3/9/2025 Route: Frenchman Creek Posted On: 3/9/2025, By: bigfoot1 Info: Attempt. Got got by the time change and started up at a nice and early 20 minutes before noon. The road past the gate has patchy snow coverage and I didn't put snowshoes on until I veered off the road. Breaking trail was as miserable as I thought it would be with the high temps and an extra 10lbs of snow stuck to each snowshoe. Surprisingly a lot of snow past 11k ft, trenching mid knee to waist deep or higher. Turned around ~12k ft near treeline (just high enough to snap a picture and still make it home for dinner), and there is still more to trench if you want to make it all the way. Ridge still looks like it has a good amount of snow. |
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12/31/2024 Route: From Frenchman Creek Posted On: 12/31/2024, By: Will_E Info: Started at the gate, just a few inches of snow to drive up. First 2.5 miles or so the snow was thin enough to walk through. I put snowshoes on somewhere around 2.5 miles in. The trenching steadily got deeper, not much postholing but the snow isn't well consolidated. I'd rate the trenching slightly harder than average, probably skewed a bit due to the length of the route. From treeline on no traction needed. Cold and windy today. |
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10/17/2023 Route: From Lienhart Mine Posted On: 10/17/2023, By: HikerGuy Info: Route is dry, beautiful autumn day. A lovely peak with great views of several 14ers and the Upper Arkansas Valley. 7.92 miles, 3,526 feet and 4h 10m round trip. I started below the mine at 9,930 feet as I wanted some extra mileage and elevation gain. There is good parking at this spot. The mine gate is another 1.23 miles and 1,040 feet. Starting from the mine gate would be 6.69 miles and 2,486 feet. I was driving my Hyundai Santa Fe with all-terrain tires and the road was easy to 9,930. There are really no issues with the road other than it being rather steep in places. I think Subaru types with good tires can make the mine gate. |
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9/7/2023 Route: Colorado Trail from Harvard Lakes Trailhead Posted On: 9/8/2023, By: JasonKline Info: Summer conditions. I mostly followed https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=18360 When I left the Colorado trail, the bushwhack was much better on the way down than on the way up. I ran into tall, thick willows on the way up. On the attached map, my bushwhack on the way up is the more northern route, and the way down was the more southern route. |
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1/21/2023 Route: Frenchman Creek 4WD Posted On: 1/21/2023, By: daway8 Info: Climbed 13,374 from the winter closure of Frenchman Creek. Did not follow the creek, instead took what in summer is a 4WD road up to and old mine then winged it from there. Put snowshoes on right away but probably could have gotten at least a mile or two before really needing them. Many kudos to Yaktoleft13 for pre-trenching much of the route last week and then powering ahead and retrenching today (pretty solid trench in now). Sincerest apologies to Shooter that we went too fast. After leaving the road it got ugly quick. Sank no less than ankle deep even with snowshoes, frequently knee deep and occasionally close to waist deep. Most areas above treeline were fairly windblown but some crusty patches in places and a decent amount near the summit. Left snowshoes on the entire day - beat them up a bit above treeline but the wind was so freaking cold we didn't want to stop and take them off. Briefly considered (for about 2 seconds) going on the extra 2 miles and 1k+ feet to Harvard but with a lot of flat and even slightly uphill sections near the end getting back to the trailhead decided that an extra 4 miles RT wasn't going to happen today. Didn't get a lot of photos but will upload a few. |
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11/21/2021 Route: Lienhart Mine Posted On: 11/22/2021, By: 13erRetriever Info: Road to the mine was doable in my Grand Cherokee with good off road tires in about 2 inches of fresh snow. On the return trip it was melted off even more, so probably passable for most 4wd vehicles until the next snow comes. We did park about a quarter mile beneath the locked gate as we started to slip. Read Trotter's directions to the mine- there are a lot of ways to get turned around back there (we found ALL of them...) Rest of route was pretty easy. We took the trail from the Lienhart mine up to the CT and it was very nice. From there it's a minor bushwhack to the ridge and gaiters were nice to have in spots. Our deepest posthole was probably mid shin but most of the route has just about 2-4 inches of snow. It was melting and blowing away fast above treeline but the trees will probably hold what they have the rest of the season. Above treeline there were some slippery rocks but other than that pretty much what you'd expect for an early winter-ish hike. Gaiters and microspikes were all we needed. |
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11/6/2021 Route: Lienhart Mine Loop Posted On: 11/6/2021, By: IHikeLikeAGirl Info: Gorgeous day! Parked near Lienhart Mine, ascended Wapaca Trl (1468), then bushwacked up the east ridge and over to the summit. Descended north off the ridge, then dropped east and picked up the CDT ~1.15 mi before picking up 1468 back to the mine/car. Very little snow to contend with and most could be avoided. Hit some packed snow on the CDT, but traction was not needed. Bushwacking was not bad at all. Hauled snowshoes, microspikes, and an ice axe...at least it made for a better workout.... Highly recommend the descent route we took, as opposed to an out and back. Did not add much distance and it seemed like a more enjoyable descent. |
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6/7/2020 Route: East Slopes from Frenchman Creek Posted On: 6/7/2020, By: supranihilest Info: The Frenchman Creek Road is closed just a few tenths of a mile off US 24. This closure lasts until June 30th and adds 3.25 miles and 1,700 vert (one way) to any route done from there. We hiked the road until it becomes merely a trail, then took the Colorado Trail north, across Frenchman Creek, then cut west straight into the forest. The route is pretty obvious - go up. There was no snow of consequence on the route but some marshy ground up high above treeline. The first summit you see is a false summit. Plenty of rock on the route but mostly stable. |
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6/2/2018 Route: Frenchman Creek Posted On: 6/3/2018, By: Silence_Dogood Info: Although we did not pursue a summit attempt, the route to PT 13,374 appears to be clear of snow via Frenchman Creek. Please note that the Frenchman Creek Road (FR 386) is closed 0.5 miles from US 24 at 8,570 ft until June 30, adding an additional 5.4 miles and 1,730 ft of elevation gain (round trip) compared to the 4WD trailhead. The trail itself from Frenchman Creek is in summer conditions aside from a ~30 ft snow crossing at approximately 11,800 ft. We never felt a need for snowshoes or microspikes, and none of the water crossings presented a challenge at this time. Photo taken from Mt. Harvard's East Ridge. |
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9/18/2017 Route: SE ridge Posted On: 9/20/2017, By: tdawg012 Info: Light dusting of snow ~1". Was melting by the time I descended. Quite chilly on summit, but impressive snowy views of Harvard and Columbia. |
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3/15/2015 Route: Frenchman Creek Posted On: 3/16/2015, By: Kevin Baker Info: I used the Frenchman Creek approach from the east to climb UN 13374 as a backpack outing. There was a skin track along the road to 10.1K. I camped at 10.6K and left the summer trail shortly past here on the shallower snowpack on the north side of the creek. Gained the ridge east of Point 12890 via a steep bushwack out of the Frenchman Creek drainage. Much leopard aspen bashing with snowshoes ensued. The south facing snow above treeline is very stable, but gets sloppy in the trees in the afternoon. Postholing was moderate, but would be worse on east and north facing aspects. The track could be used to summit Harvard as a dayhike by a strong hiker. |
