| 31 Updates | Route | Info | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3/2/2025 Esprit Pt |
Esprit Pt | Summited Shavano from Angel of Shavano TH via a route up Esprit Point that I haven't seen tried before and it worked very well. Incredibly, thanks to the aspect of the ridge below treeline & likely recent warm temps I didn't need any flotation or traction all day. Several well-trod game trails up the lower ridge of Esprit below treeline made for easy access to the windblown upper ridge. Spotted the resident bighorn sheep herd grazing on the Shavano trail. Didn't go for Tab, considering another off-trail route for this one as well. Will post pic of the Angel & Tab for those interested & write up TR for this route later also. 7.5mi 5400ft gain RT | 10 | 6 | ||
| 8/4/2024 Northeast Ridge |
Northeast Ridge | What a fun route with incredible views!! Note that there are two entrances to the Pyramid turn-off, one closer to Crater Lake and one closer to the Maroon Lake TH, both marked with large cairns. Poles were very helpful for ascending the steep dirt path up to the amphitheater ridge, stashed them at the saddle and used them and microspikes for the trip down. Cairns were plentiful enough for us during the climb up until the last part of the upper ridge where it was just find the most feasible and apparently traveled scramble up. I didnt find any of the problems too crazy at all as one comfortable with bouldering & climbing. Sketchiest part was the green wall, had several grapefruit-sized rocks whiz within feet of us dislodged by careless climbers above. I really do think it is feasible to avoid sending any consequential rocks down at all without sacrificing much time; theres plenty of solid rock to carefully step on and mantle up on, and the most loose rock is very obviously sitting on top of solid rock. It was not difficult to avoid touching these larger loose rocksthis should be made an absolute priority when others are below. Havent seen this mentioned as much but the hike out of the amphitheatre was the second sketchiest part of the whole day. On the way up we navigated to the start of the steep trail to the saddle pretty effortlessly. On the way back, however, the boulderfield seemed much less stable and even the dirt trail west of the rocks was loose and gravelly. Everyone in our party fell multiple times on this terrain. This area seems like the highest risk for injury of the whole route since so many boulders are deceptively unstable and harder to test than potentially loose rocks in class 3 terrain, youre usually off-balance with your body weight moving downhill, its towards the end of a big climb, and it just seems to go on forever. Not sure what a better alternative to these damn rocks would be. Otherwise, this was really a premier climbIm a bit limited in my experience but I havent hiked another 14er with this fun and engaging of an ascent with this great of views! | 11 | 3 | ||
| 3/10/2024 Southeast Ridge |
Southeast Ridge | The foothills just beneath Columbia got less than 2in of snow but this part of the Sawatch looked completely plastered from 285. The road is packed down from snowmobile traffic, could park at the camping pull-offs a couple tenths of a mile from the 2WD parking at the national forest entrance. When I got to the CO Trail it looked like nobody had been up recently except for some moose a little higher up who made a sort of trench even continuing up the SE ridge. A party of people packed down the CO Trail to a nice bootpack while I was gone. The snow got a nice freeze/thaw cycle in after the recent storm so the sun-exposed snowfields on more southern aspects of the ridge were hard and sturdy in the morning. I sidehilled along the ridge to link up these snowfields that I ascended vertically. The lodge pole stand after 10,800ft had the most tedious snow, thick sticky powder. I aimed west for a S-facing exposed rib loaded with frozen drifts to more easily ascend to the rocky outcropping at 11,400 ft. I skirted the bumps ahead until treeline to the left/south since they had patchy and thin snow. I followed coyote and then a herd of elk tracks through the bumps above treeline, they knew some good shortcuts! Had to bring snowshoes all the way up to 13,100ft for one final ascent up a wind-affected snowy ridge. Ridge proper on the upper cirque has some wind-affected snow features that were sometimes supportive, sometimes not. For the most part I found sidehilling to the left fastest but sometimes ridge proper was better. Commanding views of Yale to the south all day. Little wind forecast and experienced, picked up after dark though. | 15 | |||
