Mt. Blue Sky

Route: West Ridge from Summit Lake
Posted On: 10/15/2024, By: Lucky Day
Info: Blue Sky from Bierstadt via Sawtooth. Everything is dry as a bone! was warm and not windy. Came down the gulley and it's more loose than usual and the bogs are pretty boggy and wet. Lots of people on Bierstadt, just a few on Blue Sky and a few goats. 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 9/14/2024, By: cougar
Info: Just a few spots of mud on the trail through the willows, frozen in the morning and the deepest spots can be avoided with careful stepping. A bit of ice in the upper gully from the water flowing down, but not much to be an issue, just watch your step if lighting is low. Fall colors coming in good in the willows and tundra, and aspen along Guanella Pass road. Trailhead still busy with cars along road by 7 on weekend, but this route didn't have many people. 

Route: West Blue Sky, Blue Sky, Sawtooth from Guanella
Posted On: 9/8/2024, By: HikesInGeologicTime
Info: Went up via drainage between Gray Wolf and Spalding thinking it would be a kinder, gentler approach. It was, in terms of pitch, but the willow-bashing was impressive on this less-established route - sometimes, the willows bashed back. Went more or less ridge direct up to West and Blue Sky. A few Class 3 moves, including a couple where I found it helpful to have a spotter, but less wussy climbers will have no problems. Blue Sky was quiet with the road closed down. We had the summit all to ourselves for about an hour before other hikers came to join us. Still nothing like the crowds one would normally expect, however. Sawtooth high point was an easy and pretty addition with the views of Abyss Lake. Descended Scott Gomer Gully in hopes of less bashing and being bashed by willows. Succeeded, but the mud wrestling was also pretty impressive (tl;dr, the mud won). Consider bringing a change of pants/socks in the car if descending in the afternoon after the mud thaws out for the day. 

Route: West Ridge from Summit Lake
Posted On: 8/10/2024, By: mjm1231
Info: Middle of the night snow was forecast but didn't happen. Dry from TH to summit. Windy. Solid class 2 hike but took advantage of ample class 3 variations. Really fun hike! Short and not very strenuous. 

Route: West Ridge from Summit Lake
Posted On: 7/26/2024, By: EMan
Info: Summer Conditions on entire route. (I.e. No snow on route from Summit Lake via Mt. Spaulding to Blue Sky summit). 

Route: West Ridge from Summit Lake
Posted On: 7/23/2024, By: Detenor2004
Info: Early this morning was very smokey but was utterly surprised by how much snow was on Spalding and Blue Sky, mostly above 13,000 and up to an inch from what i saw. Snow made it a little tricky to find the trail between Spalding and the ridge, but the trail below the ridge got quite hairy at parts. For the most part the snow provided enough traction but many rocks were coated with black ice and a few times I had to re route around large ice covered rocks (didn't bring spikes but would have been useful). I'd imagine all of this snow will melt in the coming days but if you're going in the near future wouldn't hurt to pack the spikes. Overall fun day! Note: I started from Summit Lake around 5am and summited around 6:45am, will provide photos! 

Route: Tour de Abyss Loop
Posted On: 7/6/2024, By: shaines90
Info: Both Bierstadt's East Ridge and the Sawtooth are clear. If you choose to take the lower route on the Sawtooth to bypass the ridge direct, there is still a significant snow field on the descent from Bierstadt that someone slipped and slid down this morning, so take care on that. The exit from the Sawtooth also contains a lot of loose dirt and rock, but staying high up just below the cliff band seemed to remedy any of that. 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 6/29/2024, By: izabelaspivy
Info: First two miles are very muddy and the trail is hard to find. Only saw a few other hikers taking this route. Would recommend gaiters if you have them. The map on All Trails was accurate so I used that to keep me on track. Long day, but well worth it for the views going up the gully. Beautiful waterfalls! 

