Mt Bierstadt

Winter is definitely here. Any further 14er hikes this season will require full winter gear, and will most likely be by invite only! So start gathering the snowshoes and warm clothing now!

Bierstadt Trip Report

Date: Sat, November 5
Hike: Mount Bierstadt - 14,060 feet.
Route: Guanella Pass TH 11,669 feet

Stats
Went South from the trailhead rather than East, making it a much longer trip.
Going up:
5.6miles up
3:53 moving up
2:17 stopped up
Moving avg 1.4 mi/hr
Overall avg .9 mi/hr

Coming down:
2:30 down
2.7 (rough) miles down

Timeline
(Black was the plan - red was the actual) Leave Saturday at 3:30am(About 3:40am). 2:15 Drive time. (probably took closer to 3 hours due to snow and pitstop)Begin hiking Saturday by 6:15am(got away at 7:15am). Back to the vehicle by 3pm(back by 3:45pm).

Lessons Learned
Need cover for camelback hose!!
Ear muffs would be nice.
Only fully prepared people go on winter hikes!!!!!
Give MORE time on planned timeline!
Pay more attention to GPS!

The report
Ended up just being Joel and myself, which always makes for a good time! (Both Jenni and Eric backed out the morning of…) It was raining/snowing/sleeting on the way up – an indication of a great day!

When we started the trail head was very confusing. And it was snowing and overcast, all of which added together to have us get off on the wrong trail. Then it was too cold for me to want to use the GPS like I should have, so we were MILES into it before we realized that we were on the wrong trail. When we figured it out, we just turned and went straight up Bierstadt. (SW face approach)

Anyway, there must have been about 6inches of powder on the ground – good thing we had snowshoes! And it was either snowing or blowing all day. Very cold. The sun did peek through finally, but still crazy cold.

No accidents to report. I think we saw 5 other people all day long