| 38 Updates | Route | Info | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3/19/2026 SW Ridge |
SW Ridge | Had the same thought as Chipmunk, in a word, summer conditions.
Wanted to add a few comments on the bushwhack approach up to the ridge. I followed the general instructions from Wentzl's report & downloaded the GPX file from user dbolton's report and didn't have much trouble. The starting old road branched off Lake Como Rd at 8900ft, then transitioned to a game/old stock trail abt 0.4mi in, then followed a series of drainages/ game trails/ old cowboy trails/ ATV roads up to the Tobin Creek drainage. Surprisingly this was easier to follow on the way back at night than during the day. I found a hoof-trodden ramp down into the steep Tobin drainage & made my way to the waterfall to cross. The vegetation to get to the falls wasn't bad, but the exit was a little brushy and involved a class-3 gully with many loose rocks. On the long talus hill up to 12900ft, if you look closely there's a winding on & off trail of sorts made of small ruddy crushed rock that was easier to move on, wonder if it's an artifact made by prospectors on the ridge or CMC back in the day. I didn't face any wind around noon on this section but in the evening they were ripping across north to south. I guess temp variations in the valleys during the mornings & evenings create these sustained winds. The steep start of the ridge just after the Tobin drainage on the descent was the worst part of the route for me. The ground is loose with plenty of sliding rocks and cactus patches to fall into. I had hyped this route up in my head a lot but found it to be pretty enjoyable. The bushwhack had a lot of unique vegetation & smells & it was cool to use historic trails. The class-3 wasn't bad or exposure super sustained on both sides at least, but ofc I had prime conditions. Really nice to meet many fellow forum members as well, great work all! |
9 | 1 | ||
| 3/13/2026 Northwest Gully |
Northwest Gully | Big thanks to previous parties for the trench. Also thanks to the early spring heat the last snow has significantly melted out. Road to TH is mostly packed snow w stretches of crusty ice and bare ground. The trench/ morning melt crust held up well even thru noon and I didn't need to put on snowshoes until around 11000.
Previous folks had snowshoed up the gully from 11,100ft on up to the basin & I followed without issue, no concerns w snow stability seen all day. At the upper basin it was getting towards the heat of the day so I skipped between tundra islands to get to the final push to the saddle with the waiver sign. Higher winds came with the current high-pressure weather ridge and for that reason I opted to take the mostly sheltered gully. Halfway up I wish I had taken the ridge and just dealt with the wind. There is so much loose rock and gravel waiting to explode underfoot & snow traverses had poor quality, either loose or very slick faceted wind slab. In the upper basin on the descent I linked up a system of snowfields and gullies. The sun had just set and the wind-crust held well on snowshoes after the day's warmth. This was a lot of fun and very cool to travel through the wind sculptures around the boulders. The snow quality below treeline had deteriorated over the day but not so bad that I was postholing often in snowshoes, really only if I accidentally stepped off the frozen trench. I tried mitigating the snow slushiness by timing my descent to after sunset, that worked pretty well I think but I got back to my car at 10pm. I found and carried out a nice ice axe I think dropped by a party that went up over the last couple days, message me a description & we can work out getting it back to you! |
10 | 1 | ||
| 2/10/2026 SE Ridge via Boulder gulch |
SE Ridge via Boulder gulch | Parked at the Cataract Gulch trailhead, road approach is well booted out by ice climbers. Went up the right/east side of Boulder gulch as I saw on satellite that it was essentially dry and nobody had trenched up the left side recently. Followed game/social trails cairned frequently by elk & sheep scat. After getting past the initial aspen forest, the gulch hillside was pretty open and rolled over a couple creekbeds. Bashed through some willows and then crossed over the the left/west side of the gulch to ascend to the ridge on snowshoes.
Ridge had little snow to contend with. Class 3 volcanic chimneys weren't too bad, I took the cairned bypass around the biggest wall on the way back down. Do mind the cornice to the right along the ridge as the cliffside underneath drops off completely. Contoured around the 13700ft subsummit bump on pretty stable terrain towards its notched saddle with Handies. Sticking closer to ridge proper was easier up the final push to the peak. Beautiful, beautiful views and rock and ice formations. It's snowing decently this week but I think it would take a whole lot to really hamper access on this right side of the gulch at least as it was completely dry when I went. |
10 | |||
| 1/13/2026 Via Mt. Shavano |
Via Mt. Shavano | Took standard route up to Shav/Tab. Road is still clear of any major snow & ice obstacles including the usual drift over the switchback on FS252 which only barely encroached on the road. It's remarkable how little snow there is below treeline--much of the trail is dry with sparse ice patches and many snowy areas have little accumulation on trail. Recent parties have put in great tracks. Near treeline there's a couple steep snow crossings that require attention. No flotation needed, didn't wear traction on the way up but it sure helped on the way down starting from these crossings especially with the many ice patches.
