Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Mt. Antero - 14,271 feet
Date Posted	11/13/2017
Date Climbed	10/25/2017
Author	grahampa

Mt. Antero via Raspberry gulch
Mt. Antero via Raspberry Gulch on October 25th, 2017 Where to start! What a fantastic day in the mountains, one of my favorite routes I've completed in the Sawatch range. I think I did not start the route until about 9 am that morning, a bit of a later start than I had planned but I knew the approximate length of the route and figured I would still have more than plenty of time. A hiker friend of mine started the day with me, but as it turns out she was going at a bit too slow of a pace to make the summit so she turned around at about noon and left me to finish out the route by myself. Start: 845 AM Mt Antero Summit: 130 PM Back at car: 55 PM Total Distance: 8.60 miles Trailhead Elevation: 9,600' Total Elevation Gain: 4,780' Partners: Bre (Until about 11,500) and my trusty pup Luigi To start the day I was late for the planned meet up of 7 am... What a bum! Oh well, did not plan to start hiking until around 8 so I ended up arriving at the actual trailhead around 8:30 am. The road leading up to the hike was quite nice for a forest service road, I remember maybe one or two spots I was glad to have my AWD. There is a gate but all they ask is that you close the gate after entering. Thanks landowners! After a quick pack up and making sure I was prepared for the day, we set off. Following the path that has a sign stating "Closed off to motor vehicle", I made my way into the woods. Continue straight at what appears to be a trail junction. The path was a bit hard to follow but becomes obvious once you start climbing. Ascending the slope to our right, there was absolutely no snow until about 10,500 on the southeast facing slope (the northwestern side was a different story.. but more on that later). The trail will eventually dump you out on a saddle at about 10,500 where you will be departing any sign of a beaten path for the rest of the day. Turn to your left and continue up the seemingly endless forest slope. It gets a little steep at points but evens out before too long. Pick your path and try to avoid as many fallen trees as possible. After a high point or two you will finally leave treeline for the day, hiking up a lovely grassy hillside with small sections of talus to hit point 12,504. This is a beautiful look at the rest of your route. I was a little confused here on which way I would be ascending but it becomes obvious as you approach your next point, point 13,104. There is only one way up and that will be on the eastern ridge. The talus sets in at about 13k and is virtually relentless after that point. I would think this to be a very fine winter route I'm just not sure how much added mileage there would be. But mentally prepare your feet for the next few miles and continue on up the steepest part of the climb. I took many short breaks on my way up to the eastern ridgeline (about 13,700) but kept the scrambling at class 2. My dog had no trouble with it. Once up on the ridge you still have a little bit to go. Keep pushing over a couple of high points and you'll finally hit the summit. I saw a mountain goat and their yearling up there but they dashed away as soon as I actually summited. Amazing athletic ability those things have. Anyway, the path down is very straightforward but I would not want to be descending in the dark. Once you hit treeline make sure to stay to the right (climbers left) and out of the snow and shade on the northern side of the slope. If you descend too far you would be stuck climbing back up to the 10,500' saddle to get back to your car. I was lucky enough to realize my mistake and traverse to my right as much as possible before regaining the original route along the ridge, which was easy to distinguish due to lack of snow. Anyway, HEED THIS WARNING! I had read about it and thought that it couldn't happen to me, and even while keeping it in mind on the hike I still managed to drift off the route. The ridgeline makes a sharp right before entering treeline, I wish I had a picture of the high point around 11,200 where you are still in the trees but can see the slope where treeline ends. From this point you can see some of the route off to the left, therefore on the way down you must have to take a right! Stay to the right as much as possible right before entering treeline so that you do not end up having to backtrack, traverse or end up doing extra elevation gain and mileage. All in all a fantastic day without another soul in sight after my partner departed. Make sure you have some nice, comfortable shoes for it and a GPS track doesn't hurt. Here is the one I used from a previous trip report. GPS TRACK: https://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=lbnypzxwzacvdyqh Will hopefully be able to upload pictures from my phone soon.

