3/1/2020 Posted On: 3/1/2020 By: angry Info: Road is open to ~10,900. Didnt track mileage to dam, but there is currently a good boot pack. | ||||
1/5/2020 Posted On: 1/6/2020 By: Chicago Transplant Info: Plowed about 1/2 mile up from the winter Quandary parking. Room for 6 or so cars. We parked at the Quandary lot as we weren't sure it was legal to park here, but there were 6 cars when we came out later. Snow packed pretty much the entire way to Blue Lakes but well traveled and flotation wasn't really needed. There was an avalanche (not sure how recent) off a coulour on the south side of Quandary near the dam. Not Cristo, another one to its east. Pics below. The road definitely crosses slopes that can slide as it nears the lake and visits to this area should be carefully planned to avoid times of elevated avalanche risk. Also note that the standard approach to Fletcher and the West Ridge of Quandary in summer is NOT winter safe as there are two significant steep roll overs in that basin (pic 3 below), you need to get on the ridge to the left (west) of this gully. This involved some class 3 scrambling, maybe a move of 4th the route we went. We found a better way down farther up the creek beyond the lake. | ||||
11/2/2019 Posted On: 11/2/2019 By: dwoodward13 Info: Road is chained now at the lower lake. Road up to the chain was in good shape. Minimal snow, and on steep sections it was totally dry. | ||||
6/29/2019 Posted On: 6/29/2019 By: tauma Info: Easy drive to the upper TH. | ||||
6/12/2019 Posted On: 6/13/2019 By: plasticman Info: Similar to previous reports- parking is about .8 miles below the upper dam where the road branches to the left for the lower dam. I think there were about a dozen vehicles parked here. The gate above this is still locked and across the road. The upper road still has quite a bit of snow on it, which would push vehicles close to the edge. Maybe in July this will be melted out enough? A bigger truck can get to this gate (but it's locked). You can see there's probably a week's worth of snow left across the road here. Farther up towards the upper dam, still quite a bit on the road. | ||||
6/1/2019 Posted On: 6/1/2019 By: Trotter Info: Echoing the last report. Road is still impassible due to snow, about 80% covered. Parking for about 10 cars at old Monte Cristo pull-off | ||||
5/12/2019 Posted On: 5/12/2019 By: ma1919 Info: Road still closed at the parking area about 2 miles below the dam (about 800 feet from the lot next to Highway 9). There is continuous snow along the road past the closure except for the area right next to the dam. | ||||
11/14/2018 Posted On: 4/10/2019 By: BillMiddlebrook Info: Road is plowed to the old Monte Cristo pull-off, 1.5+ miles below the end of the road. Vehicles have been driving on the snow for another 3/4 mile but it's getting deep and difficult to turn around. Even with 4WD, I wouldn't drive past Monte Cristo. I wouldn't recommend skiing Cristo Couloir this time of year but if you want to ski/snowshoe into the upper basin, the road is completely snow-covered. | ||||
5/21/2018 Posted On: 5/21/2018 By: Wight Walker Info: Road open to dam, if you have subarus, jeeps, trucks etc. Just a little snow drift left on the last bit of the road. Not a big deal to cross. I expect 2wd could make it fine. If not, just park .2 down the road (but above the gate). | 1 |
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5/12/2018 Posted On: 5/13/2018 By: MountainHiker Info: The road is clear to just before the small parking lot at the gate about a half mile before the dam. There was a patch of snow that was no problem for 4WDs with decent clearance, but low slung cars were not chancing it. The gate was open and more vehicles were driving up to the usual drift closer to the dam. Not a problem to walk past the drift, but it would still be foolish to try driving it. Note, if you do go past the gate, you will have a multi point turn-around on the narrow road best done with a spotter due to the exposure on the left side. | ||||
5/5/2018 Posted On: 5/7/2018 By: Buckie06 Info: Open 1.6 miles below the dam. Multiple trucks that tried to drive further were stuck and had to be shoveled out. It is not a continuous skin up to the dam, you'll have to carry skis for half of it. | ||||
12/16/2017 Posted On: 12/16/2017 By: drewwhite88 Info: clear all the way to the Dam; snow on the road and a couple of spots w/ a handful of inches of buildup. Otherwise, smooth sailing for my Subaru Forester- happy hiking | ||||
11/19/2017 Posted On: 11/19/2017 By: clairekm Info: Gate is open, but snow on the road. Saw tire tracks going higher, but most people were parking just past the junction with 853 | ||||
7/22/2017 Posted On: 7/23/2017 By: E_A_Marcus_949 Info: Road clear all the way to the dam. Some washboarding but nothing to worry about. Beware of goats, though, as I've heard they like to lick the salt of dirty cars, though we didn't see any doing that on Saturday. | ||||
6/14/2017 Posted On: 6/14/2017 By: braydn75 Info: cable is down. You can drive all the way to the dam. |
