I've made it a project of some sorts to see which 14ers I can summit without a car in Winter (plainly because I don't own one). Buses are "OK", and thankfully in the 15 or so years I started doing this silly hobby, the public transportation system in Colorado has gotten significantly better. For example, I can get to Idaho Springs from Denver in a reasonable amount of time, and from there, quite a few mountains are within striking distance.

So Bierstadt and Blue Sky have been on my radar, as getting to the TH (or as near to the TH as one can get) is in striking distance. I timed things to be able to ride to up Guanella Pass Road, then camp and get up in the morning for the hike itself. The only real question mark was the condition of Guanella Pass Road.

In short, things didn't look too good coming up from Georgetown: a good layer of packed snow and ice. If the road was going to be like this for the entire time, I'd make it to the campsite I was planning to stay at around 1 or 2am. Thankfully, after the first few switchbacks (and probably: right as I got out of the city limits), the road was plowed well, with only a few niggling icy spots that I filed in the back of my mind for the decent the next day.

I've also been working on my Winter camping setup, as I'm more or less a fair-er weather hiker, but I've wanted to extend my season of hill climbing, and I love solitude in the high country - easy to get when it's not summer. I rode up to the road closure, and camped at the USFS campsite, which was closed officially of course. Thought no one would mind me poaching a spot, so I got to stamping out a spot with snowshoes to lay down a tarp and cowboy camp. Creek was running, so I also trenched a path to it in the morning to heat up water. Condensation was fairly bad, so sometime in the middle of the night, I moved into a bivy, rather than being right out in the open. Weather was clear and calm.

Got up early (2am? 3am?) the next day to start up. The Road was packed well, and at one of the last switchbacks you find a shortcut off the road and onto (eventually) the Bierstadt trail. Didn't need flotation at all and I made it fine in my winter trail runners. Once on the trail proper, it was smooth sailing on a packed trail all the way to the summit. I enjoyed gorgeous sunrise colors and a commanding few of Square Top Mountain, as well as a family of big horned sheep making their way - incredulously - from the summit itself. Thought that a good omen.

Summited around 9am myself, ate some TJ peanut butter cups (dark choco, of course!) and checked out the Sawtooth ridge, Looked dolloped in snow and questionable at my success going over, but you know, what the heck. Taking the ridge fairly directly seemed best, as it would put me above any avy terrain, rather than below (I saw no signs of slides the entire trip). Didn't bring any microspikes, but I'd see how well I'd do. Brought snowshoes as that seemed wise if I ever got to Blue Sky and needed to descend the gully to Scott Gomer.

Snow condis were pretty terrible and the white stuff offered no support, so it was slow slow going trying to get across. But across I got, for the long, long walk to Blue Sky. Summited around 2pm which took approx. the same time as getting to Biertstad from the campsite! Ugh. The descent also seemed to move in slow motion down the gully. It didn't hold too much snow, so no avy danger, but the snow as just deep enough to cover most rocks with a slippery amount of precip.

Finally on more flatter ground, I could put on the snowshoes I've been carrying for >10 hours and stamp a somewhat trenched out route down to the trail, the shortcut, the road, and back to camp. I had approx. an hour and a half to get back to Idaho Springs to catch the last bus out of town and back to Denver, or face being stuck in Idaho Springs overnight, crashing at some old mining claim.

I did my best to go both as fast as possible down Guanella Pass Road and not eat sh!t on the ice, and I think I did pretty OK, aided by almost no traffic on the entire road until Georgetown. Made it with 5 minutes to spare and onto the bus in soggy clothes I stammered. A good time, all around - and two more snowflakes for my collection.