Mt. Silverheels

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 10/12/2021, By: mbolt
Info: Hike was dry until the actual Silverheels slopes (Hoosier ridge was great). Once on the final push, there was a fair bit of snow, a lot of slipping, and some post-holing a bit past my ankles.

One note: it wasn't clear to me where to turn off the road, so I went all the way to the towers and then just walked up the ridge on the route that looked best. On the way back I found where the clear trail intersects with the road and built a cairn to designate where to turn off the road and go up the ridge (see attached photo, don't follow road to the left, go right/straight onto the trail). 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 9/28/2021, By: PikaSteve
Info: Good trail to Point 12,220. After that, some cairns and faint trail segments leading to the ridge. If off trail, hiking is still easy on grass, dirt and small/stable talus. Helpful route information from E_A_Marcus_949 and JQDivide trip reports.
This route provided great views of South Park and Hoosier Pass colors at their peak. The colors were even more vibrant following afternoon rain and snow. 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 7/18/2021, By: gregsroche
Info: Had the trail and the summit to myself on a Saturday in the summer. Didn't see one person the entire hike. Trail is faint and there are a few cairns to mark the way, but you generally know where you are supposed to go. Missed the turn off the road to the communications towers. They are on the right a little over a half mile from the trailhead. If you hit the radio towers, you went too far.

This was my first 13er (done 20+ 14ers), but given the absence of people, I may switch to 13ers to avoid the weekend crowds on the 14ers. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 7/12/2021, By: brauda02
Info: Dry. No trail but a few cairns. Easy hike. 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 5/31/2021, By: arthurtect
Info: My route finding was a C- today, but mostly because I was trying to avoid the slushy snow. Took ridge up Hoosier to start before I realized that All Trails wanted me down lower. Staying on Hoosier and then taking the spur to the south would be the preferred route after my experiences. No willows, less snow and the elevation gain is less effort then the slog through the willows. Once around Hoosier and the slushy snow filled valley between, the climb up Silverheels was enjoyable and dry as I zig-zagged my way up. Came back down Silverheels the same way and then chose to take a long route through the snow on my snowshoes to avoid steep snowy climbs up the saddle, which was a good choice. I did try to follow the non-existent All Trails trail around Hoosier on my way back and regret it. I was fighting willows and probably swapped between shoes and snowshoes a half dozen times. I managed to put 11 miles on during this 8 mile hike! 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 5/16/2021, By: kalestew
Info: Booted all the way up the northwest gully and then down the north face. Photo attached for reference- we ascended via the red line and descended the yellow. Descent was just rolling scree. No flotation or traction necessary. We kept to Hoosier Ridge on the way back so as to not lose any elevation, snow along that ridge was hard packed enough to cross without issue. 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 5/5/2021, By: coopereitel
Info: Did not summit. Started later on in the day (11:30) and made it to 12,600 by 12:20 or so. It was nice at first, then I turned around due to a whiteout and high winds.

It was funny because I retreated to the pass and then it cleared up for a little bit longer. To take advantage of this little window, I skied a small line to the west of the pass.

Snow was not very warm. It was powder with a little weight to it, but not enough to where I wouldn't feel ok on a steeper slope. The gullies looked to be connectable to the summit for a ski. 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 5/3/2021, By: Grisel
Info: On and off snow to summit, wore micro spikes from 12,600 to summit but could get away without. The gulley along the route had some big roller balls but also looked like it got skied recently. By 10am, it was whiteout until back to tree line. Also happened to lose my lens cap somewhere between 12,200 and the first bump on the ridge, if found please pm 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 5/1/2021, By: soundchaser2112
Info: Snow was supportive in the early morning and I only used spikes on ascent up to the ridge (where there are a lot of dry patches) and used snowshoes on the descent in slushy snow with occasional knee+ deep postholing. Started at 4:30am, summited at 9:30am, and finished at 2pm

(Also I saw a fox!) 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 4/18/2021, By: DrSluice
Info: Plenty of snow on the route. I hiked but I'd highly recommend snowshoes. Most snow was around 4 inches deep but some areas were up to the knee or hip. Took me 8 hours and conditions were challenging, 18 degrees F with 40 mph wind making it feel like -8F. 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 4/18/2021, By: durkan
Info: To reflect the previous report, snowshoes would highly help at the moment until the trail packs back in.

We started at 06:40, donned snowshoes immediately just to avoid carrying them and they came in handy for the majority of the ascent. In the afternoon we kept them off and it was more of a slog. Why we didn't put them back on? Well, we'll blame altitude. 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 4/10/2021, By: ekalina
Info: I thought I might get away without snowshoes, since the part through the trees is so short, but I only made it a couple hundred feet before postholing to my knees despite the good overnight freeze. Luckily I had the snowshoes in the car, so I just walked back and grabbed them. Kept them on through the trees and then stashed them at the very highest dwarf tree that I could find heading up to the ridge. Didn't need them again until my return, but used spikes on the north face rib (helpful but probably not strictly necessary). The rib itself seemed quite a bit easier than it appeared from my preview of it on Hoosier Ridge. Though there are some ribbons/fields of snow on it, they didn't pose any difficulties. A couple of photos are attached. 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 4/3/2021, By: bfaulkne
Info: Got revenge today after turning back two weeks ago. Snowshoes still necessary through treeline and a little beyond. There's an unavoidable patch of snow just before the final push to the summit, but there's a decent boot track through it and snowshoes aren't necessary. Brought the snowshoes along just in case, but really didn't need traction or flotation just beyond treeline. 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 3/20/2021, By: bfaulkne
Info: Conditions were perfectly fine for a summit. Flotation necessary to treeline. It looked like the rest of the route could be completed with no flotation or traction. Microspikes might be helpful on the final summit push, but I didn't make it that far. A lot of solid, wind-blown snow. 

Route: North Spur from Hoosier Pass
Posted On: 3/6/2021, By: gluckhikes
Info: Well defined snowshoe track up to ridge, flotation still very helpful. Patchy snow and tundra along the ridge. Traction helpful on steep climb and descent of Silverheels itself.