Mt. Rosa trail conditions

Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
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.
User avatar
susanjoypaul
Posts: 2050
Joined: 9/8/2006
14ers: 58  2 
13ers: 88 6
Trip Reports (2)
 

Re: Mt. Rosa trail conditions

Post by susanjoypaul »

aholle88 wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 8:17 am Very cool Susan!! Awesome how even the clouds ended up being similar to Zeb’s trip! I have been meaning to do a similar thing with hiking up Pikes from Bear creek/old Jones park to the south ridge since that was how Katherine Bates did it way back. It’s awesome seeing the history of pikes and recreating some of those old routes. J Inness Hetzler has posted quite a bit of neat history of Pikes and the springs foothills mountains on the FB page over the years.
Nice. It looks like I share a bunch of connections with Hetzler - I'll try to connect. Thanks for that info!

I've done Pikes nine times: 1x via this route (26-mile Zebulon Pike Bicentennial from near Cheyenne Mountain State Park); 1x via Barr Trail; 1x from Gillett on the old West Beaver Creek Trail; and 6x from the Crags. There are many more routes that I haven't tried yet, but maybe I'll get to them some day.

A few years back, Kevin Baker did a presentation for the CMC on about a dozen ways to climb the peak, including from the couloirs that start at Glen Cove (Little Italy, Railroad, Three Little Pigs). More recently, Stewart M. Green published a book, (Climbing Pikes Peak), with other routes to the summit that I haven't tried. It's been a few years since I've done the peak (or Rosa, for that matter) but I can see them both from where I'm sitting, and I know I'll have to get back up there again one of these days. Maybe when that new summit house opens...
User avatar
aholle88
Posts: 368
Joined: 3/24/2015
14ers: 57  24  26 
13ers: 300 29 3
Trip Reports (1)
 

Re: Mt. Rosa trail conditions

Post by aholle88 »

susanjoypaul wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 9:13 am
aholle88 wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 8:17 am Very cool Susan!! Awesome how even the clouds ended up being similar to Zeb’s trip! I have been meaning to do a similar thing with hiking up Pikes from Bear creek/old Jones park to the south ridge since that was how Katherine Bates did it way back. It’s awesome seeing the history of pikes and recreating some of those old routes. J Inness Hetzler has posted quite a bit of neat history of Pikes and the springs foothills mountains on the FB page over the years.
Nice. It looks like I share a bunch of connections with Hetzler - I'll try to connect. Thanks for that info!

I've done Pikes nine times: 1x via this route (26-mile Zebulon Pike Bicentennial from near Cheyenne Mountain State Park); 1x via Barr Trail; 1x from Gillett on the old West Beaver Creek Trail; and 6x from the Crags. There are many more routes that I haven't tried yet, but maybe I'll get to them some day.

A few years back, Kevin Baker did a presentation for the CMC on about a dozen ways to climb the peak, including from the couloirs that start at Glen Cove (Little Italy, Railroad, Three Little Pigs). More recently, Stewart M. Green published a book, (Climbing Pikes Peak), with other routes to the summit that I haven't tried. It's been a few years since I've done the peak (or Rosa, for that matter) but I can see them both from where I'm sitting, and I know I'll have to get back up there again one of these days. Maybe when that new summit house opens...
That is awesome Susan! I remember when Kevin did that, part of what has motivated my ambition to do all the routes, that and I now live in Manitou so it’s only appropriate.

I am missing the south ridge, COG, NE ridge, and west creek routes. I haven’t done the north face from manitou either (skied most of them a bunch from the top), or stayed at Barr camp too which is on the list (had the opportunity for thanksgiving there one year since I have a couple mutual friends with Zach Miller but didn’t end up going).

My other goal is to complete all the modes possibly up Pikes. I’ve hiked Barr and a good chunk of other routes, done the marathon, mountain biked Barr, mountain biked from my house up Cheyenne canyon to Barr, skied from the Crags up to the summit and down the east face to manitou, and done most of the snow routes climbing/splitboarding, did a duathlon biking Barr to bottomless pit and then hiking rumdoodle to summit and back to the bikes to ride down Barr, rode the COG, and driven it 100s of times. Only thing left is road bike. Pikes is just an awesome mountain!