| 3/6/2024 Tigger E ridge |
Tigger E ridge | Decent bootpack trench already in up until switchback near Tigger gully at 10,580ft. Didnt look like anyone had been up higher than that since the last snow. Trenched from there up Tiggers forested lower East ridge from the towers bypassing the upper 4WD road switchbacks. Large snow drifts on ridge proper, ended up skirting to the south side of the ridge to find supportive and stable sun-affected snow. Had to weave a bit thru the trees to link up patches of sun-exposed snowfields. I wish I started a bit earlier, the spring-like snow kept bunching up under my snowshoes every few steps :/ Tigger E ridge above treeline has some snowfields I had to wade through in between rockhopping. Not sure what the best path up the ridge is. Id suggest staying ridge proper from Tigger summit to Princeton especially at the horn/cliff features towards Princeton at 13,200, north side of ridge has some surprise snowfields that can get deep. Re-ascending Tigger didnt feel like a big deal. Descending the rocky east ridge and snowfields was tedious but offered some fun class 2+/3 moves. This was a 14er in two ways, 14 hr day from car to car x.x | 13 | 2 | ||
| 2/5/2024 Winter route direct from towers |
Winter route direct from towers | Did not summit. Made it to 11,400ft just before the first switchback while going west up the shallow ridge proper from the comm towers. Road up to towers has great bootpack, spikes/snowshoes useful at times in looser snow. Decent trench from towers to where ridge starts inclining thanks to efforts from a pair yesterday. No trace of the last trench from there on. The ridge up from the towers bypassing the switchbacks/ avy chute has some decent sized drifts. The heavy SWE snow from the last storm made trenching among the drifts feel more unstable than usual especially near rollover-like features. The snow quality was quickly decompensating with the warm temps as well. I tried hopping from bare spot to bare spot among the evergreens but turned back just before the first switchback. I couldnt see any bare spots and the area ahead seemed significantly drifted and steep. Didnt feel comfortable continuing further alone. On the way down I moved just below south of ridge proper to find lighter snow and dirt patches. Snow melting fast on the way down, some long bare dirt/mud spots in the road now. Wouldnt recommend trying to drive up, underlying ice in spots + larger drifted snow/mud | 9 | 2 | ||
| 1/29/2024 West rib to south subsummit |
West rib to south subsummit | Boy howdy what a route. Great bootpack trench established to about half a mile past Baldwin Creek crossing, snowshoes useful past that. Turned off at 11,800ft to ascend rib up to 13,780 Antero subsummit shown well in supranihilests TR. I was surprised with how secure the rocks were especially on the upper stretch. Solid tracks in place across the rocky dragonsback ridge from the subsummit to Antero proper. On the way back I took an access road from the saddle between the subsummit & the gendarme ridge that ran down around the subsummit and ended on its west rib. The edge of the road was visible thru the sugar snow drifts over the road and provided ok passing. There was one large drift completely covering the road that was hard to get purchase on, ice axe would have been useful for climbing over it. It was w a r m today! Wish I brought waterproof gaiters and a change of socks, the snow melted thru my laces and got my shoes soaked by the end of the day. Theres several smaller loaded-looking W-facing slopes above the trail past the Balwin Creek crossing. It didnt seem like this part of the Sawatch got as much of an unstable dump as the northern half, didnt see any signs instability while crossing. | 13 | |||
| 1/26/2024 N Ridge |
N Ridge | Snowed 1-2in today, little wind. Still a nice bootpack trail in place. Traction & gaiters useful after lightning bridge. I tried out a different approach to Granite Pass via Jims Grove and then up the broad ridge/slope to Battle Mountain then over to Granite Pass. It was pretty mellow, easy gentle incline tundra walk with a little rock hopping towards the end. Not much snow on the standard or normal Jims grove shortcut across the basin right now anyway but might be useful when the basin loads up more. Went straight up to MLW from the pass, lots of engaging & varied scrambling. Lost my favorite yak hair beanie on the way up T_T | 13 | 1 | ||
| 1/17/2024 Willow Creek Approach |
