5/2/2012 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 5/2/2012, By: philbucher Info: Guanella Pass Road is bare, clear and dry from the seasonal closures on both sides to the summit trailhead. (Make that clear from 285 all the way across to Georgetown! But in spite of clear roads, the County does not plan to open the road the final ~2 miles (each side) until near the end of May.) The north side is now fully paved all the way to the summit trailhead. Yea! Some packed snow throughout the upper climb, but absolutely NO NEED for snowshoes now. (Ski poles might be useful. - we used our today.) Plenty of afternoon mud on the lower slopes and in the bog/rushes. |
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4/30/2012 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 4/30/2012, By: RockyMountainMustang Info: Trail is frozen mud/defrosted mud/packed snow to summit. No traction devices needed, although you might consider yakxtrax on a cold day when the ice/snow won‘t soften up at all. Snow is ~3-6 in. on ~1/3 of trail, but pretty packed down. Lower part of trail muddy, I would recommend wearing knee-high gaiters because of all the squishing and splashing. Beautiful sunny day, slight breeze, and not a cloud in the sky. The sawtooth is pretty dry looking. Snow and ice in a couple spots. Probably doable, but the gulch to descend has a lot of snow, but you could stay to the side of the gulch and probably do fine. Pic 1 Sawtooth Pic 2 Frodo don‘t follow the lights Pic 3 Bierstadt/ Sawtooth traverse Pic 4 Evidence of some microbursts knocking down a ton of trees. Looks more like a tornado hit it. |
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4/23/2012 Route: Standard Posted On: 4/23/2012, By: MTGOAT72 Info: Conditions are great in the AM, in the afternoon the trail is a mud bowl. Starting at the road closure my GPS tracked 10.4miles to the summit and back. Only one on the mountain today, beautiful day. Trip report on my blog if your interested: http://coloradoascents.blogspot.com/ |
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3/31/2012 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 3/31/2012, By: MountainHiker Info: Snowshoes not needed. We took MicroSpikes but didn’t use them. Pole recommended. It will depend on the melt freeze cycle if things are icy. Above the willows is largely blown off. Still some snow in places. In the willows there was a little post holing in the afternoon. The biggest issue could be the stream crossing. The water under the snow is broader than the stream. In the morning it was firm enough about 50’ downstream from the usual crossing spot. On the return we crawled across since a post hole meant a soaker. This area could get worse with some more mild weather. Georgetown side - road bare to winter parking closure. Some snow on road to summer TH. A little post holing on return. |
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3/24/2012 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 3/24/2012, By: Slow Moving Fun Seeker Info: From the gate to Guanella Pass, the road is mostly snow covered, firm in the morning and slushy with some minor postholing the the afternoon. Traction, flotation, gaiters not necessary. The trail through the willows is well packed and again, flotation, traction, gaiters are not essential, though later in the day, flotation may prove useful as the snow softens and postholing is less predictable. Upper trail is packed and Microspikes might be helpful. I‘ve never seen this mountain this dry at this time of year. The heat reflecting off the snow was rather intense and with virtually no wind, some folks had the foresight to wear T-shirts and tank tops. I overdressed to an unfortunate degree. |
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3/24/2012 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 3/25/2012, By: Justin9 Info: Guanella Pass closed at winter closure. Road is snowy but very little postholing until afternoon. Trail is well packed - again, minimal postholing. I did not use snowshoes but did find microspikes helpful in a few spots. Snow melting fast and turning trail into mud. |
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2/25/2012 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 2/25/2012, By: Gueza Info: Guanella Pass road closed at 8.2 miles and 11,000 ft. Took us 6.5 hours RT. The wind was ridiculous, I got blown down countless times and could barely stand up on the summit ridge. Bierstadt is totally skiable if you are NOT looking for good skiing. Skied from the summit ridge about 15 ft (I could have skied more but the 70+ MPH winds instilled a pucker factor ski on that ridge; I almost got blown off the edge of it which would have meant a very unpleasant ride into a different drainage) Then hiked down 300ft to a snowfield and connected snowfields all the way back down to the willows. The willows are a nightmare. High winds filled in our trench in the willows, but it should still be there on the road for a little while longer. Snowshoes or skis are a MUST unless you like wallowing. |
