6/12/2021 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 6/14/2021, By: maxavanzi Info: Summer conditions, no snow on trail. |
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6/9/2021 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 6/10/2021, By: Ptglhs Info: Not much to add by way of the conditions. I will note that there are a couple of different routes. Staying on the ridge proper is definitely more of a scramble. Dropping into one of the gullies is a lot looser. I went up the Ridge and down one of the gullies. There is the occasional Cairn or route segment to follow. Very minimal postholing. At a choke point along the ridge about 13.7, and then again when crossing the snow field before you get to the false Summit. Seconding the previous report to avoid the cornice. An ice axe would have been useless, I brought, but did not use, traction. |
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6/5/2021 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 6/6/2021, By: durkan Info: Small snowfields above treeline, but no issue. Stay on trail and commit to the postholes and existing steps. Soft in the late morning, but eok enough to plunge step and a short glissade or two. Above the pass along the ridge: maybe 3 snowfields to traverse. In the early morning, I was able to make good enough steps for ascending, but somewhat soft coming down. Definitely be cognizant of the cornice near the top on hiker's right. Gave it a wider berth to hiker's left on the ascent while also avoiding steeper snow. Dog and I started at 05:45, back at car by 10:45 MDT. With an early enough start, traction didn't feel needed. |
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6/1/2021 Route: Hopeful Posted On: 6/1/2021, By: Tim A Info: Hopeful is still in. Negligible snow from Sheep's Gulch to Hope Pass. Snow in the cirque below Hopeful was still solid at 7am this morning, but the couloir itself was hip-deep postholing by 730 so we bailed to Quail, which is possible without any gear. Leave the snowshoes at home. |
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5/30/2021 Route: Hopeful Couloir Posted On: 5/30/2021, By: gluckhikes Info: Just a couple patches of snow on the climb from Sheep Gulch to Hope Pass. I switched to crampons on the other side of the pass, where after dropping a couple hundred feet it's snow covered over to the couloir. Started the climb around 5am and had great crunchy snow the whole way. Dramatic clouds all around kept the direct sunlight away until near the top out. Downclimbed some soft snow off the summit ridge before taking off crampons for the rest of the east ridge descent, which was mostly dry. Stitched together a couple glissades from the Pass for about 1000' before rejoining the dry trail. |
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5/23/2021 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 5/24/2021, By: toeknife Info: Other than a couple snow fields above treeline, trail is entirely dry until just under the saddle between quail and hope. Ridgeline to hope still has plenty of coverage. Quail looked pretty dry from our view. |
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5/8/2021 Route: Hopeful Couloir Posted On: 5/8/2021, By: Aphelion Info: Hopeful couloir is in good shape if you get a decent freeze. Get it while it's early, we topped out at 0830 and were already seeing rockfall. Trail up from Sheep gulch is mostly dry for the lower half, still mostly snow-covered for the upper half. The top is corniced, but didn't look too threatening. |
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5/7/2021 Route: Hopeful via Sheep Gulch Posted On: 5/10/2021, By: JDroz Info: Passable snow ATL, patches of rotted snow down to ~11.1k. Hopeful is in. Good amount of wet slide debris running out of comparable terrain lower along E Ridge. Cornice west of entrance is getting saturated and droopy; be wary. Hit it early (started @ 6, dropped @ 9:20, and the window was closing). |
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4/9/2021 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 4/9/2021, By: Gueza Info: Great coverage from Sheep Gulch after the first 800ft. Hopeful Couloir is very much in |
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1/11/2021 Route: South via Sheep Gulch Posted On: 1/12/2021, By: blazintoes Info: Made it to Missouri Gulch after digging car out of snow ditch. Hiked 1.6 miles to Sheep Gulch. Saw lots of cat tracks. Torture solo trenching all day with the occasional 10 good firm steps followed by 100 sugar snow steps. Jerry rigged micro spikes up but used crampons down. Sunset summit. |
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12/5/2020 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 12/5/2020, By: snacktime Info: My 4Runner was able to make it to the trailhead with no issues. Snowshoes necessary. We stashed them around 12,600 just above Hope Pass. Micro spikes and ice axe were helpful on the ridge. My partners Adam and Ali created a stunning work of art (aka a gorgeous trench) all the way to the summit. Route from Hope Pass to the summit of Quail looked pretty dry. |
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9/16/2020 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 9/16/2020, By: Snow_Dog_frassati Info: Nearly summer conditions - All snow was avoidable. The majority of the South facing slopes in the sawatch were completely or almost completely snow free. Get em while you still can! |
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8/22/2020 Route: East Ridge from Quail Posted On: 8/23/2020, By: madmattd Info: This was a different route than the standard route from Sheep Gulch. We hiked Quail and Hope from the Columbine Mine area on the East Ridge of Quail (~12,500') (see https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/peakstatus_entry.php?recnum=17867). The final ascent of Hope was through Hope Pass and followed the standard route to the summit. Descent of Quail to Hope Pass is very steep and loose in a stretch. Ascent up Hope wasn't bad overall, much more stable in general. We stuck pretty close to the ridge on the upper half instead of dealing with the gullies and enjoyed simple scrambling (2+/easy 3 at times) with hardly any exposure on mostly-solid talus. Same story on the way down, though we found the use trail that swings ~50' below the first point just above Hope Pass which avoided dealing with scrambling on that lower ridge section. Re ascent of Quail was tedious as expected. Still, we both felt this route from the East seemed nicer than doing the combo from Sheep Gulch, and is ~1000' less climbing. Smoke was pretty thick in the morning, could barely see Belford/Oxford and Elbert. Better in the afternoon and even some blue skies above. |
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8/1/2020 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 8/1/2020, By: emgordon_II Info: Trail from Sheep Gulch to Hope Pass is in great condition. Some water available but flow is low. Ascent of East ridge all dry and easy travel. Descent had more sliding on loose scree and dirt. |
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7/20/2020 Route: East Ridge Posted On: 7/20/2020, By: Unknown Info: Summer conditions. Great trail up to the saddle split, constant incline and one water source just before the last open switchback. |