Willow Creek Approach | Did not summit. Looking at precipitation reports & webcams, the KC/Challenger area looked like it missed the huge dump over the weekend & didnt have too much snow overall. . . or so I thought. I parked at the end of Pine Cone Way to bypass some road closure miles for the standard TH. Enough space for 5 or so cars, many tracks up rejoining Willow Lake Trail. Trail is bootpacked, traction useful. Flotation useful past tight switchbacks at 10,400ft; required after creek crossing at 10,960ft. Theres exposed, flowing water to fill at the crossing. I climbed up the rocks and hardpack snow between them to ascend the headwall. The forest after the headwall is heavily drifted and has much more snow than the valley below. I got lost here since the standard trail was drifted over until I noticed some coyote/fox prints in the snow. I followed these and incredibly they matched the standard trail exactly and marched over an old trench that had been covered over for quite a ways. I only sank to my ankles over the tracks; otherwise the snow was knee or thigh deep. After the tracks darted off into some deadfall I followed the trench by Braille for a little farther until I was too tired to take another step. Made it within 0.4mi of the lake. I believe the hidden trench continues from there to the lake; not sure about past there. | 9 | 3 | ||
| 2/10/2023 Cables |
Cables | Got to just below the second pitch and had to bail. Packed trail up to where the upper basin opens up around 10,800ft. I cut up thru the exposed rock bands up the basin to Granite pass. Some old footprints up to Jim's grove but it looked pretty heavily drifted in the trees there. Trail is drifted in up the switchbacks and thru the boulderfield, kept on rock hopping up to Cables. Snow conditions around Cables were a mix of dense, hard snow and looser snow sinking in to about mid-boot. I brought an ice tool and heftier microspikes (Hillsong trail crampons) mainly bc I just wanted to see for myself how the route would be. The snow at the bottom of the dihedral on the first pitch was loosely drifted in and I couldn't get any purchase with my ice tool. I considered mantling the slab on the left side of the dihedral or going around it to the left but there aren't a ton of features for hands and snow collecting on the slabs made it feel sketchy. Around the right side of the feature, however, the snow had a nice secure styrofoam density which I could ascend just fine. There was even a little bergschrund between the snow and the rock that I could jam my hand in. Below the second pitch at the bat-shaped snowfield I found more dense styrofoam snow on the left side. After a few steps the snow got a little loose on the surface so that I couldn't get purchase with my spikes on my feet. I realized the hard snow made a sort of shelf up and around to a dihedral above so that I could place my ice tool in the dense shelf and my feet in the looser snow below. However the snow in this dihedral was also loosely drifted and I couldn't get placement with my ice tool here either. I considered going around the right side of this feature like I did on the first pitch but the snow was so loose that I worried my ice tool wouldn't be able to arrest a fall down the snowfield if I slipped. After looking up the second pitch from below I figured I probably would have preferred a rappel down it anyway so I bailed. Task failed successfully, gathered the recon I wanted for the route and had an incredible day out. Next time will def bring my second ice tool, crampons, and a 30m to get mostly down the second pitch. Wind was forecast on Mountain forecast for 10mph, felt a few gusts in the upper basin of abt 10-20mph and some more at the Chasm View area below cables. Couldn't have had better weather or better views of the Diamond! | 14 | |||
| 2/3/2023 Tigger NE ridge |
Tigger NE ridge | Snowcat tread tracks and bootpack all the way to the towers. Past the towers there is a trench up the the ridge cutting the switchbacks up to 12,000 ft thanks to someone this week and several parties today. Snowshoes would be very helpful here since some areas are drifted and postholey. Didn't make it to the summit, been out with an injury and just didn't have the conditioning to keep going past 13k. I found the rocks up Tigger to be pretty stable and fun to scramble up. I stuck to stepping on the rocks with spikes on for the most part, the snow in between can be very deep. Nice to meet Max and friends and users Stratosfearsome & Zerodark30 on trail. Found and packed out a huge old water jug with a frozen mouse inside buried in the snow, nice trail booty. | 11 | 3 | ||
| 1/5/2023 Northwest Slopes |
