6/3/2018 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 6/4/2018, By: dmtree Info: Summer conditions except some easily avoidable snow and some mud on the Square Top Lakes trail. |
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5/26/2018 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 5/28/2018, By: E_A_Marcus_949 Info: Almost summer conditions - a few snowfields to cross but nothing substantial. Early in the morning, easy to cross; as the day warms up you may have a few surprise postholing incidents interspersed with just walking over the snow. A few false summits - was windy and chilly on the large summit but clear and warm on the way down. Fitbit clocked this route around 8mi, so I'd call it somewhere between 6.5-8mi RT. |
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4/25/2018 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 4/25/2018, By: swetnesss Info: Skinned up SE ridge to false summit and walked the rest b/c of rocks. Skied the east slope all the way back to the winter TH closure. Only had to cross two bare spots in the flats. About 2 inches of fresh snow on guanella pass but a lot more in Georgetown. |
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7/16/2017 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 7/16/2017, By: koeffling Info: Summer conditions. One small avoidable patch of snow. |
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6/25/2017 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 6/25/2017, By: Jon1702 Info: Beautiful, clear day on Square Top today. There's still some snow, but it's really just two snowfields on the first two miles leading up to the mountain. Had no issue crossing them (no flotation or traction needed). Creeks are filling up due to the snowmelt-- I recommend waterproof shoes. The big creek about 1.5 miles in was roaring-- had to find a place upstream to jump over it. Pretty steep terrain once you start going up the mountain, with no clearly defined trail. Trekking poles helped a lot coming down. Two false summits before you walk over the ridge to the real one. |
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6/17/2017 Route: from Silver Dollar Lake trail Posted On: 6/17/2017, By: cougar Info: mostly dry route with a few firm snowdrifts on trail in the morning. Ascended a snow free line to the northeast ridge. Snowfield below the summit, but it was low angle and full of runnels/steps. Didn't need traction or any other gear. Road to Silver Dollar Lake TH is passable with medium clearance. |
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6/3/2017 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 6/6/2017, By: 13erRetriever Info: Road is open and clear to the TH. Only a handful of other hikers/skiers on a beautiful bluebird day. About 40% very patchy snow coverage all the way to the top. No flotation needed and we brought spikes but did not use them, however gaiters were very useful and we did posthole in several places. Pictures attached. |
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5/13/2017 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 5/15/2017, By: goldenite Info: Hiked Square Top from Guanella's winter closer. Lots of snow on the road, but heard they are starting to clear it Monday to open for Memorial Day. Snow on probably half of the route--had a good crust in the morning, but I was already potholing some by 6:30a down lower. Used microspikes in the beginning, but dropped them after getting on the ridge since it turned to snow/rock/snow/rock. Post hole hell on the way out. Snow shoes would have helped in the morning, but nothing's gonna save you once the sun does its thing. A few flowers were starting to pop up though. |
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5/7/2017 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 5/7/2017, By: BKS Info: gate is still up at winter closure. road is not plowed. snow is thin above trailhead. several unavoidable dry patches are present on most any route. summit ridge is mostly bare. still we managed to put together a mostly continuous ski line. snow corned up slightly around noon for a pretty good decent on a peak without the usual amount of beta. Bierstadt is very, thin. |
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10/22/2016 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 10/22/2016, By: RyGuy Info: SquareTop is in great shape. Minimal snow from the Guanella TH to the summit. 100% avoidable, and if you don't want to avoid it, it's only a few inches of powder in most spots. Heading over to Argentine Peak had a bit more snow, but mostly avoidable. |
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6/25/2016 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 6/25/2016, By: madadraw1 Info: Nice quick outing with the dogs. Made up to the summit in 2 hours, just under 2 hours down. Only one patch of snow to navigate (easy). Several areas of trail covered with running water, but easy to get across and keep boots dry. When you come off the trail to head up to the summit, there are lots of good sturdy rocks you can stay on to avoid a whole lot of tundra trampling. |
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6/18/2016 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 6/18/2016, By: Mountain Maverick Info: First step at 6:35 a.m. with the approach trail now virtually snow free. There is water flow on the trail in spots, but rocks to step on to maneuver through it. Two small snow fields present at the break past approach and beginning the climb. 10-15 steps and you are through each with minimal post-holing. After that the trail is excellent and with the exception of some sporadic snow fields on the ascent which can be totally avoided, the climb is dry and mostly on grass with minimal scree to negotiate. Loved this hike! Have fun. |
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6/10/2016 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 6/10/2016, By: mike14 Info: Intermittent snow along the approach trail. Some post holing but manageable. Some avoidable snow fields mostly avoidable. A lot of mud and melting snow. Clear sailing above 13K. No flotation or traction required. |
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5/30/2016 Route: Southeast Ridge Posted On: 5/30/2016, By: emgordon Info: Left the trailhead just before 7am. Trail was alternating dry and well frozen with only a few postholes. Lost it for a while then regained on the final approach to the lower lake. From there we followed the trail to the sign post and headed straight up the ridge. Dropped in to the "third slot" (counted from south to north, elevation about 13300) just after 10am. Soft but manageable snow at the top, and great corn all the way to the upper lake. You can keep skis on around the edge of both lakes except for a couple feet of grass. Then we skied the snow covered creek until coverage ended (elevation about 11400) and bushwhacked/postholed east to the Guanella Pass Road (little less than a mile from the car). A more direct option is to ski the east slope, the regain the ridge near the upper lake and ski the east face directly to the parking lot. |
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5/29/2016 Route: Couloirs Posted On: 5/29/2016, By: SnowAlien Info: East couloirs are in fine shape due to freeze last night, but won't last long. Felt more like summer snow vs spring snow. Patchy/avoidable snow to the lake. Booted all the way from parking lot to the summit. On the descent connected patches and only had to take skis off couple times. Guanella pass is open and TH for Bierstadt was almost full today. |
