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Peak:	Mt. Princeton (14er)
Route:	East Slopes
Range:	Sawatch
Posted By:	Iman86
Date of Information:	03/10/2012
Date Posted:	03/11/2012

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The Return of Fake Winter (in a big way) After reading TR's about trail breaking struggles up Princeton recently, we prepared for a long day. You can probably drive to radio towers with food 4wd. Snowshoes not needed anywhere on route. Ridge to Tigger almost 100% free of snow. Small (and I do mean small) sections of snow on route to Princeton. Microspikes may be wanted for some, but this whole peak could have been done in trail runners yesterday without an axe. We decided to return via the standard route as there was barely enough snow on the North slopes of Tigger to cause tremendous concern.

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The Return of Fake Winter (in a big way)

After reading TR's about trail breaking struggles up Princeton recently, we prepared for a long day.

You can probably drive to radio towers with food 4wd. Snowshoes not needed anywhere on route.

Ridge to Tigger almost 100% free of snow. Small (and I do mean small) sections of snow on route to Princeton. Microspikes may be wanted for some, but this whole peak could have been done in trail runners yesterday without an axe.

We decided to return via the standard route as there was barely enough snow on the North slopes of Tigger to cause tremendous concern.

Comments or Questions (7)

d_baker	Fake Winter 2012-03-11 12:14:00 Maybe you should add fake snowflakes to your peak list then.
Matt Lemke	Love Fake Winter! 2012-03-11 13:25:15 Better than that misery fest we had on Spread Eagle last weekend lol Glad I finally got this one For those interested, there is less snow on Princeton now than there was in mid May last year
big_red_pride	Great Day 2012-03-11 15:13:56 Hey Matt, I posted something similar to this last night. It was great seeing you again, sorry we didn't get much chance to chat. Hopefully soon we will meet again for another hike. It was great meeting everyone yesterday!
hatchmaster	4wd? 2012-03-11 20:23:14 Did you drive up to the towers? I have a 2003 Explorer and I'm thinking about Princeton on Tuesday.
climbingbiz	4WD 2012-03-12 09:30:49 There were several wind drifts low on the road that would keep a car from getting through. Conditions were great and much of the road was dry, but you couldn't get through even with snow chains.
bjkent76	Mt Princeton Rd NOT Passable 2012-03-15 12:57:54 So my buddy and I (neither of us very smart) tried to drive up to the radio towers Tuesday morning. We made it less than a quarter mile in with a Tahoe and got completely stuck. Hit a patch of snow that looked pretty reasonable. Turned-out to be 3-ft deep. Called a tow-truck, which got 100 feet on to Mt Princeton Rd and then got stuck. He gave-up and left. Took us 6 hours and the help of a gentleman with a quad-runner and a winch to get out. Bottom line: Mt Princeton Rd is not passable even with 4WD and snow chains. We did venture out about a mile and a half on the trail while waiting for the tow truck. Agree that snowshoes likely aren't necessary.
outsidemike	Skiable? 2012-03-16 18:16:22 Is it even worth bringing skis up there this coming weekend for the descent?

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