5/16/2022 Route: Silver Dollar TH Posted On: 5/16/2022, By: kwhit24 Info: Left TH at 7am. We wanted to head straight up to the ridge but found soft snow early in the trees. So we followed the road/trail toward the lakes looking for a good spot to head with too much postholing (especially so early. More on that to follow). Followed the road/trail on dirt or good hard pack snow (this snow on trail was also good on the way down at 11:30) for 1.4 miles. Just about where Naylor Lake comes into view. From here we head up rocks, bushes, and snow to the ridge. This was the only part we used microspikes for. There is snow on the upper ridge but we didn't need them up or down. After a 15 min break on top we left at 10am. After getting back down to the ridge (around 12,800') we saw a good route down to Silver Dollar Lake which worked out and we met up with the nice trail after walking some rocks and grass. What we didn't see was around the corner the next .75 mile was on and off postholing for the next 30 min until we met up with the original spot where we had left the trail in the morning. Snowshoes may have helped here After that we were back in the trees on the dirt or hard pack snow back to TH by noon |
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5/6/2022 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 5/6/2022, By: jmanner Info: Skied one of the north chutes today, it goes from the summit but youve got to billygoat a little. |
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5/2/2022 Route: From Silver Dollar Lake TH Posted On: 5/3/2022, By: wintersage Info: TH is still closed 0.5mi from the Silver Dollar Lake TH. The TH to Bierstadt is closed (gated) near the same spot as well. We took a hard south from the silver dollar lake TH to gain the ridge and take it directly to Square Top to avoid sketchy avy terrain and postholing. Very windy, low visibility, but a chill easy hike nevertheless. No snowshoes needed but microspikes helped conserve energy. |
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12/18/2021 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 12/19/2021, By: 14er101 Info: As mentioned before, the road still closed 1.5 miles below the pass from the Georgetown side. Mixed conditions, some snow drifts in the basin but mostly dry above. Traction helped but no traction or flotation is needed. |
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11/29/2021 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 11/30/2021, By: oldmanforest Info: road closed at the winter closure from the georgetown side but the road is totally dry to the trailhead. short avoidable stretches of ice and snow on the route, but traction/flotation not needed. |
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11/21/2021 Route: From Guanella Pass Posted On: 11/22/2021, By: Will_E Info: Did Squaretop and Argentine from Guanella Pass today. Very little snow on route, I didn't used any traction or flotation. |
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10/30/2021 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 10/30/2021, By: malogos Info: Reporting from the summit -- Handful of negligible snow patches. No traction required. |
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10/5/2021 Route: Up North Side, Down SouthEast Ridge Posted On: 10/5/2021, By: benopp Info: Surprising to me- a fair bit of snow on the north side of Square Top. Fun conditions though and no snow on south/west facing slopes. Colors in Guanella Pass were pretty great. |
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6/22/2021 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 6/22/2021, By: PikaSteve Info: Summer conditions. Some mud and water in the willows and one short patch of flat, firm snow, but mainly dry trail. Could not see southern Sawatch through the haze; could barely see Pikes Peak. Flowers are waking up from trailhead to summit. Great Class 1 hike close to Denver; no crowds on this side of Guanella Pass. |
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6/19/2021 Route: Silver Dollar TH Posted On: 6/20/2021, By: soccern23ny Info: Started at silver dollar trailhead and took it to Murray lake. From there I basically went straight up the southern face using natural serpentines on the face of the mountain. Other option would have been to walk to the saddle and up but that didn't seem worth the extra distance. Little to no snow/very easily avoidable. Traversed over to Argentine and Square top and descend square top north face to silver dollar lake and linked back to the silver dollar trail. Argentine had one small stretch of snow on it's eastern approach near the summit. Square top is mostly snow free minus some sections that can be avoided |
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5/29/2021 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 5/30/2021, By: k_fergie Info: Took advantage of Guanella pass opening, and set out to ski Squaretop. Made the mistake of thinking we'd be able to skin a fair amount of it, do not do that. You could easily hike to the top in trail runners without traction. East bowl skied fantastic with a 9:30 drop time, and it was skiable from the summit as long as you could skate/sidestep the flat ridge. North gully looks in, with good coverage |
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5/28/2021 Route: Ascent from north, descent via SE ridge Posted On: 5/28/2021, By: krishcane Info: Ascending Square Top from the north (just west of Silver Dollar Lake) was interesting, but exhausting and steep. Descending via the standard SE route was NOT fun - posthole hell all the way. Give this peak a couple more weeks to melt. |
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5/8/2021 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 5/8/2021, By: soundchaser2112 Info: A lot of alternating snow and dry patches all along the trail. I started at 3:30am, summited at 8:30am, and finished at 11am. I started early enough to avoid bringing snowshoes, so just wore spikes the whole way, the snow was supportive on the ascent and I only postholed knee-deep a few times on the descent. There's still a lot of snow on Guanella Pass past the closure but the trail is packed. |
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3/6/2021 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 3/6/2021, By: ktfoote628 Info: I think my friend and I were the first up since the most recent snow. We didn't bring snowshoes but they might have been helpful. Average snow was probably 4-6" inches, with small patches of dry to see the outline of the trail, with a couple short sections postholing to our hips. It was not a good day to leave my gaiters at home. The steep parts after 12,300' were clear until the final 600' push which had a dusting of snow but nothing substantial to impede forward motion. Everything is already melting fast. We didn't see anyone else on the trail. |
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3/3/2021 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 3/3/2021, By: HikesInGeologicTime Info: Road packed to summer TH. Some soft snow on trail to Square Top Lakes, but it's decently trenched - flotation not necessary. Pretty much dry to summit above that junction. |
