Rosalie Peak

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 1/21/2023, By: AndrewJCraigie
Info: Road to trailhead had a few inches of snow on it, but my Subaru outback did fine. Not sure I would try without decent tires. Few cars came in after me so I thought it would make the drive out easier, but I was still sliding around. Trail started off easy to follow, with a couple of inches on the ground. I started with snowshoes and kept them on until the turn up to the summit at around 12,000. Got a bit off trail near the willows at 11,000, but found my way back eventually. Never used my spikes. Clouds / winds / snow started blowing in around 12,500, and were especially bad once I hit 13,000 - almost made me turn around, but pushed through. When I got back down to the willows another hiker was there with his dog, so followed his correct tracks around the bushes and zoned out on the way down. Start time: 7:30 End: 3:15 

Route: Rosalie Group
Posted On: 11/13/2022, By: kwhit24
Info: Started off at Deer Creek TH up the Tanglewood Trail. There is enough snow and ice that if we had come back down this way we would've used micros but early in the morning neither micros nor gaiters were need. The trail is easy to follow up to the saddle so we made good time which is at just under 12,000'. After the trail the rest is just picking your way up. Not too much that could be avoided for the most part. At Rosalie summit we met up with some other hikers doing the same route, so we all picked our way to Epaulie and Epaulet. At this point we didn't really feel like summiting Epaulie and Rosalie to get back to the Tanglewood Trail and I prefer not doing out and backs if there is a loop option, so we picked a path down the southwest slope towards the Rosalie Trail. Once we got to the tree line the trail was difficult to find because of the snow but we joined up with it around 11,200'. The rest of the way down was ankle deep snow and ice towards the bottom but we never put on micros. For reference the out and back would've been 15.2 miles and 5,934' so the route description is a little off on distance. (15.87 mi; 5,174' gain; 8:54:56 total time) Start at TH 7:10am; Rosalie Peak 10:35am; “Epaulie” 11:40am; Epaulet Mtn 12:20pm; Back to TH 4:05pm 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 11/7/2022, By: Dan_Suitor
Info: Snow along the entire route. Well defined path up to tree-line, but then it went away. Easy to get to the ridgeline from there without a path. Windswept snow on the ridge. Most snow was ankle to lower calf deep. I made it within 232 vertical ft of the summit but had to turn around due to time constraints (damn DST) and weather, but I'm sure the remainder of the climb was the same as the ridgeline. Brought snow shoes, but never used them. I used my spikes on the way down. Gaiters were a must. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 9/28/2022, By: the_hare
Info: The Tanglewood trail approach from Deer Creek was one of my favorite trails I've hiked so far. A rushing creek flows over waterfalls and through mossy banks right next to the trail nearly the whole ascent through the forest. The trees are gorgeous and healthy and the aspens are just about at peak. There are several historical sites at certain points just off the trail—found a demolished shanty with tons of 50-year old beer cans scattered about and the foundations of some structure with even older rusty cans around it. There's a lot of neat campsites along the trail as well, found a really cool one built out with rocks just off trail in an aspen grove. Came upon a bull moose and calf a bit too close after the last creek crossing and just before the switchbacks thru the forest. I only saw the bull's legs as I came around a corner and thought it was a horse at first! There's not a lot to see on Rosalie's east ridge itself but there's some nice views of aspens on either side of the ridge into the neighboring valleys. Absolutely stunning views of the Evans group at the summit. Bierstadt never looked so good!! 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 8/10/2022, By: rijaca
Info: Wasn't able to mount Rosalie but was able to get to her peak. Saw a moose. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 8/7/2022, By: MTBen
Info: Didn't end up going to the summit of Rosalie, hit the pegmatite points instead. The second stream crossing now has a bridge, I don't know how new it is but it didn't exist last time I was there. The Wilderness Area permit holder is out of permits. The road up is a bit rough, but not horrible. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 6/18/2022, By: madmattd
Info: Trail has a decent bit of running water in it in several places, especially the willows near treeline. One minor snowfield just below the saddle, traction aids not necessary. The ridge up is largely dry, but there are a couple more minor snowfields, again no traction needed as the snow was overall soft (and not that deep). Pay attention on the way down from the summit, the rather featureless summit area makes it easy to get sucked onto the NorthEast ridge...we had a good chuckle at ourselves as usually we are pretty good at navigating, brains went into auto-pilot on this one. Traversing back to the East ridge above the cliffs there were a number of snowfields that were firmer (and steep), so we cut up a little bit above them to correct course, not a huge deal in the end. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 6/5/2022, By: Brian Thomas
