12/14/2024 Route: From Alpine Cemetery Posted On: 12/15/2024, By: kyrawhitworth Info: Trail that curves up from the cemetery is nice and dry until it turns into the basin at which point it was brutal trenching to treeline. Snow was sugar dust with zero support with some small spots of supportive wind slab up high. We wore snowshoes most of the day (boo). Antero and ridges on Princeton looked pretty dry. 7hrs 15min up and 3hrs down. |
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10/25/2024 Route: From Alpine Cemetery Posted On: 10/25/2024, By: SimplePole Info: Minimal snow on this mostly south aspect route, perhaps typical for south Sawatch. Basically no deadfall, no avalanche debris and no bushwhacking. With moderate incline, 8.5 miles and 4,150 feet of elevation gain, the hike can be comfortably completed in 6 hours or less. There is a great trail for the first 2 miles/1,500 feet gain. It basically ends at a large clearing. Continue in the woods for another mile and 800 feet elevation. The trees are sparse, there are many small clearings and occasional helpful trail segments. Before leaving the trees the terrain steepens and it might be helpful to use a rib between two rocky creek beds. Once above the tree line, follow a narrow gulch/creek bed for another 0.8 miles or so into the upper basin until you find a comfortable line to the top of the peak on your left. All of this is on nice grassy tundra (with some patchy snow today). |
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1/29/2024 Route: from Grouse Gulch TH Posted On: 1/29/2024, By: Will_E Info: Did 13,093', 13,332', and 13,627' from Grouse today. Seeing how bare the south slopes were, I (unwisely) didn't take snowshoes, just a handful of deep snow sections on the way up, on the way down I (unwisely) descended straight off 13,627', the snow and bushwhacking was really tough here, moreso after missing my turn to get back to the trail. Everything above treeline was fantastic and fun, perfect weather today. |
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10/8/2023 Route: Grouse Canyon Posted On: 10/8/2023, By: mikemalick Info: No issues with parking at Alpine Cemetery. Only some small patches of snow higher up and all can be avoided. |
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5/6/2023 Route: Alpine Cemetery Posted On: 5/7/2023, By: CheapCigarMan Info: This is now PT 13,627 according to LiDAR. Road dry to TH. Parked and camped at Alpine Cemetery. No snow and dry from TH and all along the south facing slope. Once you headed north there's intermittent snow on the east facing slope. It became wet, muddy, and slippery on the descent. I slipped and fell hard and busted up my wrist. Thankfully didn't go far down the slope. Snow through trees which became soft on the descent, postholing to my shins, knees, and waist with snowshoes on. Solid snow above treeline. Some places were windblown and just talus but mostly snow. Glissaded on the descent about 1,200'. Most I've glissaded off a peak. Pretty much a bluebird day. Little breezy on occasion but mostly calm. The route is very straightforward. Just cross the creek at the end of the trail on the ascent and mark it on your descent. Lots of deadfall below it. Make your way up the gully through the woods. Best approach when ascending is to stay more towards climbers right, and not hug the cliffs on climbers left. This will take you to a nice gully that will curve and take all the way to the summit. |
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4/17/2023 Route: Grouse Canyon Posted On: 4/18/2023, By: Sbenfield Info: Generally followed the route from Piper14ers trip report. First part into the canyon was dry. Around 11500 up we switched to snowshoes and kept them on until summit. |
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10/8/2022 Route: Grouse Canyon Posted On: 10/8/2022, By: Skimo95 Info: Summer Conditions and questionable parking at alpine cemetery due to new housing construction. The gulley/ridge isn't a very fun way up either! |
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7/16/2022 Route: FS 348/Green Timber Loop Posted On: 7/17/2022, By: dwoodward13 Info: Ascended FS Rd 348 up to the 13626/13317 saddle. Road is in great shape. A suitable truck could drive all the way to the saddle pretty easily. Worst part was stream crossing and just after. For those on foot, just east of where the road crosses the stream, a log bridge can be found. Lot of ups and downs from the saddle over to 13626 all class 2/2+. Came back to the saddle and headed over to 13317 and then 13078. A lot of talus to be found (along with the ups and downs) maybe a move or two of class 3 depending on the line. Nice climbers trail from near the summit of 13078 down to where the Green Timber Trail crosses over the ridge. Green Timber is clear of any dead fall, although is popular with motos so be aware. Hiked the road back to the car for 17 miles and 6500' gain. |