Route: North Face Moderate
Posted On: 6/21/2024, By: slawrence2011
Info: Due to poor forecast, drove to summit and skied down N face moderate E, which required a couple hundred foot downclimb to snow, and ends about 400 ft above Summit lake. Then hitched back to summit and walked the ridge to the Blue Sky Spaulding saddle, which was bone dry, and dropped into sunrise couloir, which was in great shape. Only thing I would have changed is, go around lake to skier's right, the lake extends quite a ways to skier's left that I didn't see. Then hitched back up and took a lap on N face moderate W, which also required a hundred foot downclimb, good shape after that. Same exit as N face moderate E. Then hitched back to my car at summit. N face steep looks totally out, I can't even see anything resembling that line from the way down N face moderate.Thanks all for the hitches! 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 6/17/2024, By: Smgillis
Info: Underestimated the length this one would take! Car to car about 9 hours but that includes at least an hour-hour and a half trail finding and sitting on the summit for 20. Due to the spring run off the trail once it diverges from the Bierstadt trail was very hard to find through the willows. Even up through the gulley due to snow it was hard to find on the way up so we bouldered/scrambled most of the way. It was wet, muddy but sunny. We had unusually high winds for the entire day which made for traversing around Mt Blue Sky to the summit a little sketchy. We only saw 1 other hiker doing the same route. We ran into a couple families doing the Summit Lake route. When in doubt if you hike while the runoff is still heavy follow the stream that has essentially covered up the trail. Every time we detoured we found our way back and followed the stream (not to be confused with creekwhich at times the path runs alongside). It was about an hour from the saddle looking at Sawtooth to the summit of Mt Blue Skymaybe a little less on the way back. 

Route: West Ridge from Summit Lake
Posted On: 6/16/2024, By: Willy the Kid
Info: Pretty much summer conditions; there are only a few snowfields that don't warrant microspikes. There is a lot of black ice though, be careful. That last mile of rock hopping on the ridge is also pretty slow going. Saw a few skiers and snow climbers, the photos attached show their lines. There is currently nothing continuous from the parking lot, though. 

Route: North Face Moderate
Posted On: 6/14/2024, By: axelmalahieude
Info: Great, supportive snow for climbing until the top 1/3rd. The snow turned to bulletproof ice and kicking steps became slow. We followed an old boot pack but it was rotten from the recent sun and storms, so I expect ours wont last long. The snow is also melting fast at the top, so we had to mix climb wet/icy rock and intermittent snow for 40-50ft to get to the mellower terrain near the ridge. The mixed section is exposed, steep and loose, and I imagine it was snow covered until very recently. Summit lake at 5, started up the couloir at 6 and made it to the ridge at 7:20. 

Route: West Ridge from Echo Lake
Posted On: 6/13/2024, By: dmorris3
Info: The trail conditions are almost perfect up to Summit Lake. From Summit Lake, there are some snowy spots until Mount Spalding and then the conditions are almost perfect to Mount Blue Sky. Overall, it's a doable hike and if you're comfortable with a little snow and a little scrambling--and a long day--you'll be just fine. 

Route: West Ridge from Summit Lake
Posted On: 6/9/2024, By: masonzastrow
Info: Occasional snow before the Blue Sky-Spalding saddle, only infrequent patches above that. It's drying out quick! If you start early, you can probably get away without snowshoes but going back up spalding could get slushy. Still saw people skiing nearly off the summit, if you were in a group of two wearing pink and yellow, I have a video of you dropping in! Road is open to the summit. 

Route: West Ridge from Summit Lake
Posted On: 6/11/2024, By: danielscottmccall
Info: Snow is mostly clear from the entire route, maybe 5 or so sections, each no longer than 50 yards. I elected not to use microspikes as most of the snow sections were not on steep sections and had been pretty well-tracked already, and I didn't regret this decision. Elected to descend via the road due to an incoming hailstorm so I can't speak to the descent, but I think I would have felt comfortable on those sections in the opposite direction as well. Obviously one needs to take caution in certain sections but I felt the loose rock on the ridge heading east was more troublesome than the snow at this point, despite postholing in a few places.