6/18/2023 Route: Cross Couloir Posted On: 6/19/2023, By: wyatttannerhughes Info: No photos of the couloir, but some information. The road is closed until next week so expect a 30 mile backpack. After the road opens, it's not bad at all. Next bring the snowshoes. There is lots of snow on the trail leading to the lakes and postholing is plentiful. Use extreme caution if climbing the Couloir is your goal. With the warm, early morning sun and two inches of snow the day before; my climb was sketchy to say the least. A mini slide of a few tons flew right by me about a quarter of the way up the Couly. I made it out with a ton of new knowledge and experience of what to look for. The standard route down was no issue and a very normal downclimb. A great weekend all in all. Stay safe and stay spicy my friends. |
|
6/18/2023 Route: Cross Couloir Posted On: 6/18/2023, By: Jcinco Info: Anyone have any pics of the Cross from the last few days? |
|
5/27/2023 Route: Cross Couloir Posted On: 5/29/2023, By: Tartay Info: Flotation needed starting at the summer Trailhead. Snow starts fairly patchy near the TH and gets more and more consistent as you climb the pass. Postholing, even with snowshoes from around 10am on. Extremely slow going. Consistent snow from the campsites to bowl of tears. Flotation needed. Started climb from 12K at 7am and had some postholing from around 12.5-13,000 as the snow was being warmed by rocks. Entering the couloir at 13K, the snow becomes much better and held well all the way to summit. |
|
4/30/2023 Route: North Ridge Posted On: 5/1/2023, By: dummycode Info: Continuous snow on road starting at 8,300 feet (half mile from winter TH). Pretty efficient travel with a decent skin track below treeline and fairly solid windboard above. We were able to skin to the summit with only ~50 feet of rock hopping. The couloir itself skied great! Small wind slab (1 foot crown at deepest point) at the top of the couloir and another about halfway down had failed a day or two prior. Wet snow made for a slow egress both in the drainage and down the road back to winter TH. |
|
4/9/2023 Route: North Ridge Posted On: 4/11/2023, By: milesmorris Info: Climbed North Ridge, skied Cross Couloir. At and near tree line snow was challenging to travel on as it was continuously collapsing. Be sure there as been a good freeze from when I went to when you go up. Top 1k was challenging as snow was not supportable between rocks (pow). Snow on summit. Cross Couloir had 4in pow on top of a supportable crust (1st dust layer). This dust layer provided a good surface to slide on in had pits at the top of chute. I also observed another layer 8in deep that was a good surface for snow to slide on. Also, large cornices surround the couloir. I would not recommend ascending the couloir anytime soon. Also the couloir does not go all the way through, there is a mandatory double, 6ft to a 15ft air, if you don't exit the couloir skiers right before this choke. Couloir skied very well. Incredible descent! |
|
12/26/2022 Route: North Ridge Posted On: 12/27/2022, By: randallson Info: Parked at the winter closure. The road up had a faint snowmobile track from a week or two ago. Tigiwon community house was locked but a window was open. The outhouse at the summer trailhead was also locked. The snowshoeing from here on out was laborious. However, the summer trail was relatively easy to follow and route finding was not an issue. I set up camp at Half Moon Pass. The next morning I took the winter detour to avoid any avalanche concerns on the summer trail. It was deep and tedious snowshoeing down and then up to treeline. The ridge above treeline was was mostly bare rock and was a nice reprieve. |
|
10/29/2022 Route: North Ridge Posted On: 10/30/2022, By: isaacbauman Info: The North Ridge route from the trailhead took 13 hours (7am-8pm). We needed headlamps as darkness set in before we could finish. The snow we encountered was not packed at all. Once the trail reaches 12,000 feet the snow gets up to waist deep in places with hidden rocks everywhere underneath. Progress significantly slowed at this point and snowshoes would be a must (we didn't have). Everyone's shins were really banged up after the hike. Most of the group had to turn around at 13,400 feet. This weekend was likely one of the last slightly doable weekend's before the road closes. |
|
10/17/2022 Route: Halo Ridge Posted On: 10/17/2022, By: tylerreedjohnson Info: Holy Cross and Halo Ridge are gorgeous right now with a mild amount of snow. Very little snow to worry about on the ridge proper and none of it poses any problems, no need for spikes etc. ( Do being those spikes if you're descending down North Ridge though, first mile down is steep and icey) |
|
10/16/2022 Route: North Ridge Posted On: 10/16/2022, By: climbingyogi Info: Beautiful day on HC! Absolutely no wind. There's snow along the ridge that's pretty well-packed down to the summit. Definitely recommend bringing spikes though. Left the TH at 8:40am, summitted at 12:45. Stayed on the summit til 1:45pm. Back to car at 5:15pm. Came across the flowers and sign in the last photo on the descent. Does anyone know if it's some type of memorial? |
|
10/2/2022 Route: Halo Ridge Posted On: 10/2/2022, By: colin j Info: Snowy, like the rest of the Sawatch. I bailed just beyond Notch Mountain Shelter. Continuous snow starts near treeline and ranges from 2 to 6 inches. Getting to notch shelter isn't difficult; the boulder hopping beyond is very tedious right now; lots of trapdoors and slick rock. Given how slow I was going and today's narrow weather window I turned around about a quarter mile beyond the shelter. |
|
9/18/2022 Route: North Ridge Posted On: 9/18/2022, By: ballardwf04 Info: Today was a beautiful bluebird day on MHC. Mostly summer conditions, albeit with dustings of snow near the summit. Beginning to get more chilly, so pack layers for crisper fall ascents. Overall a gorgeous hike with some solid elevation gain. |
|
9/4/2022 Route: North Ridge Posted On: 9/4/2022, By: Heisler56 Info: Found a smart watch on the summit 9/4. Message me on Facebook to get it back! @tony.heisler.1 |
|
9/3/2022 Route: Halo Ridge Posted On: 9/3/2022, By: swilson753 Info: Up Halo, down standard. Perfect day on Halo Ridge. Only saw one other person on Halo all day, despite it being a holiday weekend. Echoing other comments - This is a serious ridge and should only be attempted by the fit/experienced and with no chance of weather. It took us 4.5 hours to get from the shelter cabin to the summit and another 2 hours to get back to treeline. We packed 3 liters of water each and ran out on the summit. We refilled another liter each at the creek on the way out. Camel up! |
|
8/29/2022 Route: Halo Ridge Posted On: 8/30/2022, By: headsizeburrito Info: Some old graupel accumulated in shady spots here and there, but otherwise everything is clear. Good reminder to be prepared for weather, but great conditions all day. Strong flow in East Cross Creek. |
|
8/11/2022 Route: North Ridge Posted On: 8/11/2022, By: Clay5981 Info: Started off early afternoon from the Half Moon Trailhead, and arrived at the East Cross Creek (in about 1 hour, 45 minutes) for camping in the designated campsites. These 10 campsites are first come, first serve. There seemed to be plenty of availibility, but during the weekends I would anticipate that these filll-up occasionally. We started off around 6:30 am from the site the following morning, and summitted in about 2 hours and 40 minutes. The trail is essentially class 1 except for the final pitch to the top, which involves scrambling and greater route-finding. Thank you to the amazing Colorado Fourteener Intitiave volunteers who put in so much work (passed a few on this trip) to make these trails so great! This is a perfect 14er to backpack if you're looking to split of the mileage over two days. Total time was about 6.5 hours from start to finish (hike time). Additional note: If you're looking to see the cross outline, consider the Halo Ridge route, as the actual Holy Cross is not visible from the standard route. |