Info: To the woman with FIVE off leash dogs inside the Wilderness Area who called me an @sshole for confronting you about violation of Wilderness Area regulations, I'm not the one with FIVE off leash dogs inside the Wilderness Area. You are. Looks like they ran out of catalytic converters to steal down in Denver, because the tweakers had to come up here and steal the Mt Evans Wilderness Area sign. Keep it classy, Front Range. Anyway, yeah there's some snow. Enough that I postholed to my knees a few times. Brought microspikes and did not use, brought trekking poles and glad I did. #FrontRangeSummer 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 3/27/2022, By: d_baker
Info: Similar to previous report by posthole Pete, but now an improved track (thanks to snowshoers prior to our outing today). We parked at the campground and walked the road to the summer TH from there. Hiked trail in boots all the way to near treeline, where the current trenched route exits into an open area, kind of willowy, then put on snowshoes from there to saddle, staying climber's left of willow area. Snow was frozen and firm in the morning, so long as we stayed on the trench. Stashed snowshoes near saddle then hiked to summit as it's mostly windswept. Some snow fields had to be ascended, but fairly low angle and was ok for us without traction. In afternoon, we wore snowshoes from saddle down for a 3-4 miles, then took snowshoes off and hiked in boots. Snow was still firm, again so long as we stayed on the trench. No traction devices used anywhere on mountain today. Someone had driven the road past the campground today, and rutted up the snow pretty good in places where it's still fairly deep. I'm not sure if they went all the way to summer TH, but we did see one turn-around place too. I wouldn't recommend driving past the campground just yet unless you have good clearance and use chains or have burly tires. And maybe a winch. Today's driver appeared to have some trouble with traction because they threw some wood signs down in one spot, which I assume they needed to gain traction. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 3/20/2022, By: Posthole Pete
Info: Reminder: No county maintenance from the campground to the trailhead. (I forgot and we got stuck first thing in the am) Had a snowshoe track from the trailhead up to the 2nd creek crossing. After that we picked up a deer track that followed the trail incredibly well. A deer track up deer creek! Followed the track up to treeline and then began to cut west towards the summit. Snow was pretty consistent with intermittent rocks all the way to the summit. Riding wise snow was funky. Very variable, flipped 3 times from submarines. Other than that, got some fun turns once in the gulley. Should have cut into skiers left trees once at the bottom of the gulley sooner. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be to find the trail from the bottom of tanglewood creek. Splitski out was quick and much deserved. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 2/21/2022, By: NatDog
Info: The road to the trailhead is pretty snowed in and I would definitely recommend a high-clearance, 4WD vehicle to drive the last 0.8 miles beyond the Deer Creek Trailhead. On my way out I encountered a CR-V that had gotten itself snuck in the snow and blocked the road. I had to dig it out to be able to leave. The wind was pretty brutal above 13,000' but otherwise conditions were great. I wore snowshoes from the trailhead to the saddle at 12,000' and never needed microspikes. There were 4 distinct sections of this route: 1. Trailhead to 11,400' - snow was continuous but hard packed. No traction or flotation needed but I preferred to keep my snowshoes on my feet instead of my back. 2. 11,400' to 12,000' - as the trail begins to exit the trees the snow was much deeper. Just below the saddle the snow was more sporadic but overall this was the only section of the hike that requires flotation at the moment. The only other hiker I encountered said he turned around in this section due to lack of flotation. 3. 12,000' to 13,000' - this section was almost completely dry. Only a few inconsequential patches of snow. 4. 13,000' to summit - there was a bit more snow here. It was not deep enough to require flotation and I was fine without traction. Depending on snow conditions some may find find microspikes as a nice-to-have toward the top. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 11/27/2021, By: good jorb
Info: Half an inch of snow in the in the trees in the AM. Icy between the first and second bridge. Scattered drifts once above the trees but mostly clear. No need for float or traction. Melting on the way down. 

Route: Rosalie Group
Posted On: 11/22/2021, By: Carl_Healy
Info: Nothing but a dusting of snow on the trail. A bit more snow above treeline, and some isolated drifts here and there, but easily avoidable or not that deep. Brought microspikes and gaiters but didn't need either. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 10/18/2021, By: JDroz
Info: A quick outing with the pooch. Small drifts of wind-buffed snow, but nothing that requires snow gear. Light to moderate accumulations of snow everywhere west of the Evans group ATL. Did the route in trail runners; no gaiters or micros. The trail through the trees got a little sloppy later in the day. Started at 10 AM, finished around 3 PM. Hunters are out, so be sure to don your high-viz apparel. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 7/25/2021, By: MTBen
Info: summited pegmatite points instead of Rosalie because of somewhat threatening clouds over the summit of Rosalie, however they never developed into storms. The road getting up there is a bit rough, with some sizable potholes and rocks, but nothing most cars couldn't do just going slow and carefully. Not an incredibly busy trail so you can expect decent solitude (with the exception of some marmots above tree line).