My good friend and climbing companion, Ean James, and myself purchased a couple of Denver tickets back in November and we'll be in CO from the 20th until the 7th of March.

We really have no agenda other than meet good people and climb some nice couloirs and ridges. Neither of us necessarily care for the whole "14er" peak bagging experience, but would definitely enjoy a bit of alpine air.

At any rate, having never been to CO and, of greater significance, not having transportation, I figured I would start this thread for climbing advice, camping advice and potential ride shares/couch surfing/climbing partnering? Thanks!

Hey, I wish I could offer up some advice but...I've never been to Colorado either.

I'm looking for some similar info. I'll be in Denver with a friend at the end of March and we're looking for some interesting dayhikes, nothing technical but nothing too boring either. If anyone has some recommended websites to find some local, recent trip reports or snow level data I'd be interested.

Colorado has a very different snowpack than you might be used to in the PAC-NW. Couloirs in your time frame of 2/20 to 3/7 are more than likely going to be unstable and at an incredibly high risk of avalanche. Unfortunately its usually May before they are any good around here.

Ridges are the preferred terrain in winter here, they can often be wind swept bare so the avy threat diminishes, but of course some of them form cornices that could break under you, so you need to avoid those.

Camping of course is full on winter, cold nights, deep snow, and potential for big new snowfalls while you are back there.

As far as specific advice for where you should go, I guess it depends on what you are really looking for. The 14ers are better traveled so less trailbreaking, Rocky Mtn National Park is well traveled as well, but I don't know their policies on winter backcountry camping, you'll have to check with the park service.

For jessbee, late March is some of our deepest snow. It builds all winter and doesn't start to melt until May so you will be on snowshoes for most anything you would be doing that time of year.

For recent trip reports of what us locals have all been up to, check 14ers.com. The trip reports are mainly 14ers and 13ers, but might give you some ideas.

Snowpack is shit this year. Ridges are definitely your best bet. Big avy danger almost everywhere. Check CAIC (http://avalanche.state.co.us) for details.

As for Denver with no transportation, good luck. Long way from Denver to any climbing on foot. First task is to get to somewhere in the mountains, then we can give you more specifics.

Yeah I was afraid March would be a bit early... but that's all useful information. I'll check out those websites, thanks.

Dayhikes in the foothills will be relatively snow-free. Goat Peak near Denver is an interesting off-trail experience to a low hill summit (still only ~8,000'). Pikes Peak you could do with minimal gear more than likely.

CastillejaMiniata wrote:Dayhikes in the foothills will be relatively snow-free. Goat Peak near Denver is an interesting off-trail experience to a low hill summit (still only ~8,000'). Pikes Peak you could do with minimal gear more than likely.

Thanks for the suggestions. Goat Mountain looks doable based on the SP description. How straightforward is the routefinding? Are we likely to run into snow up there?

I don't think Pikes Peak is in the cards for this trip.

CastillejaMiniata wrote:... Pikes Peak you could do with minimal gear more than likely.

There wasn't a ton of snow up there, but what was there couldn't have been more treacherous. Never have I had a first account with that bad of avy terrain. The mountain was closed down for the week due to overall conditions, but we wanted to scout out the bottomless pit to see what the Y couloirs looked like. However, just in getting halfway there we decided to bail due to all the dangers (keep in mind we were on a safe slope angle at this point).

That day we managed to climb up to just under 13,000ft where we were met with -37 degree windchill factor conditions. After that day I stuck to bouldering, mountain biking and home brew tasting at the lower elevations.

Oh right, and I do now understand why people there thought I was crazy to winter camp up in RMNP as that was, well, an interesting experience.

Conversely, I did Pikes Peak once in January with over 50 degree temps. at the summit and I don't even think we used crampons at all. No avy danger. It all depends.