Northwest Slopes | Last wave of snow only put 1-4in or so on the ground between yesterday and New Years, less down below and more up high. Trail is well-packed up to just before treeline but gets blown over at around 11,900ft. From there I chose to go straight up the slope towards the flat rounded off-area at 12,700ft on the way to DP, snow was shallow there due to wind blowing upslope. And boy was it windy, incessant winds blowing all of that new loose snow from DP area all the way to the summit and back. I decided to follow the summer trail and traverse the NE side of Little Pikes as the snow wasn't too deep and I only had to posthole a few steps. I walked the road back to DP since nobody else was up there. Really pretty area, forest is lush down below and there's expansive mountain views on the approach. Didn't really need snowshoes, gaiters would be helpful for stepping in drifts. I should have insulated my stuff more, a lot of time spent above 13k made my stuff freeze and shut down more than usual. | 13 | 2 | ||
| 12/20/2022 NW Ridge Direct |
NW Ridge Direct | Wanted to try out a route I put together after looking at topo, satellite and slope angle but it ended up being way less feasible than I anticipated. On satellite I noticed a cleared-out strip on the NW ridge proper that started halfway up the ridge and went all the way to treeline. I left the plowed and packed-down road where the Little French Gulch creek meets the road at 10,600ft and headed SE up to the ridge. I had hoped that this would be a safe & direct way of summiting but I didn't account for how much deadfall and deep wind-drifted snow there would be on the ridge. Snow had variable consistencies but was mostly a thick soft crust with a weaker layer below that I punched and slogged through over my knees even with snowshoes with every step. Made it up to 11,280ft before calling it--I had started pretty late, it was getting dark and I was done hurdling logs. This is probably feasible with more time in the day but definitely one to earn. There were some ski tracks heading out from the standard NW ridge/E slopes route turn-off to Little French Gulch, might be a better option to follow thru the trees just to avoid deadfall. | 8 | |||
| 12/5/2022 South Ridge |
South Ridge | I mainly used this TR for this route: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=21983. Road is packed down to TH. The TH is blocked off with cables but there's another large parking area to the right about 0.1mi before you get to the TH. There's a few inches of loose snow collected on the old road and trails above treeline, snow is mostly blown off the slopes otherwise. Didn't use traction and not enough consistent snow to require flotation, only a few ankle-deep drifts over the trail. I didn't see the turn-off trail at first from the now-decommissioned 4WD road to the trail at 11,200 ft, just went towards the ridge thru the clearings of what I guess used to be an old mining camp there and soon met up with the trail. Wind was forecast for 30-35mph blowing towards the east and it definitely felt like that while above treeline--enough to make me want to cover all exposed skin but not affecting my walking yet. The two ridge-bumps along the way, "Arnold" Peak at 12,250 and the south ridge of Silverheels, really mold and funnel the wind currents. I chose to traverse to their eastern sides to help relieve the wind. No avalanche concerns, barely any snow accumulation up high and no slab formation for the small patches near the summit. Really gorgeous area, the rich dark red soil and rocks were cool to see. | 10 | 2 | ||
| 10/18/2022 from East Portal |
from East Portal | Route is dry up until James's upper N slope where boot-packed snow fully covers the trail. I would highly recommend microspikes at least for the descent down this section as the snow is quite icy and slick. Winds were forecast as 5-10 mph towards the S/SE, barely felt any wind all day even up on the ridge or upper slopes. The pointy N ridge seemed like a fun class 3/4 time, not sure if anyone's written about it or if it actually goes like that the whole way. East Portal is such a gorgeous area! The trail is decent and gentle, the trees are lush and draped in moss, the rushing S Boulder is stays with you nearly the whole way, and there's plenty of neat structures to explore along the trail. | 6 | 2 | ||
| 10/12/2022 St Mary’s > Loch Lommond |
