Little Bear in the Winter

[Camoclimber]

Thanks for the shoutout, Amy. Some thoughts:

-W Ridge Direct (climbed March in moderate avy rating): Most fun way up and goes pretty quick. Only elevated objective hazard is the gully up to the ridge (shared with Hourglass approach) and then however one descends which is likely Hourglass or Traverse. Slab crux can be interesting in crampons, and the upper headwall apparently has a bypass, though why do a "direct" route just to bypass?
-SW Ridge (climbed Feb? in low avy rating): Bit of a slog but neat up high. By far the easiest route with least hazard overall.
-Hourglass (climbed Feb in mod avy rating): cruiser easy snow but highest objective hazard. It requires traversing avy terrain on a few different aspects, so make sure forecast is good and early start. Good avy conditions are common in the Sangres so no need to push it. For us, a late day traverse from base of Hourglass to the west ridge was the most questionable slope on the mountain.
-NW Face (climbed Feb in mod avy rating): cold Feb sugar snow slog for us. I think we roped up for a spicy pitch near the Hand. Might be able to bypass.
-Traverse (climbed March in moderate avy rating): super cool, one of CO's premier winter mountaineering routes and test pieces with reasonable objective hazard IMO.

Sangres overall generally has better avy conditions and weather than the rest of the state, so there's a lot of opportunity.

Thanks! This was super useful and comprehensive!

[daway8]

-W Ridge Direct (climbed March in moderate avy rating): Most fun way up and goes pretty quick. Only elevated objective hazard is the gully up to the ridge (shared with Hourglass approach) and then however one descends which is likely Hourglass or Traverse. Slab crux can be interesting in crampons, and the upper headwall apparently has a bypass, though why do a "direct" route just to bypass?

Curious how much snow/ice the W Ridge Direct tends to hold in winter?

I recently did this route while dry for both ascent and descent and really enjoyed it but seems like it would be pretty sketchy if that ridge got corniced as opposed to just being blown mostly dry...