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4/16/2022 Route: From Alpine Cemetary Posted On: 4/16/2022, By: yaktoleft13 Info: Route is dry until it turns up into the canyon. From there, 3/4 of a mile of frustrating, unsnowshoeable sidehilling awaits you, before it levels out deeper in the drainage. Trail was easy to follow, even when covered in snow. Wore snowshoes from the moment the sidehilling ended till treeline, then booted to summit. Snow is a mix of slab, styrofoam, slab with 2 inches of powder, and the occasional posthole. |
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11/28/2021 Route: From the cemetery Posted On: 11/28/2021, By: SionaRW35 Info: I have seen worse weather in July. Today was BEAUTIFUL blue skies with light breeze. I didn't even wear gloves for like 80% of the day. There was however a bit more snow above tree line than I expected, but it still is not too bad. Snow was ankle high in the talus & tundra and/or shin/knee high in drifts. It was in some places like a game of “guess the footing”. You plant your foot and guess what's under the few inches of snow. Is it rock? Is it tundra? Is it dead logs? Is it a big f**king hole? Yep that last one… Oh… and this trail may be haunted. On my way up in the morning, there were fresh boot prints in the snow in front of me. Even though I was the only car at the cemetery trailhead, I didn't think this was weird since there are houses in the area; so it's possible a resident was hiking in front of me. Then poof… mid-snow-patch, no more foot prints. And there were no footprints going down the trail. I looked down the embankment expecting to see somebody injured down there, but I didn't see anything. I called out and didn't get a response. And I wasn't going to descend this embankment, because it was STEEP. So I just assumed it was a ghost.. so I put on some Ghostface Killa on my headphones and continued hiking. But seriously, this was one of the weirdest things. And I know what you're all thinking. “He got high and saw some ghost shit”. The correct version of that statement is: ”He saw some ghost shit and then he got high” I had been looking for a seldom hiked peak that's fun to dance on and sing loudly and have nobody hear me. 13,626 it's just that, and if you throw in an edible you have a recipe for a good day if you can not get lost chasing down sheep and trying to converse with them. Also, on the way down, you can mediate a conversation between your conscious (voice over by Chris Rock) and subconscious (voice over by Abed from the show Community impersonating Batman). Aaaaand you can do this out loud if you were so obliged. 13,626 is highly underrated. I give it 5 out of 5 stars! P.s. The mountain spoke to me and said it doesn't like to be called UN13626 or PT13626. Just simply 13,626…. correct pronunciation: “Thirteen-Six-Two-Six”. I hereby request Bill to kindly add this double quote name as the official unofficial name. |
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10/17/2021 Route: SE Ridge from Alpine Cemetery Posted On: 10/17/2021, By: LetsGoMets Info: Went to go poach desertdog's trench from last weekend...except basically early summer conditions. Tiny bit of a snow dusting on the good trail in the shade for a total of about 20 feet. Really the only snow of any significance is on the last 100 vertical feet or so, all avoidable and/or minimal. Wore trail runners, no traction needed. 4.5 hours RT. |
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10/11/2021 Route: South Slope from Alpine Cemetery Posted On: 10/12/2021, By: desertdog Info: Very little snow. No traction needed. I couldn't understand why so many TRs had you circle way around to the SE slope. It seemed out of the way, so I went straight up a gully on the south slope to a ridge, which was a class 2+ climb. Don't do this as it will add a lot of time to your climb. I went down the SE slope which is much easier. And I learned that is why so many TRs have you circle around to the SE slope. |
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8/22/2021 Route: Alpine Cemetery to Poplar Gulch traverse Posted On: 8/22/2021, By: JasonKline Info: Alpine Cemetery -> 13626 -> 13317 -> 13078 -> Poplar Gulch was entirely free of any snow from last week's storm. It was pretty windy and a little chilly at times on the traverse. |
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8/18/2021 Route: Alpine Cemetary Posted On: 8/18/2021, By: angry Info: Trail is well defined for first couple miles. There is some deadfall to navigate heading up the drainage. Grassy tundra from basin to summit. Register needs paper. |
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6/13/2020 Route: From Alpine Cemetery Posted On: 6/13/2020, By: WildWanderer Info: Summer conditions until the last 20 feet or so to the summit, which still has a cornice. I used microspikes and an ice axe, but should have put on my crampons. You might be able to get around it by heading further north before summiting, but it was snowing and windy and cold and I didn't feel like scoping it out. The summit itself was dry. |