St Mary’s > Loch Lommond | Summited Bancroft and Parry from Bancroft's SE ridge. Windy day!! Mountain Forecast had the wind at 25-30 mph towards the SE, felt stronger gusts from the parking lot to the summit in various directions. I guess the winds really funnel thru the valleys from the Berthoud pass side and the gusts wrap around the ridge. Reminded me of Humboldt E ridge in that sense. The low points along the Parry-Bancroft ridge were by far the strongest, had to lean way into the wind just to keep upright! No snow on the route up, some patches at the summit. Bancroft E ridge is a mix of talus hopping and tundra. Some really neat geology stuff going on, lots of cool quartz to see. I swear I saw a Native artifact coming down off Bancroft's E face in the talus but I was too winded-out and in the “don't break leg” mindset to stop and check -_- looked something like a large arrowhead. Stars looked amazing from the flat tundra plains area above the glacier! | 10 | |||
| 9/28/2022 East Ridge |
East Ridge | The Tanglewood trail approach from Deer Creek was one of my favorite trails I've hiked so far. A rushing creek flows over waterfalls and through mossy banks right next to the trail nearly the whole ascent through the forest. The trees are gorgeous and healthy and the aspens are just about at peak. There are several historical sites at certain points just off the trail—found a demolished shanty with tons of 50-year old beer cans scattered about and the foundations of some structure with even older rusty cans around it. There's a lot of neat campsites along the trail as well, found a really cool one built out with rocks just off trail in an aspen grove. Came upon a bull moose and calf a bit too close after the last creek crossing and just before the switchbacks thru the forest. I only saw the bull's legs as I came around a corner and thought it was a horse at first! There's not a lot to see on Rosalie's east ridge itself but there's some nice views of aspens on either side of the ridge into the neighboring valleys. Absolutely stunning views of the Evans group at the summit. Bierstadt never looked so good!! | 14 | 4 | ||
| 8/24/2022 South Face |
South Face | Made an attempt for the traverse but just ended up with the Peak, still had an incredible time out. Road up is Subaruable, there are several spots we had to slow down and think about our line but we made it up and down with an Outback just fine. Some nice camping spots close to the 4WD trailhead, at the Humboldt trail split near 11.1k elevation, and many more at the lakes around 11.7k. The Humboldt trail had quite a bit of deadfall, might be just as fast to keep straight and take the old road trail that contours the basin on the way up. There was plenty of water to filter in the Cottonwood lake basin just over Broken Hand pass and even from the lower section of the Red Gully. If I were to do this again I'd just carry enough water to get over the pass and thru the basin and filter where the horizontal shelf meets the bottom of the Red Gully at 12.8k, there were some heavier rains forecast over the past weekend. The Red Gully was a beast and we definitely underestimated how fatigued we might feel, especially after a 4 mile 1.8k hike up to our camp the night prior. The gully is a stiff 1.2k gain in 1/3 of a mile navigating a mix of sloping rock, loose gravel, stray scree and sturdy class 3 climbing. The loosest area though was on the initial descent from Broken hand back to S Colony Lakes basin but there's enough rocks anchored in the dirt to avoid slipping too much. This was an incredibly gorgeous hike from the very start. Innumerable stars at night, incredibly prominent vista of the Needle from the S Colony basin, views sweeping peaks all around in the Cottonwood basin, aesthetic rock up the gully, and dream-like cloud movement swirling all around us and the surrounding peaks mid-morning. Looking forward to being back here again! | 7 | |||
| 3/19/2022 East Ridge |
East Ridge | Looks like my fellow hikers from yesterday beat me to writing a report so I just thought I'd add some pictures. I was planning on heading over to N Massive but didn't have the stamina or time for it this time, looks like nobody's been up there recently. Scrambled over the rocky & snowy bits on top of the ridge on the way up, mostly class 2+ with some class 3+ options. I bypassed most of that on the way back going down part of the upper basin on the south side of the ridge and then up and over a small snow crossing back to the first V-notch tower. Got a little disoriented trying to remember where the end of the snowshoe trench was among the slab towers at the base of the ridge but I saw a ptarmigan while I was doing that so it's cool. Really great day out. That makes 11 winter summits for me for this 21/22 season! Looking forward to scouting out more difficult routes this year after some snow's melted out. | 14 | 1 | ||