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1/29/2012 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 1/29/2012, By: SurfNTurf Info: Road was plowed from the Georgetown side to the winter closure, with a few slick sections. I have a low-clearance 2WD and made it without breaking a sweat. There‘s a "shortcut" that leaves the road at a switchback around 11,450‘ to make a beeline through some willows to intersect the trail. I‘d strongly advise against taking it. The 20 minutes we spent postholing to our knees/waists in snowshoes was probably the most difficult part of the day. The road may meander a bit, but it‘s less of a hassle and likely just as quick. If you skip the willows shortcut, snowshoes are NOT currently necessary. We pointlessly wore ours up the road and stashed them once we reached the boardwalks. The trail is bootpacked and easy to follow. Higher on the route the path becomes a bit more elusive, but huge cairns are everywhere. A few others on the route didn‘t have microspikes, but I found them indispensable, especially on the descent. My GPS clocked the route from the Georgetown winter closure at 10.5 miles and 3,700‘. We made it from car-to-car, goofing off and with lots of unnecessary breaks, in 8 hours. |
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1/7/2012 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 1/8/2012, By: eaumann Info: Not much snow cover - most of the trail was well-packed and visible during the morning ascent. Snowed between 4 - 6 inches in the afternoon. I did the hike in sturdy mountaineering boots, but it is a little slick in spots - should probably carry microspikes or snowshoes. |
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12/31/2011 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 12/31/2011, By: bsakdol Info: Parking area is about 1.8 miles below TH. The road hike to the TH is a mixture of pavement, shallow snow and crusted snow over the top of deeper snow. We used microspikes, but carried snowshoes, which could have been helpful over some sections, but too much of a hassle to put on. We turned around at the TH due to 65+mph winds with gusts easily over 80mph. The blowing snow decreased visibility to approx 10ft and dropped the temp to well below 0. It snowed a good couple inches below timberline before the sun came out. We took a gamble on the weather and lost this time. |
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12/30/2011 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 12/30/2011, By: fetyko Info: The Guenella Pass road from Georgetown was closed about 2.5-3 miles from the top of Guenella Pass Summit parking lot. Very wind blown and windy conditions, not too cold though. Snow shoes were preferable to hike to the Summit of the Pass but not necessary. |
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12/27/2011 Route: Guenella pass Posted On: 12/28/2011, By: 54coldones Info: The trail from Guenella pass is in great condition. Easily followable to the first ridge then the trail peters out. Made the assent in a pair of pacs with no problem. Headed over the Sawtooth. Heading down from Bierstadt, the pacs left something to be desired. The route over Sawrooth is easily identifiable. |
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12/17/2011 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 12/17/2011, By: MountainHiker Info: Snowshoes not needed. Microspikes and a pole are good. Road from Naylor Lake TH to pass has a few inches of snow. Well packed trail through willows. Above willows a few inches of snow. Above 13,000‘ a lot of people have lost the trail and taken a straighter route where the trail does the big swing to the right. |
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12/10/2011 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 12/10/2011, By: jeremy27 Info: I climbed Square Top today and from what I could see of Bierstadt it is easily passable. There appears to be a slight dusting of snow but nothing major. Most of the route up Square Top was blown clean and melted (no traction or flotation required) and Bierstadt is probably similar. Good luck. The weather today was amazing. |
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12/10/2011 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 12/11/2011, By: gprandall Info: Yesterday (12/10/2011) I hiked up Mt. Bierstadt from snow closure on the west side of Guanella Pass. The road is gated at the turnoff to Duck Lake. Although I brought snowshoes, the snowpack is still very shallow and snowshoes were completely unnecessary. The road from snow closure to the pass is almost dry, which allows for fast hiking. The trail is well packed and obvious until about 13,000 feet. From there to the summit ridge people have taken a variety of lines, all of them easy. With full camera gear (about 20 pounds) it took me 4 1/2 hours to the summit, 2 hours 45 minutes to hike down by moonlight after shooting sunset from the top. I‘ll include a hasty edit of my current favorite image from the trip. Glenn Randall www.glennrandall.com/sunrisefromthesummit.html |
