Mt. Democrat

Route: South Slope
Posted On: 3/26/2012, By: benners
Info: Saturday, March 24th, 2012. We skied the main chute skier's right of the summit from around 13,800'. From 13,800' to the summit was dry, though I suppose if you like walking over rocks with your skis on you could make it go from the true summit. The chute was in excellent condition, corning up well around 10am and granting a ski all the way back to the Kite Lake TH. We dug a pit at the base of the chute, isolated a column, and recorded a CT of 30+ and a shear score of 3. The chute is very stable, and is lending good skiing from summit ridge to car right now. Feel free to PM me if you need any additional info. -benners P.S. The third photo is a shot of Arkansas from Democrat‘s summit. 

Route: East Slope
Posted On: 3/20/2012, By: mountainmicah83
Info: Sorry I have no pics. My camera is broken and my partner forgot his. Did the loop starting up the Bross trail and ending on Democrat. The road is now plowed to Kite Lake due to the recent S&R activity on Ajax. The sherriff and local search and rescue folks were up there sat morning and they were all very nice and very friendly. There was a couple of hundred yards of snow from the TH towards bross. Snowshoes definitely not needed. Almost dry route all of the way until the Cameron/Democrat saddle. Microspikes might be nice up Democrat as the trail there is pretty hard packed but we managed just fine with just boots. We camped on the Democrat summit Sat night and woke up to crazy winds sunday morning so we packed up quickly and got back to the car. Having the advantage of the road being open to kite lake, we made it down in time to have a delicious breakfast at the world‘s highest saloon in alma. Nice folks there! 

Route: East Slope
Posted On: 2/29/2012, By: Layne Bracy
Info: I was able to drive through fresh snow 2 miles past Alma, leaving 4 miles to snowshoe to Kite Lake. During my hike, the plows came, so you should be able to drive another 1/2 mile or so now. I kept my snowshoes on from car to car. They weren‘t always needed, but throughout the hike there were frequent spots of snow deep enough to warrant them. The wind managed to pretty much erase my tracks, so I found myself re-breaking trail for a few miles after Kite Lake on the return. Avy slopes can be avoided without much trouble. The hike took me 7.5 hours - one of the easier winter 14ers I‘ve done! 

Route: East Slope
Posted On: 2/10/2012, By: SurfNTurf
Info: The road to Kite Lake is closed at Paris Mill, about 2.5-3 miles short of the summer trailhead. It's plowed to the closure and 2WD accessible. You MIGHT be able to get farther, but I wouldn't recommend it. There are sections of snow along the road, including immediately after the mill, approaching a foot deep. The road is equal parts dry and drifted. I wore my snowshoes from the car to nearly 13,000', though I wouldn't call them necessary. The deep-snow sections are short. You could probably get away without snowshoes as long as you don't mind a couple hundred feet of knee- or waist-deep postholing. From the lake, we stayed right of the summer trail on a broad hill that dog-legged left toward the Democrat-Cameron saddle. We descended the standard route and didn't notice any avy danger, so either option is likely fine. The route does cross one slide area (Photo 3) at roughly 12,700' in the area displayed in Photo 2. The route we chose in Photo 2 started at the rocks left of center and traversed up and left. The avalanche slope is about dead center. We tested the snow on similar aspects and hadn't seen any signs of instability, so we felt reasonably safe as we crossed it one at a time. We took off our snowshoes shortly after the avy slope. The snow was mostly wind-scoured or we were on rocks from there (12,800') to the summit. The somewhat-bad conditions turned to a complete whiteout above 13,000'. Very limited visibility, blowing snow, sustained winds between 30 and 40 miles per hour. Bone-chilling cold. I took my goggles off for a few minutes and my eyelashes acquired so many icicles my left eye almost froze shut, haha. So, yeah. We stopped after Democrat, saving Lincoln, Bross and Cameron for another day (from Quartzville!). I'd say go poach our trench, but the wind blew it away as quickly as we made it. RT time roughly 7.5 to 8 hours. 

Route: East Slope
Posted On: 1/6/2012, By: Rcizzle
Info: The area lacks snow in general. However, the trail is the only feature covered in snow. I would strongly advice microspikes because the hard pack can be slick and icy. The snowy trail lasts most of the way to Mt. Cameron and thats about it. Lincoln has a few snowy sections while the Cameron Bross saddle is snow free. 

