10/16/2023 Route: Southeast Shoulder Posted On: 10/16/2023, By: Jan van Tilburg Info: On the way up the first 3 ml was on a mining road. Last 1 ml, on the ridge. The ridge hike had snow in between the rocks in places. The mining roads higher up had snow, which was easily avoidable on the side. On the way up I followed the road to the Ling Mine. Then hiked up the steep slope to connect with the ridge trail. No significant snow. On the ridge towards the summit (took forever with a million bumps on the way) there was intermittent snow. On the way back I stayed higher and followed an easy trail along the south side. High up no snow. Lower the myriad of mining roads did have snow. Does not look like that is going away this season. So overall not much snow. Did not use micro spikes. |
|
9/22/2023 Route: Southeast Shoulder Posted On: 9/22/2023, By: Grover Info: As of today, snow free along the trail all the way to the summit. Any snow is extremely easy to avoid. |
|
9/17/2023 Route: Southeast Shoulder Posted On: 9/18/2023, By: CarpeDM Info: The snow that fell toward the end of last week had largely melted in the key places for the North Star, Wheeler, Clinton loop on Sunday. Most of what remained was between Wheeler and Clinton and was not a problem. No winter gear was used (spikes, axe, etc). See Clinton conditions report for pics. |
|
6/19/2023 Route: Southeast Shoulder Posted On: 6/20/2023, By: NittanyLion14er Info: Much like Cougar's post from 6/10; Mostly dry to ridge traverse. Ridge line to summit proper is mix of rock and sections of hard pack/soft snow. Solid in early morning, spikes helpful on upper ridge don't slip there areas. Did not look at traverse to Wheeler. |
|
6/10/2023 Route: Southeast Shoulder Posted On: 6/10/2023, By: cougar Info: Still some snow drift on the road at 11900. Can't drive through it, but good solid boot track. Snowfield from about 12300 to 12800, was firm Styrofoam early morning (7am), then softer on descent. Dry from there to East North Star, then a mix of snow drifts and cornices on the ridge, with bare rock stretches. Mostly supportive but softened rapidly on descent (9:30). Wore spikes in the no slip areas. Peaks to west like Clinton and Fletcher are still caked with snow, along with their basins and approaches. Including pics of those for info. |
|
6/1/2023 Route: Southeast Shoulder Posted On: 6/1/2023, By: -wren- Info: I brought spikes, gaiters and an ax and used none of it. The route up to the first false summit (east North Star) is 90% dry. Ridge to true summit is probably 30-35 percent snow covered still. I started at 5:30 and finished at 10. Even with clouds the night before and temps only around/just below freezing, almost all the snow was fully supportive (hell yes) but I still postholed a couple dozen times, a handful of them were full on trapdoors where I punched all the way through to the talus (mid thigh height) so watch out for ankle biters under there. this will probably be full or very near summer conditions within 2 weeks. If youre looking for a high summit within 2 hours of Denver that doesnt require any snow gear at the moment, get after it! |
|
5/29/2023 Route: Polaris Couloir Posted On: 5/29/2023, By: slawrence2011 Info: Started from Blue lakes gate closure .7 miles before dam at 6. Snow started on the N side of the lake past the dam lake, a little earlier on the S side. Couloir was not visible at all until I was right under it. Glad I had the beta photo, basically the first line that actually looked like it could go. You have to climb a steep apron for quite a ways to get in, and I postholed past knees at times even around 7. I tried a new technique of weighting feet and knees, and that worked to prevent the deep postholes. Good thing I persevered, because the snow was bulletproof mostly once in the col, I was frontpointing, and even sticking the sharp end of the axe in since so hard. Easy 200 foot class 2 talus hop to summit. I summited at 9:30, and relaxed and waited to drop until right before 11 for some better conditions. Middle of the couloir is very steep and narrow. I sideslipped 10 feet past the steep narrow crux, and could do great jump turns below that in perfect soft snow, wouldn't have wanted it any softer. Good amount of boot tracks and uneven snow in the col, but it can probably go for at least another week or two. |
|
