even with wet/rainy conditions) Reached the summit by 9:25, stayed up top and ate a sandwich for 20 min and headed down at 9:45. The trail down was just as easy as it was on the way up. As advertised, going back up half moon pass is kind of a pain but that's just the way she goes! T-storms, rain got full on by the time I was back up half moon pass - good thing I brought my rain jacket. Back at the car by 12:20pm - awesome trail, (as long as you can stomach going back up half moon pass as I assume most of yall can/ have done worse) would recommend! |
|
Route: Halo Ridge Posted On: 2022-07-21, By: 14ercooper Info: Up Halo, down the standard route. Super fun day, dry all the way to the summit and back, though mosquitos on the way back definitely were annoying. Super pretty up there (even if the cross has mostly melted out by this point). |
|
Route: Halo Ridge Posted On: 2022-07-17, By: hick5054 Info: Drove up the night before in Hyundai Santa Fe Sport. Made it up the 8 miles on Tigiwon Rd. easy with 7.3" of ground clearance and saw cars in the Half Moon Campground with less. Started at Holy Cross TH at 6:00am and was on top by 9:30am. The trail is very well marked and maintained. Took the Halo ridge route which was a little difficult even with GPS. Mostly route finding and scrambling the whole way but it's pretty clear where you need to be going the whole time. Barely any snow; had to cross about 6" of snow one time the whole way. Worth it to get a good view of the cross, see the Notch Mountain Shelter, and skip going back up the 1000-ish foot descent from the beginning of the route. Got back to Half Moon Campground around 3:00pm. |
|
Route: Halo Ridge Posted On: 2022-07-02, By: jmg11 Info: Beautiful day. Hiked the Loop (Halo Ridge up, North Ridge down). Started at 2:30am, summited 8am, 45min break, back at car 11:30am. Total 14.3 miles. No major concerns or callouts for the hike. Remaining snow is pretty much 100% avoidable and I never needed traction. Cairns and trail don't really exist along Halo Ridge…important thing here is to avoid unnecessary elevation gain and loss by hiking underneath those 13er peaks rather than directly on top of them. About as green as I've ever seen it out there, and wildflowers are in full bloom. Alpine lakes are melted and waters are turquoise blue. Stars were amazing this morning too. As others mentioned, mosquitoes were swarming within seconds any time I stopped within 300' of the creek so bring bug spray if you're wearing shorts or a t-shirt. |
|
Route: Cross Couloir Posted On: 2022-07-01, By: slawrence2011 Info: Couloir is in from the summit all the way to just above the lower cliffs, based on visual beta during my descent after skiing it (I exited at the main exit point on skiers right). It would make a pretty good snow climb, but skiing it was barely doable. The top was good, but soon a one foot, then 2-4 foot runnel formed right in the center, and the terrain around it is quite bumpy, especially as you get lower. I downclimbed about a third of it on skis. Given it is probably about the best we have left right now, could be made to work with some skill, preferably more than I have to ski the entire thing! Main route totally clear of snow, except a bit on the final class 2 to the summit as of this morning, no issue without traction. |