Route: East Slope
Posted On: 11/24/2011, By: Unknown
Info: Route up to democrat had a fair amount of snow drifted in spots, but nothing that needed snowshoes really. Microspikes were incredibly helpful all day. I broke trail on the way up and had a few spots where I was knee or thigh high in snow. The route over to Cameron was less snow, but MUCH more wind. On Cameron & Bross the wind was so hard I was literally hiking while leaning at a 30 degree angle. Descending Bross I was glad to have brought the ice axe, since I used it in a few spots in the gully which was fully of snow, because I lost the trail down (if there even is one). 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 10/24/2011, By: Exiled Michigander
Info: Note: Kite Lake Road is currently closed from Mondays through Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Was hoping to hike up Democrat from Kite Lake with my father, but when we turned onto Kite Lake Rd. in Alma we discovered that the road is currently closed Mondays through Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. I hadn't been aware of this, although apparently there was a post about it in the forum. We did Sherman instead, so the story didn't end that badly. 

Route: East Slope
Posted On: 10/2/2011, By: colokeith
Info: Trail and acess road are still snow free. There was some slick frost on democrat until about 9am. Tundra and Aspen still have beautiful color. Road closures of Kite lake road. Check trailhead page for more info. With limited acess there was a LOT of people up there on Sunday 

Route: Combo - Decalibron
Posted On: 9/22/2011, By: IndyMac
Info: Well I was going to try and complete the Combo route, but I ran into a problem. The road (County Rd ‘8‘) heading to Kite Lake was under construction. A sign said that it would be closed from 7am to 7pm. What I don't know is if it was just for today (9/22) or if it will last longer. Just a heads up. There's also road construction on Colorado Hwy 9, mile marker 81, just north of Alma. It's not terrible, though. 

Route: East Slope
Posted On: 9/22/2011, By: aliciaf
Info: Did the DeCaLiBron combo. Very windy, making it feel much colder than it was. Had to stop and find places to huddle and block the wind to warm up a few times. Trail itself was good - some snowy and icy spots here and there. Used crampons for part of the descent down Democrat (to easy my mind), but found that they weren‘t really necessary & took them off soon after putting them on. Main issue with the hike that day was the strong gusts of wind. 

Route: East Slope
Posted On: 9/18/2011, By: RckyMtBob
Info: Very climbable! Sunday was very windy in the morning with the passage of weather system. Snow on the trail from 13,000. Not a problem but could become icy with a couple of freeze/thaw cycles and get packed down. Road to Kite Lake was open but construction continues so check before you go. Saw a great big moose on the road. 

Route: Road to Trailhead
Posted On: 9/13/2011, By: byteman
Info: I was out there on Monday 9/12 and a sign indicated road closures "beginning 9/12/11" at the start of the road to the trailhead. I made it up to Kite Lake anyway but on the way back out there was definitely at least one piece of heavy equipment moved in and the road was barricaded at the Hwy 9 turn. I haven‘t researched this closure any further but you may want to do so before heading out there. I‘d also note that the road is *barely* passable in a standard 2WD auto, say a Honda Civic for instance. 

Route: East Slope
Posted On: 9/10/2011, By: gyrogearloose
Info: As of Saturday 09/10/2011, there is a sign posted on the dirt road from Alma to Kite lake saying that the road will be closed from 7am to 7pm starting on 09/12/2011. There is no end date. The sign is hand written, which suggests that it was not put there by the county. There is new and active mining activity at two locations on the north side of the road about a mile from Alma. I suspect the closure has something to do with this. If this sign is taken literally, there is a risk that those hikers who arrive before 7am will be trapped and unable to leave until 7pm. 

Route: East Slope
Posted On: 7/31/2011, By: forbins_mtn
Info: Mt. Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln and Bross were all clear today. Perfect conditions the whole way. The trailhead is clear and my 2WD 1998 Honda Accord made it to Kite Lake just fine. You‘re gonna have to weave your way around potholes, but you‘ll make it with pretty much any vehicle. There was supposed to be a 50% chance of rain around noon, and it was glorious all day. So go hit these mountains! 

Route: East Slope
Posted On: 7/9/2011, By: toekramp
Info: While I managed to get my vehicle stuck in a snow drift on Friday the 8th, on Saturday they had plowed the road to allow easy access all the way to the Kite Lake parking area. There are several snow fields still on the Democrat / Cameron / Lincoln / Bross loop but nothing that requires crampons or even gaiters for that matter. Great hike!