Mt. Antero via Raspberry gulch

Mt. Antero via Raspberry Gulch on October 25th, 2017

Where to start! What a fantastic day in the mountains, one of my favorite routes I've completed in the Sawatch range. I think I did not start the route until about 9 am that morning, a bit of a later start than I had planned but I knew the approximate length of the route and figured I would still have more than plenty of time. A hiker friend of mine started the day with me, but as it turns out she was going at a bit too slow of a pace to make the summit so she turned around at about noon and left me to finish out the route by myself.

Start: 845 AM
Mt Antero Summit: 130 PM
Back at car: 55 PM
Total Distance: 8.60 miles
Trailhead Elevation: 9,600'
Total Elevation Gain: 4,780'
Partners: Bre (Until about 11,500) and my trusty pup Luigi

To start the day I was late for the planned meet up of 7 am... What a bum! Oh well, did not plan to start hiking until around 8 so I ended up arriving at the actual trailhead around 8:30 am. The road leading up to the hike was quite nice for a forest service road, I remember maybe one or two spots I was glad to have my AWD. There is a gate but all they ask is that you close the gate after entering. Thanks landowners! After a quick pack up and making sure I was prepared for the day, we set off. Following the path that has a sign stating "Closed off to motor vehicle", I made my way into the woods. Continue straight at what appears to be a trail junction. The path was a bit hard to follow but becomes obvious once you start climbing. Ascending the slope to our right, there was absolutely no snow until about 10,500 on the southeast facing slope (the northwestern side was a different story.. but more on that later).

The trail will eventually dump you out on a saddle at about 10,500 where you will be departing any sign of a beaten path for the rest of the day. Turn to your left and continue up the seemingly endless forest slope. It gets a little steep at points but evens out before too long. Pick your path and try to avoid as many fallen trees as possible. After a high point or two you will finally leave treeline for the day, hiking up a lovely grassy hillside with small sections of talus to hit point 12,504. This is a beautiful look at the rest of your route. I was a little confused here on which way I would be ascending but it becomes obvious as you approach your next point, point 13,104. There is only one way up and that will be on the eastern ridge.

The talus sets in at about 13k and is virtually relentless after that point. I would think this to be a very fine winter route I'm just not sure how much added mileage there would be. But mentally prepare your feet for the next few miles and continue on up the steepest part of the climb. I took many short breaks on my way up to the eastern ridgeline (about 13,700) but kept the scrambling at class 2. My dog had no trouble with it. Once up on the ridge you still have a little bit to go. Keep pushing over a couple of high points and you'll finally hit the summit. I saw a mountain goat and their yearling up there but they dashed away as soon as I actually summited. Amazing athletic ability those things have.

Anyway, the path down is very straightforward but I would not want to be descending in the dark. Once you hit treeline make sure to stay to the right (climbers left) and out of the snow and shade on the northern side of the slope. If you descend too far you would be stuck climbing back up to the 10,500' saddle to get back to your car. I was lucky enough to realize my mistake and traverse to my right as much as possible before regaining the original route along the ridge, which was easy to distinguish due to lack of snow. Anyway, HEED THIS WARNING! I had read about it and thought that it couldn't happen to me, and even while keeping it in mind on the hike I still managed to drift off the route. The ridgeline makes a sharp right before entering treeline, I wish I had a picture of the high point around 11,200 where you are still in the trees but can see the slope where treeline ends. From this point you can see some of the route off to the left, therefore on the way down you must have to take a right! Stay to the right as much as possible right before entering treeline so that you do not end up having to backtrack, traverse or end up doing extra elevation gain and mileage.

All in all a fantastic day without another soul in sight after my partner departed. Make sure you have some nice, comfortable shoes for it and a GPS track doesn't hurt. Here is the one I used from a previous trip report.

GPS TRACK:
https://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=lbnypzxwzacvdyqh

Will hopefully be able to upload pictures from my phone soon.

Comments or Questions

HikesInGeologicTime

Glad you made it!
11/14/2017 9:17am

...And I'm just as glad I left you to your own devices after we left the trees, because there is no way I would've made it back to the TH before dark. :p

Good call on adding the warning, too - obviously I got back to my car all right, but I definitely came down a slightly different way than we went up. No backtracking for me, happily, but I did have a few more minutes of staring into the trees and muttering, "Uh, shouldn't the road be visible by now?" than I'd have liked!

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Mt. Antero via Raspberry Gulch on October 25th, 2017

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