Mt. Silverheels

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 11/24/2024, By: MidsizeAl
Info: Trenched and packed for the most part up to treeline. After that, mostly wind scoured to the summit. We brought snowshoes and spikes and did not need either.

Probably the strongest winds Ive ever been out in, particularly between the summit and the powerlines on the descent. There were a couple of times that we were crouched on the ground to avoid getting knocked down, and others when forward progress became practically impossible. I brought my weather meter and clocked the gust in the attached picture, though it got stronger after this, and I didnt bother trying to get a reading while struggling to stay standing. 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 10/27/2024, By: joe138
Info: Beautiful day! Spotty shallow snow starting at Hoosier Pass and continuing all the way up. The only place it caused minor problems is the steep ascent to the summit ridge, where as in the previous report, the snow makes the social trail harder to follow - and some of the loose rock away from the social trail is not fun. We had microspikes but didn't end up using them. Speaking of microspikes, on our way down the steep part around 13000 ft, we found someone's microspikes (not a pair, just a single one) - size small. We put them in my pack and planned to leave them at Hoosier Pass, but then forgot. So PM me if you lost one of your microspikes on Silverheels and want to try to get it back! Not sure if there's a better "13ers lost and found" place to post. 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 9/27/2024, By: MaryinColorado
Info: Everything is dry until you get to the 1100 ft push to the summit ridge. From there, the snow is spotty but not an issue. It does cover up the social trail a fair bit, so on the way up I kind of gave up on trying to find the social trail. On the way down, it was a lot more obvious, and I was able to stay on it 100%. So I put tracks across the patches of snow that connect the different segments of the social trail.

Also, sadly, there has been no magical leveling of the landscape. All the ups and downs of this route are still present and accounted for. Sorry. 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 6/30/2024, By: climbingyogi
Info: Beautiful day out! Got a late start at 9am, but made it to the summit at 11:45am. Back to the car a little after 2. While there isn't any snow on the actual trail, there is still some snow lingering around for the doggos to roll around in (if your dog is anything like mine).

Also - found something on the summit. PM me what it is and I'll try to get it back to you! 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 6/18/2024, By: vertical_volume
Info: Clear of snow! 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 6/16/2024, By: bangerth
Info: I did not actually go up Mt Silverheels (instead went north to get to Hoosier Ridge and Red Peak), but had a great view of Silverheels. The upper mountain is pretty much in summer conditions. Snow is only left in steep couloirs, but seems to be off from where the route goes. (Picture 1.)

The only place of note is that on the ascent, starting at ~12,900', where you want to turn right towards Silverheels, there is a half-mile long very large remnant of a cornice. I accidentally ended up on its right side on the way up, and found it rather awkward to get on top. If you want to go to Silverheels, you should probably plan on staying on its left until you reach the point where the ridge forks, and turns there. It requires slightly more up and then down again, but avoids finding yourself trapped by snowfields along the ridges. (Picture 2 taking from ~12,700; the snow field here is uninterrupted and goes all the way to where the ridge forks.) 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 6/15/2024, By: drewbeedoo
Info: Conditions are basically the same as what rgsaxman posted, other than the snow drifts being gone in the trees. One other notable thing, the gully just west of the spine on the way to the final ridge is 100 percent glissadeable. I glissaded it, and my knees certainly appreciated it lol. 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 6/11/2024, By: rgsaxman
Info: Summer conditions aside from a few snow drifts in the trees. Snow avoidable on the turn to Silverheels after gaining the initial ridge. The other 13ers are clear except some snow on Red Mountain but it was soft and bootable. Beautiful but windy today! 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 5/18/2024, By: truekyle
Info: Went back for redemption. Did not make it. My mom and I had a very scary thing happen to us at 12000. On the first hill we heard a sudden pop and the snow shifted. If you have ever been ice fishing and heard the ice Crack under your feet, sounded exactly like that. We turned around right away. Be safe everyone. 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 4/19/2024, By: truekyle
Info: Didn't make the summit. The wind took me and my dog by surprise. We did make it to 13k just before you down climb to the power lines. The route is in great shape. Brought snow shoes and spikes but didn't use them. However you may want them in the future for the down climb. 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 4/14/2024, By: kal_18
Info: The route is mostly free of snow with the major exception being from Hoosier Pass to about 100 feet below the first bump on the ridge. We wore snowshoes for this section and I think its necessary. There are definitely snowy patches but they are either avoidable or very shallow. I did not need to use any traction for the majority of the route. Great way to spend the good weather. 

