Mount Royal (Frisco) conditions?

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polar
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Mount Royal (Frisco) conditions?

Post by polar »

With the recent break in the rain, I’m optimistically hopeful that things will start drying out now. Does anyone know what the northwestern face of Mount Royal (near Frisco, visible from I-70) is looking like? Any remaining snow, or is it pretty dry? What about the trail to the summit of Mount Royal?

This is the area I'm most interested in: :-SS
https://www.google.com/maps/place/39%C2 ... e4!6m1!1e1
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Re: Mount Royal (Frisco) conditions?

Post by davebobk47 »

It's been about 10 days since I was up the summer trail but it is fairly dry. Depending on which TH you start from you may see some snow below Masontown, otherwise the only real snow you will encounter is at the Peak 1/Royal split at the top. The summit ridge has some drifts but they are mostly avoidable.

Are you looking at Royal Flush? If so the lower slabs are snowfree and the upper rock wall is also snow free however there could be snow in the middle of the route.
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Re: Mount Royal (Frisco) conditions?

Post by polar »

davebobk47 wrote: Are you looking at Royal Flush? If so the lower slabs are snowfree and the upper rock wall is also snow free however there could be snow in the middle of the route.
You know it! Back in April I actually planned to do it around Memorial Day weekend, but we all know how the weather turned out...

Do you think the snow is mostly on the scrambling sections, or are there still snow on the technical pitches? Thank you for the info!
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Re: Mount Royal (Frisco) conditions?

Post by AlexeyD »

What day are you thinking of going? If it happens to be Sat or before, would you mind making a quick update? Also possibly looking at this for Sun...
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Re: Mount Royal (Frisco) conditions?

Post by TravelingMatt »

Here's a current pic.
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Mt. Royal and Peak 1 5/28/15
Mt. Royal and Peak 1 5/28/15
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Re: Mount Royal (Frisco) conditions?

Post by davebobk47 »

polar wrote:
davebobk47 wrote: Are you looking at Royal Flush? If so the lower slabs are snowfree and the upper rock wall is also snow free however there could be snow in the middle of the route.
You know it! Back in April I actually planned to do it around Memorial Day weekend, but we all know how the weather turned out...

Do you think the snow is mostly on the scrambling sections, or are there still snow on the technical pitches? Thank you for the info!
I know pitch 4 is somewhat is the trees and shaded however we got a pretty hard rainstorm last night. Assuming it rained on that face I would think it would have cleared a lot of that snow (snow line was pretty high for the storm ~11k). If there is snow it would be on the scramble part or on some of the shaded ledges(like top of P3/start of P4).
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Re: Mount Royal (Frisco) conditions?

Post by polar »

Thanks for the photo and the updates! It looks very doable in its current condition. Unfortunately my son came down with a fever today, so any plans I have for the weekend is pretty much toast. But I'm planning on doing this as soon as I can work it into my schedule.
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Re: Mount Royal (Frisco) conditions?

Post by davebobk47 »

Hiked Royal today and got a good look at the face of Royal Flush. The trail is 100% clear of snow. The face had snow in the scramble section but it was well to the climbers left of the Royal Flush route. You might see a patch here or there but it should be all melted out.
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Re: Mount Royal (Frisco) conditions?

Post by polar »

Thanks for the update! I may end up doing it this weekend...
AlexeyD wrote:What day are you thinking of going? If it happens to be Sat or before, would you mind making a quick update? Also possibly looking at this for Sun...
Did you climb it on Sunday? What was it like?
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Re: Mount Royal (Frisco) conditions?

Post by AlexeyD »

polar wrote:Did you climb it on Sunday? What was it like?
Nope, sorry! We actually ended up climbing at Eldo instead. I did, however, get a brief look at it on Saturday on the way to Mt. Guyot, and it looked like there was still a bit of snow on the ledges, but none on the actual rock. Couldn't tell if any of the rock was wet, though.
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Re: Mount Royal (Frisco) conditions?

Post by polar »

AlexeyD wrote: Nope, sorry! We actually ended up climbing at Eldo instead. I did, however, get a brief look at it on Saturday on the way to Mt. Guyot, and it looked like there was still a bit of snow on the ledges, but none on the actual rock. Couldn't tell if any of the rock was wet, though.
With the warming temperature this week, hopefully all the snow will be gone soon. We're planning on giving it a go this weekend!
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Re: Mount Royal (Frisco) conditions?

Post by polar »

Climbed it today. The entire route was totally dry, free from snow. The big talus field below the Headwall had some snow, but it's north of the start of Royal Flush headwall pitches (but it was maybe near the start of Aces High?). Once we topped out, there were some patches of snow on the Mount Royal trail, but it was a pretty mellow hike down. The weather held out for us too, we felt some sprinkles here and there, but the day stayed mostly dry. Overall, it was a nice little semi-alpine outing with low commitment factors!
On the last roped pitch of Royal Flush
On the last roped pitch of Royal Flush
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"Getting to the bottom, OPTIONAL. Getting to the top, MANDATORY!" - The Wisest Trail Sign
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