| 3/14/2022 East Ridge |
East Ridge | Got the snowflake for Elbert yesterday. Some light snow overnight covered the 4WD road and the trail below treeline with a couple inches, but all that melted away by evening. Bootpacked trench intact all the way up to the first wooden fence at treeline, 11.8k elevation. After this the trench was covered by wind-blown snow. I donned snowshoes from here and headed directly to the saddle on the ridge at 12.4k. The snow through this section was the same throughout the rest of the ridge: a mix of supportive wind-scoured crust, less-supportive hollow-sounding crust, and some looser stuff that sunk ankle-deep. I left my snowshoes at 13.1k on the bare flat rocky area but could have dropped them earlier, there was now a pretty visible and sturdy bootpack through the snow for the most part. I ascended the exposed summer trail for a ways and then traversed south to hop along some rocks the rest of the way to the summit. Spent almost 30 minutes at the summit with no wind. All day I only felt slight winds on the saddle at 12.4k and while crossing the slope to get there in one small area, definitely less than the expected forecast. For the descent I traversed to the north end of the summit and went straight down the slope, I figured the snow would be a little more supportive on this side of the ridge. I opted taking the closed trail from the flat area at 11.5k back down to the main trail near the ponds. I noticed a bootpack going up this way on the ascent and saw a second trench heading down this way at the 11.5k marsh area. Outside of winter there's a ton of debris placed across the trail but several feet of snow covering all of this made for a quick and direct descent on a still well-packed trench. I wish I had come up this way as well, I felt a bit antsy about a large, loaded rollover the that the last two switchbacks on the main trail passed though. Great day for my 10th winter 14er this season! Had the mountain all to myself. The nearly-full moon on the return casting shadows of the massive aspens across the 4WD road was especially cool. Left with some amazing pictures from the summit and only a slight sunburn! | 15 | 3 | ||
| 3/1/2022 Southeast Ridge |
Southeast Ridge | Made an attempt on the SE ridge but turned back due to unstable snow conditions. Road was tire-tracked past the Colorado trail TH and the trail was boot packed up to the ridge. A pre-storm trench was still visible for some ways up the ridge, but I ended up going my own way up after windblown snow completely covered it. Snow quality was great in the morning, everything was still frozen and my snowshoes weren't sinking down too much especially in more open stretches on the ridge. Snow was a bit mushier under thick tree cover around 11.2k so I traversed over to a south-facing low-angle open area on the ridge. The snow was very firm here as I made my way up to the boulder pile at 11,420. I continued on towards the rocky point at 11,600. Up until this point I had noticed some sort of cracks forming near the tops of small sloping features on the ridge like little bumps and rollovers. It looked as if maybe the surface slab crust upon the feature's face was trying to slide down a little after yesterday's afternoon heat. The snow was still frozen solid in the morning as I passed them by though so I didn't think too much of it. As I neared the 11,600 point just before noon I noticed another one of those cracks across the snow apron I was crossing and felt the whole thing shift down. The surface crust layer was only a couple to a few inches thick and it slid about an inch and a half. I carefully tread above me to a safe flat area under some trees to assess the situation. I figured there would be more snow areas like this ahead and I did not want to see how these conditions would look after several more hours in the heat after a summit descent. That open south-facing area of the ridge had some particularly deep & wide cracks formed between steppes of snow and I definitely wanted to be off that before conditions deteriorated further in the heat. I couldn't make it any further up the deep & loose snow apron up to the point anyway so I turned back. The surface crust on a small bump on the flat area between the 11,600 & 11,420 points also slid under me a bit. I stuck close within thick clusters of aspen & pine on the way down and crossed flat portions of open areas when I had to. Didn't experience any further issues on the ridge, the snow was mushy now but it was stable at least. Looking back now those small slab slides weren't super threatening in themselves at that time but i could definitely see them becoming a bigger problem later in the day. The ridge itself is under 30 degrees overall but some of these microfeatures that held these sliding slabs were either unnoticeable or unavoidable on the way up. Might be more stable for a sunrise summit or just after this sweltering pre-spring is over. | 10 | |||