Route: Hoosier Pass, variation on North Spur
Posted On: 3/24/2024, By: Mel Kel
Info: We took a variation of the North spur gpx route provided on this website to avoid avy danger. Moderate rating on nearly all aspects with persistent slab and loose wet problems. Our variation required almost an additional 900' descent/ascent but we were happy with our choices given the whoompfing we experienced on lower angle snow. We did have to navigate under some "red" terrain, however that was very shallow and windblown. More snow/different conditions could change this.
Happy to provide the gpx if anyone is interested, although I probably wouldn't pursue this route if it was considerable (but I'm pretty conservative and my risk tolerance is fairly low). As a result of this variation, it did require more elevation gain/loss (~900') as we did not stay on the ridge from Hoosier ridge.
We were able to ski and skin the entire route, which was a nice surprise. Of course it meant picking our way down around some rocks and sharks, but it was very manageable and we even got a few great, but heavy turns in. Mostly variable/wind blown snow though on the upper half of Silverheels, but the snow was continuous. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 3/10/2024, By: ekalina
Info: Vandy and I hiked the south ridge of Mt. Silverheels from the Beaver Creek TH (winter closure), stepping out of the car at 7 am to a chilly -8 degrees but mercifully no wind. We started by following CR 655 as others have done. There were several inches of fresh snow on the road, but we didn't need our snowshoes yet. Somehow we missed the right turn at the (permanently closed) 4WD TH, which is 2.4 mi from where we parked and quite obvious in retrospect. Instead, we continued up the road for another mile, and observing some old trenches on the far side of Beaver Creek, proceeded to cross to the other side. Snowshoes were mandatory here but didn't stop us from sinking into the soft snow, sometimes to above the knees. At the creek crossing, we were able to walk across the flat, snow-covered top of a beaver dam and avoided any liquid water. Upon reaching the far side of the creek, we briefly hooked up with some of the existing trenches. Unfortunately, none of these seemed to carve a reasonable path up to the ridge, and deep wallowing soon commenced again as we hammered in our own trench. This part was very slow and took us about 1.5 hr for one mile of progress. The snow really didn't become much shallower until we were on the ridge and had rejoined the regular route. For the remainder of the ascent, it was debatable whether snowshoes were helpful - we kept encountering pockets of deep, soft snow, interspersed with long stretches where a layer of shallow snow overlaid shifty talus. This may change once the wind does its job and scours the ridge. We reached the summit at 1:40 pm, stayed very little time owing to a 10-15 mph biting wind and the late hour, and then high-tailed it back to the car. With the trench in place and downhill grade, we made much better time and were back at the TH around 5:15 pm.

Total stats were 15.1 mi RT (including GPS wiggle), 3800 ft gain, and about 10.25 hrs. We probably made it a bit harder on ourselves by missing the turn off CR 655.

This route is much more scenic than the North Spur from Hoosier Pass, especially with all of the fresh snow.

Note: We observed whumpfing on a southwesterly slope aspect near treeline prior to reaching the ridge. The slope angle is too shallow to slide in this area, and you should be able to easily avoid avy terrain on this route. But we still have persistent weak layers within our snowpack. 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 2/25/2024, By: pjcolorado
Info: Hoosier Pass parking lot is well plowed; nice snow barrier with Rt 9. Immediately across the street from the trailhead the snow is soft and I needed snow shoes from here until well above tree line, and I wore them all the way to the ridge leading to the base of Silverheels. The wind has blown most of the snow off the that ridge and up Silverheels and I didnt need spikes or crampons. It was windy and snowy all day, but the temperature got up to the upper 20s, so it was a nice day on the mountain. 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 12/30/2023, By: drop_bear
Info: It's good. Short deep section in the willows.