Mt. Hope

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 10/2/2023, By: sarahmariekirk
Info: Climbed Mount Hope today - was hoping to also tag Quail Mountain but we were stormed off of the summit with 60mph wind gusts, heavy snow with whiteout conditions, along with thunder and lightning - guess I will just have to go back next fall! Absolutely stunning fall colors today but not sure how long they will last after the heavy snowfall and wind we received today. Started snowing on the summit at 12:30 and did not stop at all. Rained basically the entire drive home, looks like a lot of the surrounding peaks also got a good amount of snow. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 7/17/2023, By: joannalee07
Info: Climbed Mount Hope on 7/16/2023. The trail is in summer conditions all the way. I highly recommend downloading the .gpx file from this page and saving the route description & photos. This is a challenging but stunning route and we only shared the mountain with a few other people on a busy Sunday in July. Here is my full trip report: hhttps://www.coloradomountainpack.com/post/mount-hope 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 7/9/2023, By: Istoodupthere
Info: Did an afternoon hike. No snow on entire route. The trail is pretty steep almost right off the bat and doesnt let up much the entire way. Passed about 40 hikers below Hope Pass. Plenty of blue jeans. Had the mountain to myself above the pass. The 1.3 or so mile ridge has plenty of scrambling, some steep, and some involving scree which made the trip down challenging in spots. Overall a great July monsoonless day in the mountains. Great views of Huron on the way up. La Plata showing itself right as you are about to summit was a nice bonus. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 7/2/2023, By: jsykes
Info: Small amount of snow near the summit, but easily avoidable. No traction needed. There's a faint trail and a few cairns along the east ridge but you'll need to do a little route-finding and scrambling. The gulley near the summit was a little loose but is more gradual than the ridge, which would have also been an option for ascending and descending with some class 3/4 scrambling. 

Route: Hopeful Couloir
Posted On: 6/9/2023, By: Tim A
Info: Hopeful still in. Caught the route after a clear night and had perfect neve from bottom to top. Significant overcast to the east kept direct sun off the route into late morning. Descended the snowfields south of the standard se ridge around 930am and they were slightly overcooked but made for fun and controllable glissading. 

Route: Hopeful Couloir
Posted On: 5/14/2023, By: Snow_Dog_frassati
Info: Certainly some of the strangest weather I've ever skied a mountain in Colorado. Start it off with a mediocre refreeze and the warm ambient temps had me relatively concerned until we got up high. At around 12,000 feet or so the freeze started to be a little bit more confidence inspiring. Cloud cover held out and the snow remained stable to ski. Very Pacific Northwest vibes all day. Super humid and the snow especially down low on the approach is super saturated from recent moisture/melting. I think we got the timing just about perfect on the line though. Definitely going to be walking for a bit on the approach. Snow line is probably somewhere around 11,500 ft? Maybe a little bit higher. I was postholeing in 106 under foot, 189 cm long skis. Skiing got pretty miserable right around tree line, and was survival skiing up until snow line. 

Route: Willis Gulch to Hope Pass
Posted On: 5/8/2023, By: rhammond530
Info: Our plan was to attempt Hopeful couloir from Willis Gulch TH, but a "partly sunny" forecast ended up being "almost whiteout" above tree line. On the trail at 3:15AM, made it to 12,200' by 7:30AM. The CDT was annoyingly punchy all the way up and down. We put on snowshoes around 10,400', but were still post holing most of the way to tree line. We ran into d_baker on our descent from Hope Pass around 12,200'. He reported signs of debris near the apron of the couloir, and likely wind loading to be cautious of. There were 2-3" of new snow on 5/7. 

Route: Hopeful Couloir and East Ridge
Posted On: 4/22/2023, By: stomblin7
Info: Willis Gulch TH: Started about 4 am due to road conditions traveling there. Took the cut off trail - was snow covered with some drifts making the path narrow with steep drop offs in many locations. Opted for snowshoes starting around 10,600 ft - began punching though knee deep frequently. Reached the lake area around 7 am. Couloir had soft snow. We were able to get some decent steps in for 3/4 of the couloir. There was a lot of evidence for some older slides likely last week on the easterly facing parts of the couloir, and the snow crossing through the debris was a mess. Climbed couloir to the top and exited center - small cornice to the right side. Descended the east ridge to the saddle - ridge is snow covered and difficult to navigate with spikes or crampons (snow was balling up). Opted to down-climb a snowy section to avoid the talus as able. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 1/23/2023, By: Will_E
Info: Did Hope from Sheep Gulch TH today, I started at the snow plow turnaround, approximately 4.5 mile road walk to the Sheep Gulch TH. Road is well packed to Missouri Gulch, after that just a skin track. I put snow shoes on at Sheep Gulch and broke trail to the top of Hope Pass, I'd call the trail breaking "average", thin in spots, deep in spots, but never particularly difficult, not much post holing. From Hope Pass to summit I didn't use traction, but used crampons on the way down the ridge to speed up my descent to Hope Pass. Cold day, started at 17°, summit temp was 8°, when I got back to the car just after sundown it was 12°, but not much wind today. Fantastic way to spend a Monday, didn't see another person all day. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 11/26/2022, By: Ssgustafson
Info: Mixed dirt and patchy snow on the continental divide trail to the Hope saddle. Little need for micro spikes yet IMO. The ridge was mixed snow and rocks. About 30 degrees with light wind on the summit - a perfect day! P.S. Plz IM me if you find some black diamond mittens on the trail. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 10/19/2022, By: Jan van Tilburg
Info: No snow on entire route 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 9/17/2022, By: PikaSteve
Info: Summer conditions, except for wind chill at Hope Pass and along the ridge to the summit. The Aspen leaves next to the trail were almost all green. There were a few stands with yellow and orange near tree line. Still some open parking spots at 7:30am on a Saturday. Five other parties on the mountain. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 9/2/2022, By: truekyle
Info: Great day on hope! Saw one person on the co trail and that was it! For anyone climbing this peak I took my dog with me and there is one low class 3 move that she struggled with but made it up! You could probably avoid it if you dip down below the ridge to the left. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 8/28/2022, By: daway8
Info: Great little workout peak with variable terrain available. Did from Willis Gulch Trailhead just past Twin Lakes after first hiking up Quail. If you take the standard route it's difficult class 2 but if, like me, you're looking to get a little extra conditioning in, if you stay entirely ridge proper the whole way you can find better scrambling and even a couple real short stints of low 5th class. I found one rock face maybe 10 feet tall that looked pretty flat but actually had great holds and a rocky cliff maybe 15 feet tall - both trivial to walk around if so desired but both fairly solid and fun to play on to get a little extra conditioning/practice. Total hike just over 12 miles and GAIA says it was 5,276ft gain. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 6/11/2022, By: ekalina
Info: Any remaining snow near the ridge is now easily avoidable, summer conditions. Some loose rock on the upper part of the climb but not too bad. The view from the summit is exceptional.