Mt. of the Holy Cross

Route: Cross Couloir
Posted On: 4/9/2025, By: jmanner
Info: Skied the Cross Couloir from the winter closure yesterday. Still plenty of snow from the Winter TH, we put the skis/skins on at the closure gate and toured to 13,650’(could have pushed it to 13,850), the cross couloir skied very well at 9:30, consolidated powder. Plenty of snow to ski out of the basin to the uphill out of the creek basin. It’s a big day without a sled. Edit: added pictures, wouldn’t load at first. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 10/27/2024, By: pmreyn2010
Info: There is some snow on most of the trail but pretty inconsequential. Brought microspikes but never put them on. Poles were helpful though. Great fall day out there. Obviously conditions will change this week with the upcoming forecast. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 10/19/2024, By: Will_E
Info: Not much snow on HC, Tigiwon rd is completely dry, trail is dry until reaching treeline. Above treeline snow is inconsequential, easy to get through. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 10/14/2024, By: BillMiddlebrook
Info: Route is still bone dry. I'm posting this to warn hikers to follow the large cairns on the upper route. We saw some people taking a loose, exposed route from the top of Angelica Couloir (13,700') directly toward the summit. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 10/13/2024, By: Agdrummer93
Info: Tigiwon road is in good shape. 2wd is fine unless theres snow. Most pot holes avoidable Trail still in summer conditions. Parking lot 1/3 full at 4:30am on a Saturday but full when I arrived back at 11am. Moving time 5:00 hours and total time 6:45 hours. I trail ran some of the descent and think a moderate paced hiker would be looking between a total of 8-10 hours (subjective, of course). 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 10/8/2024, By: MaryinColorado
Info: Dry conditions all the way. Tigiwon Rd is in awesome shape! Aspens? Way past peak. Still splotches of color here and there, and a nice carpet of yellow. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/30/2024, By: Slingshot77
Info: Parking lot to Summit and back on 30SEP2024. We took the standard North Ridge CLASS 2 route. Road to trailhead was rough at the Community House but made it with a RAV4 AWD. Viewing the cross creek camp valley with autumn aspens makes for an incredible picture. Trail was clear. Small patches of snow are beginning to fill the couloirs. Temperatures from 50s to 70s with very little wind. We encountered less than a dozen people making their way to the summit. Had a lunch and made several leisurely stops that put our time at 11 hours. Took 1.5 liters each of liquid and refilled 1 liter at cross creek on the way back to the parking lot. Total of 11.25 miles round trip with 5,200' elevation gain for the day. This is the most beautiful and difficult hike we have accomplished to date. 

Route: Halo Ridge
Posted On: 9/30/2024, By: ColoNativeGal
Info: Summer conditions, but snow is starting to stick on the north faces of all of these mountains (doesn't impact the route at all). No snow in the Cross yet though :( Definitely an epic route with the views and perspectives. A long day, need good fitness and lots of water. I can't imagine doing this during the hotter summer months. Fall colors are epic right now. Route finding seemed straight forward, but for some reason on the first UN 13,253 we got off route and made it harder than it needed to be. There are only a few cairns on this route. Didn't see any of the mountain spiders listed in the route description so this could be either it's too cold now, off route, and/or both. I personally was looking forward to seeing these spiders. Saw some goats crossing the ridge just below the shelter towards the first UN 13,253. Road has a lot of pot holes in the beginning, then rocky/"rough" (as others have posted) past the community house. Pick your lines carefully in a sedan, anything with clearance no problem. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/28/2024, By: th3jamin
Info: Clear all the way to the summit. Left camp at 4:30 and was on the summit before 9, back down to camp by 12:30. Route was in prime fall condition with the Aspens popping. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/22/2024, By: RRanger1996
Info: Great conditions overall with a little (10+ MPH) wind making it jacket and glove weather above tree line. Amazing hike especially with the Aspens popping 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/20/2024, By: pater
Info: No snow on the route or peak. Some snow lingers in pockets along the northeast of the peak. No significant mud on the route. Half of the campsites at East Cross Creek are open. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 9/16/2024, By: jackfox
Info: Dry and clear as of early AM. Arrived around 3pm on Sat, found parking easily with day hikers leaving. Camped overnight, spots half full. Summitted for sunrise early Sun (left camp at 3:30am), trail very well marked, easy to follow in the dark. Minimal (if any) route finding. Back to parking lot by noon. Recommend a very early ascent, as almost everyone behind us got hit with rain. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 8/21/2024, By: nathanolds146
Info: Trail is easy to follow except for a little scrambling right below the summit. It rained between 4-6AM which turned into thick fog and clouds surrounding the entire mountain when the sun rose. 

Route: North Ridge
Posted On: 7/21/2024, By: mtngoatwithstyle
Info: Beautiful day out there. Hiked to Half Moon Pass and then down to the creek for a hike. Conditions are dry. Mosquitoes and flies are present in abundance. 

Route: Halo Ridge
Posted On: 7/17/2024, By: tlgold1990
Info: Summer conditions, no traction needed and all snow avoidable. My friend and I both agree that 90% of this is going to be on the boulders and definitely more "scrambling" then this route description leads onto. Once we hit the shelter we probably saw a total of 5 cairns, so not much to go on besides staying close to the ridge and just picking your best line. Lots of solid boulders but some pretty loose huge ones. Long day and definitely type 2 fun. We went up Halo ridge and opted to go down thr standard route to avoid some of the loose steep spots. Would have probably taken us just as long to go down as it did to get up. The amazing views from this route made it worth it.