| 2/14/2022 NW Ridge winter variation |
NW Ridge winter variation | Not much to add outside of previous reports, super bomber trench/bootpack all the way to the summit. The hill through the forest leading up to the headwall has some fairly stiff elevation gain. Headwall wasn't bad coming up, coming down was tougher to navigate the loose slippery dirt & gravel. There's some more packed-in steps on climber's right which help with the descent. No snowshoes or crampons needed, ice axe helpful for controlled glissading in areas on the upper ridge and the forest hills. Winds were forecast as blowing to the E/SE 10-15mph. Didn't really feel much wind until the upper ridge and summit but it was blowing to the E/NE and felt a bit stronger. Some snow in the forecast in a couple days. Perfect day out, the forest on the approach was exceptionally beautiful. Met a fellow climber on her way down from a sunrise summit, way to go!! Nice to meet you and chat with you!! | 15 | 2 | ||
| 2/7/2022 West Ridge |
West Ridge | Summited Grays & Torreys from Loveland pass. Wore spikes from car to car, no flotation needed. Ridge is windblown for the most part with loose snow filled into the summer trail. The rocky section just past Cupid has a nice bypass to the right on class 2+ rocks. Both the ascent and descent of Grizzly was one of the most difficult sections. It is a stiff elevation gain up to the summit and its NW ridge is coated in thick, loose snow. Couldn't get much traction with spikes so I had to climb over or step on rocks in the snowiest sections. The descending E ridge is very narrow—drop off to the left, steep continuous snow slope down off a cliff to the right. For one part the best way through is over a knife edge snow crest. I cut down to the saddle w Torreys when Grizzly's E slope leveled off some, the wind crust was not supportive here but I only punched through to my ankle for the most part. Tried climbing the snow gully up Torreys W slope but the snow was too loose and unsupportive to make it worth it. Went straight up the scree to the left of the gully without much issue. The rocks get a bit looser higher up. Up until I crested the false summit on the W ridge I hadn't felt the forecast NW 20mph wind at all. Up here, though, the winds seemed to be meeting each other from various places and created a ton of gusts and snow-devils. The Torreys-Grays saddle funneled the winds to create what felt like 50mph gusts. At least in winter you can see the wind before it hits you! Took the summer trail up to Grays which was filled with mostly hardpack snow. Did not resummit Torreys back and instead picked a line below the saddle that curved around to the false summit. I found the snow that looks like ripply, disturbed water to be the most hardpack, the flatter sections were a gamble for punching through. Glissaded almost all the way down the snow chute down Torreys W face. I curved around closer to the N edge of Grizzly's E face on the reascent to find more supportive snow. No issues from then on back to the car, mostly ran or skated/slid down the snow on the summer trail. | 15 | 2 | ||
| 1/31/2022 East Ridge |
East Ridge | Really enjoyable short winter day in the San Juans. The steep path up the south-facing slope is a mix of packed snow, ice, frozen dirt, mud, and loose dirt & gravel. Used some hefty Hillsound trail crampon microspikes to cruise up the trail. The sketchiest part I think is the talus chute crossing. I didn't see the cairns on the other side of the chute and ascended the extremely loose rock & dirt on the side after crossing. Every rock is loose and the large ones can crush your foot. The trail actually keeps going a bit past the chute and continues on up steep less loose dirt. At around 11.9k the trees open up to a snow-covered hill where snowshoes became mandatory. I went straight up without issue but there was a track off to the right that curved around and went over some shallower snow. Dropped my snowshoes off on top of the small hill on the ridge at 12.5k. For the following wide, rocky ridge I ascended the bare, fairly stable rocks on the left side. I wish I had