Mt. Blue Sky

Route: West Ridge from Summit Lake
Posted On: 6/2/2024, By: hamnwizz
Info: Started at 6.15 in microspikes - snow was pretty firm on the way up to Spaulding, but it was slow going up navigating the rocks and the post holes. Not too bad following the trail/footprints. Pretty bare on the saddle up to West Ridge - unfortunately we lost the route after the "notch" and got a bit spooked by the deep snow and exposure, so turned around. Will get it another time! Absolutely gorgeous views though and not much wind so still a great day. Snow was softening up a lot down Spaulding by 9.30am onwards but didn't need snowshoes - glad to have gaiters and microspikes though 

Route: Diamond Couloir
Posted On: 6/3/2024, By: madmattd
Info: We set a boot track up to the choke ~150' below the summit ridge where others had booted down from the ridge and skied down from previously. We started from Summit Lake around 8am and conditions in the couloir varied from firm (lots of front-pointing) to perfect crampon/booting conditions. The upper half to the choke was generally pretty firm. From the choke we went up to the summit ridge (more of the same snow conditions with 2 ~10' Class2 rock stretches to negotiate), then it was an easy walk over to the summit itself (microspikes could be helpful but we managed without). The firm sections in the couloir never really softened up, so I ended up downclimbing most of it facing in. Meanwhile, my partner skied down from the choke, then set a skin track and did nearly 2 full laps of the Apron Bowl while waiting for me to get down. He reported fantastic corn (this was around 11:30) in the Bowl. Plenty of people were booting up North Face Steep and skiing down North Face Moderate, and many others were shuttling from Summit Lake to the summit to drop down. I found snowshoes helpful for the exit over the hill above Summit Lake (I stashed them at the base of the couloir for ascent - obviously not needed if you're skiing!). Note we did see a toaster-sized rock that must have fallen down the couloir a day or two prior - it bounced and rolled a pretty far way. I measured a section in the middle of the couloir with my phone to be ~40degrees, which felt about right, and it was a pretty consistent slope. Fun first couloir climb with lots of learning. 

Route: Mount Blue Sky Highway
Posted On: 5/28/2024, By: BCarnahan03
Info: I chose to walk the closed road from Echo Lake to Summit Lake because the trail going from Upper Chicago Lake to Summit Lake looked like it would be dreadful. It was only my 2nd full day at high elevation. As well, that north facing pitch in the valley looked like a potential avalanche hazard. When I got to Summit Lake, I decided to continue walking the road rather than taking the standard trail because I was struggling with elevation and decided to opt for less elevation gain even if it meant more distance. After Mile 9 at Summit Lake, the plowed portion became more sporadic, sometimes with a thin ribbon of pavement, sometimes going back to 2 lanes. At Mile 11.2, the whole road was snow covered but appeared to be compacted by a snow cat. At Mile 11.8, the plowing ended, and soon after, the snow was not even level on the road. Thats where I chose to use crampons and an ice axe to cut that switchback. The pavement did show itself occasionally above that point but it was mostly snow. On the way down, I managed to cut loads of switchbacks until around mile 12 where I descended with microspikes this time rather than crampons. The top section on the way down was about 2 miles shorter than on the way up for me. The 9 miles at the bottom were the same distance both ways 

Route: Road conditions
Posted On: 5/19/2024, By: Zleisure
Info: Road plowed/completely snow free until where they stopped plowing at MM9, right before Summit lake. Biked up from Echo Lake Lodge fee closure gate where road is closed to vehicular traffic. 

