10/8/2012 Route: West Slopes Posted On: 10/9/2012, By: JROSKA Info: I didn‘t quite make it all the way, but close enough to post a conditions report. Only about 35 degrees near the top, but no snow whatsoever. I had microspikes but did not need them. Some of the nearby Sangre peaks had a dusting of snow on the north facing slopes but that‘s about it. |
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5/7/2011 Route: North Ridge Posted On: 5/7/2011, By: CarpeDM Info: Went up California Peak today. Tried to stick to the summer trail, but there was more snow than expected in the trees (did some frustrating postholing), so we bushwhacked up a snow-filled gully to the ridge on the way up. We didn‘t bring snowshoes. And if I had to do it again, I probably still wouldn‘t bring them - just find a different way up. The ridge is long and the ups and downs are disheartening, but we made it. On the way down, we hiked to the saddle where the trail normally goes, but bushwhacked again straight back to the meadow in photo 1. Photo 1: about where the snow began in earnest and where the bushwhacking began. This is an open meadow where you encounter a fence. Photo 2: the gully that we went up. The snow ended somewhere around 12,000 ft, but then there were a few hundred feet of talus before the ridgeline - really sucked up some time. Photo 3: view of the ridge once we got up there. Photo 4: ridgeline leading up to California Peak. |