stayed on the snowy trail, so much faster ascending that with spikes. On the last part of the ridge towards the summit, I mostly stayed on top of the ridge which was hardpack enough to ascend easily with spikes. Didn't go over to Redcloud for multiple reasons—late start, a bit wiped from weekend ice climbing, & forgot some wind gear in the car that I would need for the ridge. Instead I spent a bit longer on the summit taking in the utterly magnificent San Juan vistas. The descent went quickly. Spikes kept me from slipping in the mud but the snow didn't deteriorate to slush nearly as much as I thought. Winds felt as forecast on the summit blowing towards the east at 20mph. Before that I only felt the wind in occasional gusts above treeline. This report is mostly for posterity due to an incoming heavy snow. Yes, it is a steep route overall but I didn't find it too bad with traction, I kindof prefer trail angles that use quads over calves anyway. Looking forward to next time and going over to Redcloud too! | 8 | 2 | ||
| 1/24/2022 East Ridge |
East Ridge | Boy howdy is this a route. Trench thru the CO trail to the ridge at 12k established thanks to user wren & 2 skiers. Switchbacks up the first bare south-facing slope hold very hard-pack snow and ice. Put on snowshoes around 10,600 ft. Steady and gentle gain thru the scenic forest until the ridge. From the first hill onwards the ridge holds a ton of wind-drifted snow; some areas are deep powder, others have a hard wind crust. I used snowshoes to cross the north side of the first hill and stowed them on top of the next bump. The rocky knobs along the ridge usually have snow at their bases and large wind drifts on the saddles between them. I used crampons and an ice tool to cross the hard crust areas on these saddles below the 13.2k false summit. Made different route-finding decisions to ascend each point on the ridge, sometimes the surrounding powdery drifts made class 3 mandatory and other times they could be safely skirted to the right. The final points along the ridge above the false summit have much more snow among the rocks at their base and slopes. Winds only blew in gusts along the ridge below the false summit at the forecast speed & direction of 15-20 mph from the northeast. Wind picked up a bit and blew more consistently after the false summit. At the summit I met strong 35-40 mph winds blowing from the southwest. Witnessed an incredible sunset at the summit as the sun dipped below the now overcast sky and pierced the light snowfall. On the descent I glissaded down as much snow on the ridge as I could and found some easier class 2+ routes down the points in the dark. Now that there's for sure a trench all the way through the SW slopes route I'm sure that's far easier than this one. The points do seem never ending and the snow and rocks are a real mental and physical effort to navigate. It took me just under 13hrs RT even with the trench. But if you're looking for a challenging & exciting Sawatch climb with views all around this is the way to go! | 15 | 4 | ||
| 1/20/2022 South Slope |
South Slope | Ascended to the White Ridge/Sherman saddle via White ridge south slope, descended via Sherman south slopes. Tried planning out a route that avoided the Sherman/Sheridan saddle and the snowfields in the basin but the White Ridge slopes ended up being a lot chossier than anticipated. First time out in this area and it was still a great day out! I parked at the “Park here or else you'll get stuck” sign, road just had very minor patches of snow and ice until then. Looks like someone attempted to keep going and did in fact get stuck 30 ft in or so. Road has an established boot pack up thru to the basin. The snowfields in the basin had a firm windblown crust for the most part with more postholing among the willows. Much of the ridges and hills in the basin were bare. The White Ridge south slope is completely scree and gets pretty loose at times. Had fun climbing up but I would have otherwise preferred to stay more in the basin crossing the snowfields and snaking along the small hills and ridges directly to Sherman's south slope. Snow near summit has a firm windblown crust. Winds were pretty constantly blowing towards the SE throughout the day and felt as forecast at 20-25 mph, hard to find shelter in the basin. Looks like it'll snow 3 inches today and a few more on Mon. I figure these conditions should hold for the weekend with the consideration of this light fresh layer of snow on top of everything but who knows! My gf came along this time too and she summited with me, congrats P! | 8 | 5 |