Route: Road conditions
Posted On: 5/6/2024, By: Eagle Eye
Info: I pedaled & pushed a fat bike 6 miles up CO 5 from the fee gate closure at Echo Lake Lodge yesterday. The road has been being cleared for a week or so and had been plowed to about 5.8 miles. The small D5 bulldozer stopped making a level track right at the 6 Mile Marker sign. This is at 12,412 feet elevation, and right before a very large drift area within view at approx MM 7 on the road. It snowed the previous night, and although almost entirely cleared, some places on the road had a little dusting of snow that had formed black ice w/ high winds yesterday. I was glad to have the fat bike's better traction and also had micro spikes on my boots for pushing in some of the traditionally windier places. 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 4/14/2024, By: mtn14
Info: Snow was excellent in the morning. Didn't have to put on the snow shoes until a while past the split from the Bierstadt trail. The Gully was A+ going up in the morning. Ice axe was worth every penny traversing the west side of Blue Sky. Beginning at noon from the gully and out: tons of post-holing, or constantly on the verge of post-holing in snow shoes 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 3/11/2024, By: leandra_nikont
Info: Arguably the nicest weather I have had on any 14er! Zero wind and sunny all day. Used snowshoes until the drainage. A few slippery spots along the last mile. Snowshoes were also helpful on the way out on the soft snow. 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 3/10/2024, By: MMAfightingClimber
Info: Lots of trail breaking, we got a good trench going trench to about halfway up the gully. Not much snow on the upper half of the gully and above it. The west ridge annoyingly has a decent amount of snow. The descent down the lower gully is much more slick than the way up. Saw a moose about halfway from the lake to the gully 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 2/29/2024, By: shapovalovm
Info: The road to the winter closure is almost completely dry, with the exception of the first few switchbacks from Georgetown and a couple of icy spots. You can probably bike there if you want to. Past the closure, the road is very well packed by snowmobiles. I took it all the way to the last switchback. The red-shaded slope above the road did not look any dangerous at all. From there, there was supposed to be a trench but with the recent snow there wasn't one, so I made a new one*. Until about 12300 (I went up along Scott Gomer Creek, not up the drainage) it was a postholing nightmare in the willows, even in slowshoes. Apart from a couple OK sections, I could not take 5 steps without sinking thigh deep. Frankly, I should've just taken the road up to the pass and then Bierstadt trail all the way to the left turn. Stashed my snowshoes at 12500, thinking postholing was over, but in the next maybe 500' still managed to sink ankle to knee deep here and there. Past, maybe, 13200-13400 it gets very dry. Went up Sawtooth first and then turned towards Blue Sky. Ridge traverse goes very fast given there's a trail marked with like a million ducks (tiny cairns). On the way back, given my trench (if you could call a single-person track a trench) got pretty close to Bierstadt trail, I though about maybe just merging there. But decided to do some community service and return the same way to reinforce the trench a little. It's a pretty bad trench, but there's no better one either :) Leap day climb, yay! 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 1/7/2024, By: _coloradical
Info: The road from the Winter to Summer TH is in really good condition. No traction is needed. The trail to the cutoff for the Scott Gomer approach is also in really good condition. I put on snowshoes as I turned into the Willows. There are currently 2 trails heading up to the gully, one that follows the standard route (that two gentlemen put in today), and one I put in today that is a slight variation that avoids the willows. Once at the gully, a pretty deep trench/path has been put in by the two gentlemen (Thank you!) and myself. From here, there's a good foot path to the west ridge of Blue Sky. Once at the west ridge, I was able to put in some nice steps for the areas that are still holding snow. If Blue Sky doesn't see much snow, the route is in, get it while you can! The only traction I used today was snowshoes, I carried microspikes but didn't use them. Had an ice axe just in case, but didn't need it. 

