3/24/2023 Route: Northwest Ridge/Slope Posted On: 3/25/2023, By: artemavovk Info: Skinned up the ridge to 12400; after that it's all rocks on the ridge to the top. Lots of cornices over the east-facing slope of the ridge, but the powder was stable enough to ski up and down (although it was hard to tell if it was me whomping or the breck's howitzer's in the distance). I went back down the ridge to avoid terrain traps. |
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2/18/2023 Route: Northwest Ridge/Slope Posted On: 2/19/2023, By: Svobatron Info: Took the road for a bit before cutting through the trees and trailbreaking straight to the ridge. There were 3 of us so there is a good snowshoe trail in place now. We removed snowshoes just beyond treeline and used microspikes from there. Wind made the ridge a bit more challenging but it was a fun day! |
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12/20/2022 Route: NW Ridge Direct Posted On: 12/21/2022, By: the_hare Info: Wanted to try out a route I put together after looking at topo, satellite and slope angle but it ended up being way less feasible than I anticipated. On satellite I noticed a cleared-out strip on the NW ridge proper that started halfway up the ridge and went all the way to treeline. I left the plowed and packed-down road where the Little French Gulch creek meets the road at 10,600ft and headed SE up to the ridge. I had hoped that this would be a safe & direct way of summiting but I didn't account for how much deadfall and deep wind-drifted snow there would be on the ridge. Snow had variable consistencies but was mostly a thick soft crust with a weaker layer below that I punched and slogged through over my knees even with snowshoes with every step. Made it up to 11,280ft before calling it--I had started pretty late, it was getting dark and I was done hurdling logs. This is probably feasible with more time in the day but definitely one to earn. There were some ski tracks heading out from the standard NW ridge/E slopes route turn-off to Little French Gulch, might be a better option to follow thru the trees just to avoid deadfall. |
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12/17/2022 Route: Northwest Ridge/Slope Posted On: 12/18/2022, By: Cereal Info: Flotation 100% needed in order to gain the NW Ridge from 11,300. I ended up wearing snowshoes from 11,300 to 12,500, and barebooted to the summit from there. Another group of two skinned from TH to 12,100 on continuous snow. |
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10/29/2022 Route: Northwest Ridge/Slope Posted On: 10/30/2022, By: IHikeLikeAGirl Info: Road was snow packed from the start, slick in the morning. Had to break trail starting at the turnoff from the road. I broke trail for a very short section, but my other 2 partners took on the rest...for once, being the slowest in my party paid off :) (thank you d_baker and Kimo!) Sugary snow the entire way up, 4-8" on the trail, then mostly mid shin deep, ascending to and on the ridge. The talus hop portion was...taxing, nay miserable with the snow conditions. Even with following the footsteps of my predecessors and cairns, there was many a banged shin and surprise hole; and took far too long. Microspikes helped on the ascent and descent, but still much slippage. In the afternoon, the snow softened from ~11,200 on down, but remained sugary above that. |
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10/16/2022 Route: West Ridge from French Pass Posted On: 10/16/2022, By: madmattd Info: Inspired by supranihilest's TR from 2019 via the South Ridge, we took the West Ridge from French Pass. Great trail to the pass, initially tundra from the pass, but soon into a fair bit of talus and gravel, and fairly steep most of the way. We cut more or less straight up to Pt12902 from the pass, through a small gully near the ridge. From there there are use trails most of the way to the summit either on or just West of the ridge, though they fade out here and there. You can bypass the upper part of Pt13005 on these use trails. Lots of talus, some loose, most reasonable. On the way down from near Pt13005 we followed a fainter use trail traversing down towards the ridge we ascended from the pass, while it faded out eventually, it did avoid the worst of the loose stuff we had climbed earlier. There is a little snow on the North side of Pt13005, enough to need to take some care on the descent but none of us used spikes/other traction aids. Dry otherwise. The upper summit ridge of Guyot from this side is pretty impressive, sheer cliffs on the East side. We recorded ~10mi/3500ft gain round trip on this route. A loop of the West Ridge and the South Ridge should be pretty doable. |
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9/26/2022 Route: From Georgia pass Posted On: 9/26/2022, By: Trotter Info: Followed Jay251s TR up, and looped north ridge back. Quite a bit of traily paths on east ridge, and even some on north ridge. Almost all talus hopping, but pretty stable. Something to note, there is not a single aspen within 3 miles of this route, so its not a good fall foliage hike. |
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8/27/2022 Route: French Pass/Georgia Pass Loop Posted On: 8/27/2022, By: dwoodward13 Info: Parked at the French Pass TH. Followed the trail up to the summit of French Pass, the headed up east to the ridge. There is a surprisingly good trail from the top of the ridge all the way over to the lowest saddle on the S ridge to Guyot. At this point the rock changes character and I lost the trail. Rocks were extremely slippery this morning. Area seemed to have got a quite of bit of rain, and it froze overnight. Quite a bit of exposure to the E of the ridge, but still Class 2/2+. Descended toward the two unnamed lakes S and W of the summit of Georgia Pass. Mix of rock and steep dirt. There is an old mining road (on USFS maps) I picked up from near the lower lake and I followed it back to the Georgia Pass road and walked down to my car at French Pass TH. Clocked just over 10 miles and 3300' gain. |
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5/27/2022 Route: Northwest Ridge/Slope Posted On: 5/27/2022, By: tracie_marie Info: Snowshoes needed pretty much the entire way after you turn off the road. Ditched them towards the top and rock hopped. We went up the slope and down the ridge, super deep snow in the trees but you're not in them for very long. |
