On Saturday the 13th I hiked Bierstadt to scope out the conditions and get in a good solid climb. I found a lot of snow and some suprising early morning solitude. On Sunday the 14th I gathered friends and coworkers (all of whom survived their first 14er climb with me a few weeks back on Quandary) for a proto-winter climbing experience.

We departed Denver at 6:00am and made our way to Georgetown (and a civilized bathroom) and then up the heavily-under-construction Guanella Pass. At 7:30 the sun was just starting to warm the trailhead as several dozen other parties were striking out from the trailhead. We joined the masses and set off on the frozen-mud trail through the willows. I was not suprised to see how much snowmelt there had been in the course of a single day. The previous morning had seen a few inches of snow down around the trailhead, and now it was nothing more than mud, still frozen solid.

The stream crossing that marks the end of the gentle descent and the beginning of the climb was mostly uneventul, with only one slip and soaked foot. A quick sock-change and we were on our way, slowly and steadily climbing above the vegatation and through 13,000', where the snow was still making it's presence felt along a hard-packed but icy trail.

The grunt up to the saddle was a bit more challenging, as the trail that I'd broken the day before had been eagerly adopted by the packs of climbers from the day before, and was steep and somewhat less forgiving than the "real" trail, still buried under inches and feet of snow. Still, the group forged upwards, slow and steady. We began to pass groups of climbers who'd breezed by us earlier in the morning, now tired and spent at 13, 400'.  Ah, it's all about the pacing, people!

The last ~400' push to the saddle was much more straightforward than the day before, again because there was now a trail beaten down, so the 'scramble' factor was somewhat lessened. The summit itself was as I would expect for a summer weekend (even a late, snowy summer weekend) -- it was packed with several dozen people, taking pictures, throwing down Clif Bars and letting out the occasional "woop" of victory. Our group found some comfy, flat rocks to take a break on and enjoy the spectacular views of the Front Range (Longs, Pikes, Grays, Torreys, Evans), low clouds over the Denver area, and piles of mountain ranges to the west, fading off to the horizon.

After only a few minutes though, the late morning chill set in, and it was time to head on down. The descent was actually relatively enjoyable, with the now slushy snow cushioning every step. By the time we'd descended into the vegatation layer, the day was heating up to become another toasty summer day. The drive down Guanella was dry and dusty and the summer heat was more than apparent as we pulled into Idaho Springs for some well-deserved post-hike carb loading!