Edit: the one other thing that seems really unique and cool is visiting the crater and climbing the cirque from manitou. Dad mike did that this spring and it looked pretty great! I’ve snowboarded a route from top down into it and climbed back out but that’s not quite the same!
User avatar
susanjoypaul
Posts: 2050
Joined: 9/8/2006
14ers: 58  2 
13ers: 88 6
Trip Reports (2)
 

Re: Mt. Rosa trail conditions

Post by susanjoypaul »

aholle88 wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 2:50 pm That is awesome Susan! I remember when Kevin did that, part of what has motivated my ambition to do all the routes, that and I now live in Manitou so it’s only appropriate.

I am missing the south ridge, COG, NE ridge, and west creek routes. I haven’t done the north face from manitou either (skied most of them a bunch from the top), or stayed at Barr camp too which is on the list (had the opportunity for thanksgiving there one year since I have a couple mutual friends with Zach Miller but didn’t end up going).

My other goal is to complete all the modes possibly up Pikes. I’ve hiked Barr and a good chunk of other routes, done the marathon, mountain biked Barr, mountain biked from my house up Cheyenne canyon to Barr, skied from the Crags up to the summit and down the east face to manitou, and done most of the snow routes climbing/splitboarding, did a duathlon biking Barr to bottomless pit and then hiking rumdoodle to summit and back to the bikes to ride down Barr, rode the COG, and driven it 100s of times. Only thing left is road bike. Pikes is just an awesome mountain!

Edit: the one other thing that seems really unique and cool is visiting the crater and climbing the cirque from manitou. Dad mike did that this spring and it looked pretty great! I’ve snowboarded a route from top down into it and climbed back out but that’s not quite the same!
Sounds like you've done many more routes than I have! I regret not growing up a skier/snowboarder. I tried both late in life and didn't get the hang of them. Can't ice skate either. And I'm terrible on a bike. So I stick to good old slow-hiking up everything.

Anyway, here's the last day of that trip. I remember hiking up the train tracks toward the summit with Doug. We were yacking away, probably planning the next hike, and the snow was just starting to fall. We saw someone hiking down to us and we were like, "Who the heck is that and why are they hiking down the tracks?" It was Bill Folsom with KOAA News 5 here in Colorado Springs! He had a camera and he interviewed us for the news that night. I don't know why, but we felt like no one knew we were up there, so that was kind of a surprise.
Attachments
IMG_9863.JPG
IMG_9863.JPG (209.87 KiB) Viewed 1071 times
IMG_9865.JPG
IMG_9865.JPG (268.39 KiB) Viewed 1071 times
User avatar
bdloftin77
Posts: 1090
Joined: 9/23/2013
14ers: 58  1 
13ers: 58
Trip Reports (2)
 

Re: Mt. Rosa trail conditions

Post by bdloftin77 »

susanjoypaul wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 7:18 am
Anyway, here's the last day of that trip. I remember hiking up the train tracks toward the summit with Doug. We were yacking away, probably planning the next hike, and the snow was just starting to fall. We saw someone hiking down to us and we were like, "Who the heck is that and why are they hiking down the tracks?" It was Bill Folsom with KOAA News 5 here in Colorado Springs! He had a camera and he interviewed us for the news that night. I don't know why, but we felt like no one knew we were up there, so that was kind of a surprise.
I love how “No Doughnuts” is in all caps. That must have been pretty disappointing! Glad you guys were able to make it to the summit despite the crazy conditions. It’s cool you were able to become a part of history and complete Pike’s attempt 100 years later to the day. Thanks for sharing!
User avatar
susanjoypaul
Posts: 2050
Joined: 9/8/2006
14ers: 58  2 
13ers: 88 6
Trip Reports (2)
 

Re: Mt. Rosa trail conditions

Post by susanjoypaul »

bdloftin77 wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 1:37 pm I love how “No Doughnuts” is in all caps. That must have been pretty disappointing! Glad you guys were able to make it to the summit despite the crazy conditions. It’s cool you were able to become a part of history and complete Pike’s attempt 100 years later to the day. Thanks for sharing!
Haha! Yeah, I don't know why they used that headline. We weren't even thinking about doughnuts. It was a memorable trip though...and 200 years later (Bicentennial). Surprisingly, not much about the landscape had changed. With the new cog and the new summit house this year, who knows what the place will look like in another 200 years. Thanks, Ben.
Post Reply