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5/14/2022 Route: Northwest Ridge/Slope Posted On: 5/14/2022, By: ekalina Info: A buddy and I climbed Guyot via the gully on the NW slope in great conditions. Started at 6:10, summited at 9:20, back at the car at noon. Continuous snow starting about a 1/2 mile up little French gulch all the way to the summit ridge. Snow in the gully was fairly firm the whole way up and even on the descent, perfect for crampons (though spikes would probably work well for most of it). On the descent through little french gulch there was some postholing, and it would have been worse later in the afternoon. Snowshoes were helpful there. As the weather warms, things will get sloppy. |
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5/7/2022 Route: Northwest Ridge/Slope Posted On: 5/8/2022, By: Geckser Info: Great conditions for skiing Guyots main Northwest Slope. The wind was, of course, blowing but it was nothing unbearable. The route was skiable 200 feet below the summit but you could probably connect the ridge's snowy region with the Northwest Slope if you were so inclined. The road that you walk up was largely plowed and dried, making for quick travel. The main route up little french was totally in and skiable from the road. This will not last very much longer. We missed this turn off on the way up. We had to gain the ridge on our own making for some unpleasant travel, but skiing up the Northwest ridge was quite enjoyable until we A-framed and put on our trail runners from the approach. |
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2/19/2022 Route: Northwest Ridge/Slope Posted On: 2/19/2022, By: daway8 Info: Trail starts on a gated road only open to private traffic. Plenty of snow on the road to allow for skinning or whatever. Then once the trail leaves the road there was plenty of ski traffic up through the valley. Tracks thinned out heading up the ridge to Guyot but by the end of the day there had been a few more pairs of skiers. I seem to have been the only one out there with just snowshoes. Several folks not going for the summit, just reaching the ridge to ski. Gets fairly rocky above about 12k so probably can't do an official ski descent right now. Above treeline the conditions were highly variable - occasionally patches of deep snow then lots of bare rock with trap door snow between then crusty hard snow at a high angle, then powder, then rock. It was impossible to have the right gear on moment by moment so I just left snowshoes on the whole way up - they took a beating but better them than me. Summit had basically zero shelter so knelt with my back to the wind to rest. On the way down I briefly switched to spikes, did some real brief glissades, then back to snowshoes. There were a couple times when I should have probably pulled my ice axe off my pack but didn't and a couple very brief sections where I almost wished I had my crampons. Beautiful day with dramatic views up top - will upload photos shortly. |
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1/30/2022 Route: Northwest Ridge/Slope Posted On: 1/30/2022, By: Flyingfish Info: Climbed the ridge, skied the slope. Well packed trail to 12k then we took skins off and booted to the summit. Mostly patches of loose rock and unconsolidated powder between made for tough work. Ended up hiking down to 12,800 before putting on skis. Slope is pretty well filled in but not packed well. Alternating between wind crust and 2.5 feet of powder. Need to apologize to my skis for the rocks. |
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11/27/2021 Route: Northwest Ridge/Slope Posted On: 11/27/2021, By: stomblin7 Info: Road is packed snow past parking lot. Trail turn off from road is punchy and would recommend flotation, especially later in the day. To gain the ridge we encountered thigh to waist deep unconsolidated snow (really wish the snow shoes left the car). Ridge was mostly snow/talus mix (ankle breaker quality). |
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7/12/2021 Route: Northwest Ridge and North Ridge Posted On: 7/12/2021, By: dbarnes Info: Comparison of two routes: Yesterday I hiked the standard Northwest Ridge route and today I went back and hiked the North Ridge route. Bottom line is that they are pretty similar. Here are a bunch of random comments that I hope might help if you're trying to decide which route to do. Ascent Hiking Time: Northwest (2:30hr), North (2:15hr) - so very similar in time/effort Drive to TH: NW (any car can make it), North (does require 4WD with some clearance - TH at 39.487551, -105.965880) Routefinding: NW (Very tricky, especially in the talus there is no obvious route for the last 500 Vfeet), North (Shockingly, I felt like I was on a "route" much more through the talus with this route - mostly goat trails. But still a little tricky at a micro level - it's always obvious where you are trying to get to on a macro scale). Both routes have horrible talus for the last 500 Vfeet - it is medium sized and ALOT of it moves. Take gloves. BONUS for the North Route: What I really liked about the North route is that for the first 1.2 miles you are following a gorgeous single track MTB trail ("Little French" find it on the free REI MTB Project app - the portion that you will use is 95% green with a touch of Blue. On the App it is listed as Black because of the southern leg of that trail which you will not use in an out-and-back mode.) I would LOVE to go back with my bike and ride the trail to the horseshoe turn which is where you will leave the MTB trail and begin climbing. That is a great option that I definitely recommend if you like a mixed activity day. Second Bonus for the North Route: On the return hike instead of dropping back to the MTB horseshoe turn, I followed the upper ridgeline (which did add about 100 Vfeet) but it was a nice alternative to a standard retrace. I had no trouble navigating back to the TH with this option as there were very obvious animal trails to follow for all but a VERY short section. This ultimately dumps you back onto the "Little French" MTB trail most of the way back to the TH. Standard Northwest route: 2894 Vft, 8.78 miles RT, 4:30 roundtrip. North Route: 2171 Vft, 7.6 miles RT, 4:00 roundtrip. Hope this helps! |
