Route: Antero west slopes -> Southeast ridge up Cronin -> North Ridge down Cronin
Miles: 10.5 miles...? Mapped on Caltopo, didn't actually track mileage
Gain: 3,500-4kft..? Again just mapped on Caltopo, didn't actually track!
Partners: Eddie Parks and Chris Battle
Time:
7hrs 45 min.

5:00am start
7:10am Summit Antero (parked at 11,700ft on 277)
25minutes on top
8:30am Back to saddle
9:00am Start up Cronin
10:20am Summit Cronin
20 minutes on top
12:45pm finish

I was recently cleared to hike 14ers now about 4 months post ACL op, and after 'warming up' by doing Torreys, Grays, and Bierstadt, I wanted to try a more lengthy/slightly harder hike than my previous few 14ers, as they all went extremely well. Knee has held up great and 0 pain/indications that I had overdone it (no swelling or aches at all!).

Cronin was the original plan given the holiday, but Chris mentioned he wanted to try for a 14er as well and said "Well why don't we just do both a 14er and a 13er?". Of course Eddie and I were completely game So Antero-Cronin loop it was.

Drove out Monday evening fully expecting traffic on 285 for the 4th, but surprisingly there was none! Was able to drive up the 4wd road to 11,600ft, and while you can certainly drive up more, we still wanted to get in a decent length hike, so stopped at 11,600 and called it a night. It was a calm, windless night-was quite a special feeling to experience that near treeline!

Given the chance of typical summer afternoon storms, we decided on a 5am start time to be off all peaks by 11am-12pm. After a 4:00am alarm, coffee and oatmeal, we were off right at 5am (I think it also helped that we were all equally excited to be headed out for a fun day almost all above treeline).

The climb up Cronin from the saddle is steep- There are quite a few switchbacks if you decide to take them.

When three ski mountaineers go out for a hike instead of a ski, although there might be no skiing involved, there's still an abundance of ski habits and ski lingo throughout the hike!! On the way up Cronin, Eddie caught himself doing a few kicksteps through the switchbacks as if he had skis on, we all wouldn't stop eyeing the few tiny lines that were 'in', used 'skiers right/left', 'drop in', and 'commit' when evaluating our (hiking) route, etc. I had even offered the day before to carry Eddie's skis up myself 'for training' so that atleast he could ski since I'm not cleared to ski myself, but he politely declined. Oh well. His loss

We had debated ascending Cronin first to avoid descending the scree on the north ridge, but given a few other factors, decided on Antero first. This North ridge of Cronin is definitely covered in loose rock- certainly a hard class II! I'd advise against this ridge unless you are comfortable with loose rock and scree. If you are, great- this ridge will not let you down in the need for major foot placement focus! Another option we considered is returning to the Antero-Cronin saddle after summited Cronin and descending the road, so that is an option for this loop as well (though wouldn't necessarily be a loop then )

It may seem tempting to go slightly left/right of the ridge, but definitely stay ridge proper for the best solid rock options after 1.) reaching the ridge if ascending, or 2.) reaching the 'drop in' point if descending. Circled this point on a map for reference:

Overall I really enjoyed this loop and would definitely recommened Cronin if you need some extra credit from Antero- what a neat 13er. Our teamwork/communication was solid the whole time and it was definitely one of the best and hassle-free 14er hikes I've been on in a while! Yay for strong hiking (and backcountry ski) partners!