6/4/2024 Route: Sunrise Couloir Posted On: 6/4/2024, By: jpacheco1982 Info: Did sunrise couloir today and then sunmitted mount spalding. Came down east ridge of Spaulding. Started about 415 am from summit lake parking and reached base of couloir around 530, there was post holing on the approach ankle to knee deep in some spots. Luckily the snow in the couloir was decent and supportive, there was a prior boot track there were able to take advantage of. There is a cornice but easy to bypass it on the right. Topped out around 610. |
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6/1/2024 Route: Chi-Town Posted On: 6/1/2024, By: Alexarcher Info: Great snow climb. Windy City looked good too but was being bathed in the sun compared to Chi-Town so Im glad I went that way. Started postholing approaching the couloir but was good once I got in the shady snow. This was at about 7:30 am. I was glad I wasnt on Windy City at that point, for that one Id start very early. I started at 4:30 and the conditions were just about perfect for snow climbing. Descended east ridge |
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7/17/2023 Route: Low traverse/scramble Posted On: 7/17/2023, By: angry Info: Dry. Traversed low around cliff bands to false summit and scrambled up C3/C4 to gain ridge. There are several lines that go, pick your poison if you want to add a little excitement to a ho-hum route. Descended standard which is very well traveled/cairned. Mountain goats hanging around all morning. |
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6/28/2023 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 6/28/2023, By: HikesInGeologicTime Info: Easy to miss the switchback on the actual route below the short scramble leading to the ridge. Dry to the top of said scramble, snow fairly consistent above that which starts turning into a postholefest shortly after the sun hits it. Snow down to the W. Evans saddle, then dry until the slope leading to W. Evans. Steep snow then covers part of the trail; best options for getting past it are to either climb the snow, traverse below and boulder-hop next to the snow, or go ridge direct. As it hardly seemed worthwhile to deal with any of those options to ski snow that was already heating up alarmingly quickly, I opted to go back over Spalding. Safer than skiing questionable snow, almost as much fun as a DIY root canal. |
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6/3/2023 Route: Sunrise Couloir Posted On: 6/3/2023, By: slawrence2011 Info: Skied a couple of lines on Evans and one on Spalding today. I drove all the way to the summit due to the poor forecast, but it ended up being better than expected. Started by dropping into Mt Evans steep, thanks to VirtualSherpa's beta. When I got there from the top, there was a skier and boarder almost finishing climbing up so they went for it first. I found it to be dust on crust conditions (3rd best of day), and cheated by side stepping the 4 foot rock turn near the top. I then climbed Sunrise couloir, someone had put a great booter in, and abundant clouds kept it firm. So firm I decided to summit to give it more time, but then some low clouds came in, preventing me from identifying if possible to drop into other couloirs around those cornices, so I dropped into Sunrise far skiers left / climbers right (which is plenty wide for climbing and skiing around the cornice), and again cheated the top 20 feet due to hardpacked conditions, and the rest was low angle but quite firm (4th best of day). I then hitched back to the summit and skied Mt Evans moderate, which skied really well by that time (around 11:30), 2nd best ski of the day, though low clouds kept visibility very low. A few rocks to side step over at the top, but in to the ridge. I then hitched back up to the summit, and by that time, the low clouds had cleared, and I decided to try Mt Evans steep again, and found it in almost powder conditions due to the warming, and I could ski it clean. Sun never came out much, but it did get warm. Side note, if anyone finds a pair of Bolle goggles at the summit or near summit lake and wants to return it, let me know. Popped off on one of the hitches, but well worth it overall. |
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3/10/2023 Route: Scott Gomer Creek Posted On: 3/10/2023, By: artemavovk Info: peak itself has barely any snow once you're mostly out of the gully; up to that: made another trench because the old one is 90% gone; postholing in snowshoes until the gully; then trapdoor rock hopping, until like 2/3 of the way up; no traction needed after that |
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2/18/2023 Route: Scott Gomer Creek Posted On: 2/21/2023, By: mindfolded Info: Exhausting day breaking a trench through knee deep powder. Snowshoes are absolutely essential after leaving the road. It took us an hour to get from 12k to 12.5k. From there, the powder lessens and you can actually travel at a normal pace. The wind was very strong once gaining the ridge and it followed us back down after summiting. Stats: 10.5 miles, 3500', 11:20 moving time. |
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8/20/2022 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 8/22/2022, By: CheapCigarMan Info: Nice trail. Spectacular sunrise. Stayed below ridge proper on the ascent, Class 2+. Passed by a couple of ewes with their lambs on the way up. From here we headed over to Gray Wolf. On the way back down they made their way on an exposed ridge spine. The ewe stood there overlooking the valley as if she owned it. One of the most majestic things I've ever witnessed. |
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7/11/2022 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 7/11/2022, By: mtngoatwithstyle Info: From Summit Lake route is dry all the way to the ridge and up to the summit. |
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7/5/2022 Route: Sunrise Couloir Posted On: 7/5/2022, By: csf-lhiver Info: After seeing MaryinColorado's condition report about sunrise couloir I decided to go for it. The couloir is holding up well, ice in some spots, no sinking past my ankles. Cornice at the top is getting soft though, by the time I got to it it was starting to give way under my feet but holding up enough. If you really don't feel like climbing over a cornice you can exit right onto the rocks and scramble out of it. 5:07AM start time from Summit Lake Parking. 6:26AM top out |
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1/29/2022 Route: West Slopes from Guanella Pass Posted On: 1/29/2022, By: Carl_Healy Info: Hit this after Gray Wolf today (for conditions up to there see that conditions update). Heading South from Gray Wolf stayed mostly east of the 30+ deg Slopes but they didn't seem very loaded. Snow wasn't too deep through the snowfield up to Spalding's North Slopes but pretty soft. Summit was fine. Lots of soft snow to post hole through on the way down the west ridge but still not too deep (knee at worst, for the most part.) Meeting back up with our trench it was softer with the sun hitting it but still workable. Road still packed hard. |
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9/22/2021 Route: Broke off at Summit Lake Wesr Posted On: 9/23/2021, By: Drone_Boss78 Info: Very calm and cool. Lots of goats! Sone follow you along the trail. Be careful! There are patches of snow. |
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3/2/2021 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 3/2/2021, By: Unknown Info: Idk |
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7/25/2020 Route: South Slopes from Evans Posted On: 7/26/2020, By: cdgibbons Info: Dry. Easy trail along the ridge. Tagging Spalding only adds a few minutes and a couple of hundred feet to a Bierstadt/Sawtooth/Evans Combo. |
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6/19/2019 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 6/29/2019, By: ClimberSkierDave64 Info: Hiked from Summit Lake up Mt. Spaulding on the 19th. There was a few inches of snow overnight but windloaded areas had up to a foot. We carried carried skis and hiked in ski boots to the top of Mt. Spaulding in about an 1:30 and then skied the Sunshine Couloir. The trail up was a lot of ice and snow but got so much wind that it was only an inch. The ice made climbing up and over obstacles quite slippery. The only tough part was a small 7 foot tall class 3 obstacle that was hard in ski boots without crampons as it was covered in ice. It was then an easy trudge up the windloaded ridge. The whole SE Face of Mt Spaulding is completely covered and skiable. Sunshine Couloir has an avoidable cornice that has a crack on top and may break off. The snow was corn with patches of a few inches of Powder. We looked at Top Gun Couloir and it had a 30 foot cornice on top that would need to be rappelled. |