Route: Bierstadt, Sawtooth, Blue Sky
Posted On: 1/3/2024, By: Logan5280
Info: I ascended Bierstadt, did the Sawtooth traverse, tagged Blue Sky, then descended via the summer gully to Guanella Pass. From the winter closure, the Bierstadt ascent is very chill and hard-packed the whole time. The cold (9 degrees when I started), clear night meant that there was a layer of surface hoar crystals on just about everything. The Sawtooth was a bit trickier than I expected, mostly due to the surprising amount of snow that it was holding, especially for its aspect. The Bierstadt down-climb was a mix of frosty talus-hopping, coupled with snow traverses that ranged from sugar snow, to icy hard-packed snow. An axe is absolutely necessary right now; I had a small slip on one of the harder snow sections, and a quick arrest was necessary. Micro spikes seemed to mostly do the trick (though I didn't kick a deep enough step where I slipped), crampons probably wouldn't have helped much. A thin slab was forming in isolated places despite the 1/5 forecast, so cautious decision-making is necessary. The crux of the Sawtooth was the gendarmes, though this may be due to my somewhat bad route choice. Essentially, all the ledges were covered in deep sugar snow, making for some difficult, exposed scrambling. The traverse to the final ledge ascent had the deepest snow, with one trapdoor post hole being waist deep. Again, more sugar snow. The final ledge traverse is mostly dry, except for a few deeper drifts. Overall, not too challenging, but caution is necessary with thin snow on scree in this exposed area. The whole Sawtooth traverse took about half an hour longer than my time in much drier conditions. I stashed my bag near the summit of the Sawtooth, and quickly scurried up the West Ridge of Blue Sky. The cairned trail through the talus is great, and is mostly just rock-hopping right now, with brief sections of deeper snow. There were ample goats hanging out there, along with a snowshoe hare. The descent gully is a heinous mix of deep snow and shallow talus, so it was slow-going. I heard a small woompf in a non-consequential part of the gully, though there wasn't really enough snow yet to slide. It felt ridiculous to drag my snowshoes all this way, though they were very helpful for the willows. I poached an existing trench, making the snowshoe relatively painless. I also saw 2 of the moose in the willows that people have been seeing lately. I didn't see anyone all day, except for a group of nordic skiers on the road walk down. Overall, a great day out! 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 1/1/2024, By: headsizeburrito
Info: Summited via Gomer Creek to West Ridge. Good low snow conditions that don't seem to have changed much from daway8's report two weeks prior. Road from Georgetown to winter TH 90% dry. Winter TH to summer TH has big bare patches but otherwise a couple inches of packed snow on most, easy walking with no traction. Vault toilets at summer TH unlocked and at least the one I checked had a good stock of TP. Packed easy trail through the willows, except for a minor detour around a group of eight moose (same ones daway8 saw?). I put on snowshoes once I left the Bierstadt trail, which were helpful getting through the willows. I took Gomer Creek up to the north rather than the steeper gully to the east (I've done both now, guess I'm not sure which is the standard given the route shown on the site vs the cairns I saw continuing up the creek). Once a few hundred feet above where the willows ended I took snowshoes off and switched to microspikes. Headed SE and joined the West Ridge where the Mt Spalding trail meets it. The West Ridge is maybe 2/3 dry, I took my spikes off and rock hopped most of it. It's filled in here and there, especially closer to the summit, but with care and reasonably soft snow conditions I made it through (both directions) without putting my spikes back on. Didn't need spikes for the descent, put snowshows back on for willows until rejoining the Bierstadt trail. Saw 10 moose, 15 bighorn, 15 mountain goats. Solid day all around! 

Route: West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Posted On: 12/15/2023, By: daway8
Info: Didn't summit - but went to the far side of the willows where you would split based on whether you're going for Gray Wolf or Blue Sky. Very mild conditions overall - not near as much snow as expected. Took the road all the way to the summer Bierstadt TH. Road not great for skinning - much of it only has an inch of snow, more sections blown dry after coming back down. Other spots had a few inches of powdery snow with an occasional little patch of ice. Avy corner is currently very low risk - not more than 6" total snow on that slope total. Bierstadt trail well packed. Had to put in a booter through the willows towards Blue Sky since little if anything left of past tracks, but surprisingly trivial to cross - no snowshoes or traction needed. Snow often only just covered my boots, frequently midway to knee; only a few brief scattered sections with a step or two that was knee deep. Gully up to Blue Sky looked almost totally dry - zero avy risk for now. Path to Gray Wolf also looked surprisingly dry. Great time to bag these peaks - only turned back due to annoying wind I could see ripping up high and because a friend was waiting to grab lunch. Will add some pictures later. 

Route: West Ridge from Echo Lake
Posted On: 11/19/2023, By: Derek
Info: Packed snow patches and some ice from the start up until the wilderness boundary, then lots of dry. Section from Upper Chicago Lake to Summit Lake was snowed in and harder to follow. From summit lake to summit over Spalding was clear except for occasional patches that were avoidable. Descended NE face to the road. Although my go to in the summer, was pretty gross with snow. Road was mainly clear from MM 10 down to treeline, then mostly snow covered. 

Route: Road conditions
Posted On: 11/13/2023, By: Eagle Eye
Info: Road Conditions from Fee Gate to summit based on two recent (11/5 and 11/12) fat bike trips. There is snow cover on the road from the gate to about Mile 2.3 with some lapses, then again from Miles 3.2 to 4.5, beyond which its clear until a drift consumes the road at Mile Marker 12, then blown clear to the summit. On both trips it was 26 degrees on the Crest House thermometer around 8 to 10 in the morning. I saw nobody beyond about 1 or 2 miles up on the first trip 11/5, and saw 2 hunters, 2 fat bike riders, and 2 skiers yesterday. Between these trips a 4 wheel vehicle has driven & packed tire tracks in the snow on the road. I carried down trek poles yesterday that were beside the road in the morning/were still in the afternoon, and will post in Lost & Found.