9/25/2024 Route: From Moon Lake Posted On: 9/25/2024, By: Will_E Info: Less snow than I was expecting, snow was mostly concentrated on the way up to gain the ridge. Mostly inconsequential. Nice day, beautiful weather and many of the trees had good color, but not quite peak yet. |
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6/29/2024 Route: Ditch to ridge Posted On: 6/29/2024, By: Skimo95 Info: Headed down after work last night and started hiking in light rain around 2:30. Ditch trail has knee high flows, mud, and some snow. The standard backside of capitol is full of snow and I found axe and sometimes spikes useful. After descending the saddle and sticking somewhere around the standard route I burned off and took a snow line up to the unnamed ridge. Thanks D Baker for the great trip report, I took a similar line up pyramid rock. Great class 3-4 scrambling and incredible views to summit. 17.2mi 4,800 and 10 hours RT at a leisurely rate. |
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8/21/2023 Route: Southeast Ridge Route Posted On: 8/22/2023, By: desertdog Info: ScottLovesRMNP and I climbed Clark from Pierre Lakes Basin. The Southeast Ridge route never exceeds class 3, but the challenge is the crazy loose rock. Lots of tippy big ones. We definitely felt the danger. It took us fours hours RT from the base of the mountain to complete the climb. The approach is very long with some route finding and bushwacking. Two major obstacles include finding a way across Snowmass Creek, as well as, getting around and up Bear Creek Falls. In the falls area we did find some cairns, but mostly getting up the falls was a steep bushwack. There may be an easier way but we couldn't find it. This is one of longest time wise single day approaches either of us have done; however, once we had done the approach the return went much quicker because we had learned from our route mistakes. Pierre Lakes Basin is simply stunning. The views of Capitol, Snowmass, etc are great. Because of the approach, this basin is wild and untouched. If I had it to do over I might consider a camp in forested area before the falls. |
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7/17/2021 Route: Moon Lake Posted On: 7/18/2021, By: hr011242 Info: Creek crossing is currently cankle to knee high. The route is snow-free route pretty much the entire way over to Daly. The bushwhack is real for the last ~1.5 miles to camp at 11,200 below Moon Lake, everything else is hella straightforward. PM for more pics or route details. |
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9/29/2020 Route: From Maroon/Snowmass Trailhead Posted On: 9/30/2020, By: WildWanderer Info: Snow is avoidable on route. Ridge is still in summer conditions- snow free. I was able to cross Snowmass Creek on a branch without getting my feet wet. |
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8/25/2019 Route: Ridge Posted On: 8/26/2019, By: cottonmountaineering Info: Still a bit of snow in the basin leading up to capitol and below ridgeline of the subpeak to get to Clark. Microspikes wouldn't hurt to bring. Ridge to Clark is a lot of fun, bring your sticky approach shoes for the ridge. |
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10/28/2017 Route: SE Ridge via Pierre Lakes Posted On: 10/30/2017, By: Stratosfearsome Info: Via Snowmass Creek TH. Easy crossing on a logs towards Pierre Basin. Intermittent snow coverage the whole way to Pierre lakes but less than a foot mostly. Trap doors abound in the boulder fields. White out conditions. Water started to freeze at 12k by Pierre lakes. Had extra socks for bottles. Headed up the SE ridge for 1500ft. Some sugary snow coverage between boulders, light snowfall, loose, balanced boulders made things a little trickier, but mostly straightforward. Visibility about 200ft. Crux class 3+ was covered with snow, glad to have crampons. Never used axe. Rock hopped to the summit. 12 hours car to car. |
