I know Scott Patterson has some info on Summitpost about winter 14ers but I don't think it covers elevation gain from winter TH's etc. Which of the 14ers from the Sawatch east are relatively benign as far as route finding, exposure, and say less than 3500 - 4000 ft of gain ? I'm not very familiar with anything that way. I remember Bierstatd was extremely benign a few years ago but how far has the road close affected it ? Also , what about some of the Sangres near Cotopaxi area on 50, they seem like they would be benign once you hit the ridges.
Thanks
Kevin
winter 14ers
Forum rules
- This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
- Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
- Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
- Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
- ktimm
- Posts: 634
- Joined: 6/19/2006
- 14ers: 24
- 13ers: 25
- Trip Reports (0)
- mrgooseskin
- Posts: 52
- Joined: 12/3/2008
- 14ers: 27
- 13ers: 20
- Trip Reports (1)
Re: winter 14ers
La Plata is supposed to be a pretty good winter climb. The TH is the same as the summer TH, and it's about 4000-ish feet of gain, and the avy danger is low. We're gonna give it a go on Monday. Scott Patterson has a trip report posted on SP about La Plata in winter.
Re: winter 14ers
Just to clarify, La Plata's summer route does not have low avy risk. However you can start from the same trailhead and take a route that gains the ridge earlier to avoid the avalanche risk of the standard route.
Remember what your knees are for.
http://www.hikingintherockies.com
http://www.hikingintherockies.com
Re: winter 14ers
Here is the route description:Just to clarify, La Plata's summer route does not have low avy risk. However you can start from the same trailhead and take a route that gains the ridge earlier to avoid the avalanche risk of the standard route.
http://www.summitpost.org/route/269433/ ... oute-.html
I'm old, slow and fat. Unfortunately, those are my good qualities.
Re: winter 14ers
Summer route = Blue
Winter route = Red
It is my understanding (from three sources) that the winter route is well packed right now (1/13/10).
Winter route = Red
It is my understanding (from three sources) that the winter route is well packed right now (1/13/10).
"We knocked the bastard off." Hillary, 1953
"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves." Hillary, 2003
Couldn't we all use 50 years of humble growth?
"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves." Hillary, 2003
Couldn't we all use 50 years of humble growth?
- AlexMack
- Posts: 224
- Joined: 8/16/2006
- 14ers: 30 2
- 13ers: 9
- Trip Reports (3)
Re: winter 14ers
Any in the San Juans that might be comparable, even with a little more distance with the possibility of an overnight??
"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment." - Evan Hardin
- killingcokes
- Posts: 242
- Joined: 1/7/2006
- 14ers: 45 42 2
- 13ers: 125 4
- Trip Reports (64)
- Contact:
Re: winter 14ers
San Luis, Uncompaghre and Sunshine all have reasonably safe routes for winter. Take a look at Dawson's guide for great winter info. There are also great trip reports here along with route info as well
- mountainmicah83
- Posts: 454
- Joined: 5/8/2009
- 14ers: 58 3 10
- 13ers: 10 1
- Trip Reports (24)
Re: winter 14ers
One bonus about San Luis in the winter is that if you go north from Creede, you won't need nowshoes to get to the top of the first pass. They do snowcat tours back there so you can follow the Cat tracks for quite a ways. It's still quite a long walk though. I would say you want to overnight this one and make it a 2 dayer in winter.
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." -- Calvin Coolidge
Visit my blog at: http://mountainmicah.blogspot.com
Visit my blog at: http://mountainmicah.blogspot.com