14er Group Mind Activate! Where to go in central CO in next 48 hours?

[jibler]

Yes this window is going to shut down just as soon as it opens.

I don't really like snowshoes. But i'm not above crawling if I can see the objective is a semi-reasonable distance away!

Seems like this is my prime window for the next month or so. Yet so much snow. WTF.

These are the ideas i'm working with - but each is actually brand new to me so maybe anyone who's got notion should chime in one way or another?

#1 - mt princeton -standard route but i got no 4x4 - gotta take it the whole way. and i'm reading reports that late starters like me suffering still in deep snow higher up there?

#2 - Mt yale -- standard route - seems more do-able - yet more tucked away in there and possibly just that much more snow?

#3 - Mt antero? standard route- this seems like hail mary of a plan -- just hoping that northern side may be better to just walk on considerable amount of snow instead of hoping for meltout

#3 - Piney Lake/Booth Falls drainage -> highest possible point reachable? - the west side of Gores are untapped by me pretty much. Yes just so much snow up there. Seems like unnecessary drowning in slush if not perfectly executed? Wouldn't even have to be a peak point per se - just give me something to believe in.


#4 - east west buffalo peaks - sort of the strongest contender - but i'm not sure if the forest service roads are all open yet? I can't get them on phone to kangfirm.


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Ideas welcome - also don't steal my ideas! I want to be the only one there. Muchos garcias!

[josephnephi]

I would honestly recommend heading to the northern Sangres if you can. It's not that much further and much much dryer. I would roughly say that anything north of Buena Vista is going to require snowshoes for the afternoon. Yale, Antero, or Princeton are possible, it just really depends on what you're willing to put up with. I was up at Cottonwood Pass today and SE slopes started being posthole-prone around 11ish. Not a ton of post-holing but I was above treeline the whole time. I used snowshoes on the return around 1-2 on northern slopes.

[greenonion]

A new jibs thread!! I knew this was good ol jibler just by the title.

Good luck picking your poison, jibs! These late season snow dumps again are certainly gumming things up a bit in places.

[BillMiddlebrook]

Ha! I, too, figured it was Johnny-Jibs

[jibler]

also sort of thinking about finally getting to Peak One in frisco?


the satellite makes it look like that route is like full snow on east and dry on west. If you could just split that difference - surely it could be done.

Is there a world here now where embracing a northern approach could payout?

also not giving up on Yale? satellite makes it look spicy back there - but still seeing some bare terrain too?


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not sure i got the time for the northern sangre idea necessarily.

and at certain distance cost / benefit changes. same thing a little with mt ouray.



EDIT

also - i feel like i'm letting the snowpack intimidate me. Its june! come on- how bad could it be?

[greenonion]

Is there a world here now where embracing a northern approach could payout?

Patagonia

Maybe Olympus Mons

[ekalina]

Jibs if you don't like snow, maybe wait a few more weeks on the Sawatch slam and do something in the Lost Creek Wilderness instead. I rather liked Platte Peak, for instance: https://listsofjohn.com/peak/1796

[Marmot72]

Parnassus looked pretty dry on my return down I70 from the San Juans yesterday afternoon.

[Scott P]

You can probably get away without snowshoes in most places if you climb early in the morning. In the afternoon though the postholing might be nasty.

[jibler]

this snow depth map here seems pretty encouraging system wide down there?

south of leadville the big snow patches are running out fast perhaps.

can i just say now too that between the live satellite and these snow depth models - its fun to triangulate the data for these early season hikes. properly plotted you can keep your feet dry.

[randalmartin]

Snow melt is really going to accelerate the 2nd half of this week.

[BirdMan]

I'm looking at the San Luis Peak area in a few weeks. There are a few 13ers that can also be done and this area may be snow free. Good luck!