SummitPost.org

I posted this question in January, nobody answered. Here it is again:

In summer can you drive to North Cottonwood Creek Trailhaed (For Mt.s Yale, Columbia & Harvard) in a standard car or do you need 4WD?

Standard car with reasonable clearance. Gets a bit bumpy and wash-boarded, depending on time of year, but still driveable in a normal vehicle.

Thanks.

nader wrote:I posted this question in January, nobody answered. Here it is again:

In summer can you drive to North Cottonwood Creek Trailhaed (For Mt.s Yale, Columbia & Harvard) in a standard car or do you need 4WD?

Sorry we ignored you, didn't mean to. Personally I don't now the answer but I would ask you: In light of our monster snowpack, what do you mean by "summer"?

Bill Reed wrote:

nader wrote:I posted this question in January, nobody answered. Here it is again:

In summer can you drive to North Cottonwood Creek Trailhaed (For Mt.s Yale, Columbia & Harvard) in a standard car or do you need 4WD?

Sorry we ignored you, didn't mean to. Personally I don't now the answer but I would ask you: In light of our monster snowpack, what do you mean by "summer"?

Hey, Nader. I've been hearing stories about the 2011 snowpack in northern Utah and Colorado. You might need one of THESE :

Appreciate the pitty.

Glad to hear that there has been good snowfall. I was actually worried that the snowpack might have been below average, at least in southern Colorado. I saw a recent trip report in the Sangre De Cristos in April and the snow cover did not seem to be that much.

nader wrote:Appreciate the pitty.

Glad to hear that there has been good snowfall. I was actually worried that the snowpack might have been below average, at least in southern Colorado. I saw a recent trip report in the Sangre De Cristos in April and the snow cover did not seem to be that much.

It's Still Dumping.

Damn the snow. At this time of year I should be able to snowshoe no more than 1 mile to reach a 11K summit. Now its going to be more like 2-3 miles.

CSUMarmot wrote:Damn the snow. At this time of year I should be able to snowshoe no more than 1 mile to reach a 11K summit. Now its going to be more like 2-3 miles.

Mister Marmot ? Don't ya mean .... DAMN the TORPEDOES !!! (and full speed ahead...?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL6XwAl_hNo&feature=related

lcarreau wrote:

CSUMarmot wrote:Damn the snow. At this time of year I should be able to snowshoe no more than 1 mile to reach a 11K summit. Now its going to be more like 2-3 miles.

Mister Marmot ? Don't ya mean .... DAMN the TORPEDOES !!! (and full speed ahead...?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL6XwAl_hNo&feature=related

Ahhh, very good album, great live version of that song. My favorite was always:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHA6OVmxr2k

CSUMarmot wrote:Damn the snow. At this time of year I should be able to snowshoe no more than 1 mile to reach a 11K summit. Now its going to be more like 2-3 miles.

If you don't like the snow, there's always Texas.

mconnell wrote:
If you don't like the snow, there's always Texas.

Or ARIZONA ... there's nothing like a "cesspool of heat" coming at ya full throttle.

Come on guys, I like the Panthers!! Summers in Colorado, hockey season in Miami

Southern Colorado is indeed an entirely different game than it is north of the Arkansas River. The Collegiates are in the tranisiton zone, don't count on a big snowpack, but as far as I know its just supposed to be a warmer summer, not drier than normal. Here's a San Juan Snotel CONSIDERABLY lower than average.

http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/cgibin/wyg ... -LILY+POND

This map also:

ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/CO/Snow/snow/site/monthly/co_snow1105.pdf

shows that southern Colorado has had little snow. The odd thing is that you can see a spot in the mid Sawatch Mountains west of Buena Vista having more than 150% of the usual snowpack while a spot only 20-30 miles east of it, in the hill country east of Buena Vista, shows less than 50%.