New CFI trail is outstanding, what an immense effort putting in so many rock steps switchbacking up the Shavano false summit. A small herd of bighorn sheep were grazing near the trail just past the switchbacks so I went up and around them and headed straight up to Shavano from there. Wind forecast was pretty mild but it was continuously blustery on the Shavano ridge towards Tab. I followed a mix of exposed social trails and rock hopping up the Tab E face to the summit, didn't see tracks on the ridge proper & was glad to be out of the wind anyway. No large-scale loading on Tab face & snow patches are avoidable/ rock-hoppable. Saw a wildfire toward the south, checked the Google maps wildfire layer & it was a prescribed burn on Sargents Mesa. |
10 | 2 | ||
| 1/4/2026 Northwest Slopes |
Northwest Slopes | Not much to add to previous condition report besides a few more pics. Road near summer conditions with a thin glaze of packed/melted snow closer to Winfield. Took advantage of a decent pull-off area 30 yards or so past the 2WD trailhead at Winfield but not worth driving up much further than that.
Last storm seemed to have put down 1-2in of fresh, warming quickly. Well-established boottrack down the 4WD road, up the switchbacks in the forest, and on above treeline to the wind-drifted shallow basin at 12,300ft. This deep snow plain is the main obstacle of the route as the crust is only randomly supportive and the wind will cover tracks over the span of even a few hours. We followed two different sets of posthole tracks from earlier hikers across the basin and neither was better or worse--I'd just aim straight for the apparent dry grassy headwall on the other side. Tall gaiters very useful, I don't think snowshoes would be worth hauling up bc of unsupportive snow regardless. After this there's another well-established boottrack following the summer trail up to the summit. There's a couple more early posthole sections but mostly the trail has shallow wind-drifted snow with dry stretches. More options to ascend off-trail on snowy grass slopes & rocks too. My heftier Hillsound trail crampon microspikes were helpful for dealing with the more slippery snow and steeper areas. Wind didn't seem too bad up here given the forecast. Shout out to previous parties over the weeks who set in the boot track. Saw some recent tracks from after the last storm going up towards Lulu as well, upper ridge through the 13ers looked pretty windblown. Have to say this is I think the most beautiful winter 14er I've done, exquisite snowy basin views all around with a pleasant lush forest on approach. Hands got cold taking so many pictures! |
10 | |||
| 12/30/2025 NW ridge Winter variant |
NW ridge Winter variant | Snow conditions on the trail before the Belford/Missouri trail split seem even better than last week with the new snow over the weekend smoothing the bootpack out. Despite the traffic last week and this week there wasn't the same well-trod bootpack up towards Missouri given the wind-drifted snow in the gulch--gaiters highly recommended. Moving up a little higher to cross the willow patch on the way to the ribs helped shorten the distance to cross, but still be prepared to posthole.
I am not really sure which was the right or wrong rib to take, but we went up a straighter rib that was the northernmost/ farthest climber's right in the gulch just south of the broad dry steep scree slope and in between a couple bowls. This rib had shallow mid-boot-high snow on top of grass clumps and sparse rocks all the way up to the ridge. Some parts were pretty steep and the snow was slick, but traction and poles helped for sure. Ridge down to Missouri wasn't much issue. Steps on the snow crossing close to the summit were frozen securely, imo another steep traverse with looser rock & snow and some snow crossings atop the ridge were more heads-up. Summit is farther than it looks with the false summit bumps on the ridge! |
6 | 3 | ||
| 12/23/2025 Via Mt. Belford |
Via Mt. Belford | Now an established boot-path of very shallow unconsolidated sugar/faceted snow & solidified post holes in deeper wind-drifted areas. Brought extra gaiters for deeper sections but ended up not needing them. Def no flotation needed still either.
Wind gusts were unpleasant high on Belford but dialed back later in the afternoon today, barely felt much wind on the traverse to Oxford except for the summit & just beneath it. Descended Belford north ridge towards 13er Pecks Peak to avoid switchbacks, tagged Pecks & went down the wide grassy gully S/SW of Pecks summit back to the Missouri gulch trail. Wore spikes from car to car, helped a bit in the snow & for sure on loose/steep dirt & grass. Looked like a few other folks went up Missouri today as well. |
10 | 1 | ||
| 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 |
