Peak Condition Update | Mt. Antero

Peak:	Mt. Antero
Route:	West Slopes
Range:	Sawatch
Posted By:	kristine-l
Date of Info:	8/22/2015
Date Posted:	8/23/2015

Details
We hiked up the West Slopes after parking at 10,850' (creek crossing). The path is easy to follow since you're walking on a Jeep road all the way to 13,800'. Walking on the road wasn't a very exciting hike and we had to move out of the way of ATVs and cars while going up and down since it's a narrow road. Just before 13,100', we took a well-beaten path to the left of the road (if heading up) to walk up to the 13,100' point (kind of a small field). This was shorter mileage-wise than following the road as it wrapped around this point. At this point/field, make sure to get on the right road that continues to Antero rather than the 13er (Mt. White) in the distance - see 14er's photo #15 for this route to make sure you stay on the right road. We stayed on the road all the way to 13,800' (option 2 of the two options from 13,100'). At 13,800' (the last place cars can drive to), there's a small ridge to get to the final ascent. The route on the ridge was easy to follow but very windy. The final ascent up Mt. Antero did not have a very easy to follow route - especially coming down and was also very windy. The summit, however, was not windy at all and offered great views of Princeton, Shavano, and Tabeguache. Coming down, we cut down a trail to cut some mileage off the hike and get down faster (clouds looked like they were moving in) and were able to cut off a few switchbacks on a well-beaten path. We saw another hiker avoid most of the switchbacks below 13,100' by cutting all the way down in a gully with a lot of rocks. Our trip took us about 6 hours round trip from the 10,850' creek crossing including stops and breaks and about 20 minutes at the summit. Driving the road from the 2WD trailhead (off 162) to the creek crossing took about 30 minutes up and a bit longer down. I posted road conditions on the TH section if you want to know about the Jeep Road 277.

Details

We hiked up the West Slopes after parking at 10,850' (creek crossing). The path is easy to follow since you're walking on a Jeep road all the way to 13,800'. Walking on the road wasn't a very exciting hike and we had to move out of the way of ATVs and cars while going up and down since it's a narrow road. Just before 13,100', we took a well-beaten path to the left of the road (if heading up) to walk up to the 13,100' point (kind of a small field). This was shorter mileage-wise than following the road as it wrapped around this point. At this point/field, make sure to get on the right road that continues to Antero rather than the 13er (Mt. White) in the distance - see 14er's photo #15 for this route to make sure you stay on the right road. We stayed on the road all the way to 13,800' (option 2 of the two options from 13,100').
At 13,800' (the last place cars can drive to), there's a small ridge to get to the final ascent. The route on the ridge was easy to follow but very windy. The final ascent up Mt. Antero did not have a very easy to follow route - especially coming down and was also very windy. The summit, however, was not windy at all and offered great views of Princeton, Shavano, and Tabeguache.
Coming down, we cut down a trail to cut some mileage off the hike and get down faster (clouds looked like they were moving in) and were able to cut off a few switchbacks on a well-beaten path. We saw another hiker avoid most of the switchbacks below 13,100' by cutting all the way down in a gully with a lot of rocks.
Our trip took us about 6 hours round trip from the 10,850' creek crossing including stops and breaks and about 20 minutes at the summit. Driving the road from the 2WD trailhead (off 162) to the creek crossing took about 30 minutes up and a bit longer down. I posted road conditions on the TH section if you want to know about the Jeep Road 277.

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