5/29/2023 Route: Southeast Shoulder Posted On: 5/30/2023, By: RhodoRose Info: A group of us started at 6 am from where we parked on the dirt road near Hoosier Pass. Bluebird day. We all carried snowshoes, ice axes, crampons, and microspikes - and didn't use any of them! Snow along the ridge was firm in the a.m. but by afternoon we encountered a bit of post-holing. Not enough to make it worth donning snowshoes or spikes. Waterproof outer pants, base layer, gloves, beanie, and a windproof puffy were all the warm clothing needed. Hiking poles a must. Most of us wore glacier boots or mid-height waterproof boots. |
|
5/29/2023 Route: Southeast Shoulder Posted On: 5/30/2023, By: sarahmariekirk Info: Great day today on North Star. Lots of dry patches on the road and up to the ridge, with intermittent snowy sections along the ridge. I brought crampons, snowshoes and an axe and did not use any of my gear. Snow was soft and supportive on the way up and slushy and shitty on the way down. Beautiful views. We summited and talked to someone who booted up Polaris couloir - overall a great day to be had by all. |
|
5/14/2023 Route: Southeast Shoulder Posted On: 5/14/2023, By: swilson753 Info: We got the full gamut of conditions today. Started the morning inside a cloud and an incomplete freeze last night. We wore snowshoes from the car to the first false summit at 13.4k, at which point we switched to crampons. The sun came out as we made the summit. We switched back to snowshoes at the east end of the ridge and wore them down to the 4wd road at 12k. The snow became mashed potatoes in the afternoon. We booted the road out, but it was super slushy. Snowshoes may have been helpful here. Use our trench while it's good! It's still possible to skin from the TH to the east summit, but I'm not sure how long that will last. We did see a splitboarder ascend the ridge and descend a north side couloir. I assume he skied Polaris but I don't know for sure. |
|
4/13/2023 Route: Southeast Shoulder Posted On: 4/13/2023, By: timewarp01 Info: Used snowshoes from Hoosier Pass up to ~12,500', then rock hopped up to East North Star. The ridge to the main summit has a mix of snow and rock, and we found crampons and axes helpful on the narrow sections, which are corniced and have steep dropoffs. I'll include some pics of Cristo couloir and the DeCaLiBron group. |
|
4/9/2023 Route: Southeast Shoulder Posted On: 4/10/2023, By: Posthole Pete Info: Beautiful day up high yesterday. Successful ride off the summit into Montgomery res side. Snow on the south aspect is very much in the transition phase but this week's temps should help get things to reliable corn. Not much has changed on the route since the last description but here are some photos for beta... |
|
4/8/2023 Route: Southeast Shoulder Posted On: 4/8/2023, By: ncxhjhgvbi Info: Happy to have floatation for the lower half. Stashed snowshoes right around 13k, though there were a number of short snowless sections I managed through prior on the shoulder. The ridge was a blast. Definitely happy to have crampons and my axe, though it could be booted depending on the conditions. A few no-fall zones and cornices to keep a look out for, but there is a pretty well established path. Stay ridge proper and youre good to go. Got some good plunge steps in on the way down, though there were a few times I wished I would have put the snowshoes back on. If it hadnt been cloudy on the descent, I think I definitely would have had to switch back to snowshoes. |
|
3/4/2023 Route: Southeast Shoulder Posted On: 3/5/2023, By: kyrawhitworth Info: Winds were surprisingly tolerable and made for a great day. Snowshoes were definitely needed. We traded out snowshoes for spikes once on the ridge but honestly keeping the snowshoes on was likely the better choice. Snow is very soft and was not supportive in a lot of spots on the ridge. Views very much worth it! |
|
3/4/2023 Route: Southeast Shoulder Posted On: 3/4/2023, By: 14er101 Info: Good day to be out, wind was manageable. I kept my snowshoes on the entire day and I think it was the right decision. Definitely want them (although you could get by without them) until 13000, then you could switch over to micros or crampons but the snow on the ridge was unsupportive and having a nice snowshoe platform was very helpful. All in all, snow covered, minimal avalanche risk if you stay on the ridges the entire time, bring snowshoes! |
