14ers.com • Peak Condition Update

Peak:	Mt. Evans (14er)
Route:	West Ridge from Guanella Pass
Range:	Front
Posted By:	coopereitel
Date of Info:	09/30/2020
Date Posted:	09/30/2020

Details
I started at 9:00AM and returned to my car at 1:09PM. The cutoff to go this route is shortly after the river crossing on the main Bierstadt trail. There isn't a cairn or a well pounded in trail to look for. All it is is a trail of matted grass off the main trail in the first noticeable clearing. Then it is pretty self-explanatory where the trail goes from there. There is also an orange tag on a willow next to the trail. FYI there is a lot of mud and water on this trail down in the willows. Going up Gormer's Gully was not a problem. I stuck to the middle for the way up just to avoid the loose gravel on the side. I also have a weird preference for climbing on rocks. The gully was not a problem for the way down. I accidentally stayed on the ridge proper all the way to the summit because I didn't realize that there is a well marked trail that skirts just to the south of the summit ridge. This made me summit West Evans (which is a checkbox!). I hit the Sawtooth summit on the way down for fun. Going down I saw three people only until I met up with the main Bierstadt trail again. Great weather, haze to the north but none in the Evans area. I clocked 10mi ish on my inreach. This was a cool one. Photos (click for slideshow):

Details

I started at 9:00AM and returned to my car at 1:09PM.

The cutoff to go this route is shortly after the river crossing on the main Bierstadt trail. There isn't a cairn or a well pounded in trail to look for. All it is is a trail of matted grass off the main trail in the first noticeable clearing. Then it is pretty self-explanatory where the trail goes from there. There is also an orange tag on a willow next to the trail. FYI there is a lot of mud and water on this trail down in the willows.

Going up Gormer's Gully was not a problem. I stuck to the middle for the way up just to avoid the loose gravel on the side. I also have a weird preference for climbing on rocks. The gully was not a problem for the way down. I accidentally
stayed on the ridge proper all the way to the summit because I didn't realize that there is a well marked trail that skirts just to the south of the summit ridge. This made me summit West Evans (which is a checkbox!). I hit the Sawtooth summit on the way down for fun.

Going down I saw three people only until I met up with the main Bierstadt trail again. Great weather, haze to the north but none in the Evans area. I clocked 10mi ish on my inreach. This was a cool one.

Photos (click for slideshow):

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