Route Climbed: 300' shy of Kite Lake Date Climbed: October 6, 2002
After a couple of weeks of snow in the mountains all of the peaks I wanted to get in before the end of the year was to come to an end after Mount Democrat four short of my goal.
I drove up to Kite Lake knowing that it’s only a 2,000 foot climb to the summit but it was snow all the way to the summit. There were more people up there than I was expecting and we were all going up the wrong way. After passing the little miners shack the trail was lost in the snow so we all went up a little hill and up around a bend and headed straight up the mountain. It was a little loose but nothing like Ellingwood. Once on the ridge I realized that I was looking at the sub-peak the whole time down low. It was another couple hundred feet to the summit but it was easy. It was a little windy but nicer than I though it was going to be on the summit.
Route Climbed: Kite Lake approach Date Climbed: Multiple
I have been on top of this peak several times. Most of them in the winter. Beautiful ridges to look down on from the summit. Usually combine this with Cameron, Lincoln and Bross.
Route Climbed: South Ridge Date Climbed: 23 August, 2003
Did kind of a non-guidebook variation of the south ridge route. Really worthwhile effort - the ridge is not nearly as bad as advertised, and there is NOBODY over there. Great tour de Democrat when combined with the standard trail for the decent. Check it out :)
Camped at Kite Lake the night before, so I did not need to get too early of a start. Headed up the easy to follow trail to the saddle between Democrat and Cameron. From there, it is a pretty good trail to the summit. You can't really see the summit for most of the day. You are looking at the false summit, but when you get there it is just a short hike to the summit. 1/2 hour on top and then off to Lincoln.
Route Climbed: Kite Lake to Democrat to Lincoln to Bross Date Climbed: July 3, 2003
My first 14er! Awesome circuit across three 14ers. Going from Kite Lake to Mt. Democrat to Mt. Lincoln to Mt. Bross is like rounding a seven-mile baseball diamond backwards. Democrat would be third-base.
Mt. Democrat is quite steep to get up for a cat 1/cat 2 climb. Great views on top. It's funny to look back at Democrat from the trail up Mt. Lincoln because you can see trails crisscrossing all over the top of Democrat.
Could easily spot Quandry, Holy Cross, Elbert, Massive, Grays, Torreys, Evans, and even Pikes Peak in the distance.
Route Climbed: Kite Lake Date Climbed: June 23, 2003
Started at Kite Lake and the plan was to get all four summits. This was the easiest set of 14ers I've done to date as it only took 5.5 hours to get all 4. The weather was amazing and didn't have to worry about afternoon thunderstorms at all as there wasn't a single cloud in the sky until about noon.
Route Climbed: Standard Route from Kite Lake Trailhead Date Climbed: June 14, 2003
Nothing gives me better satisfaction then to introduce to others what it is that all of us here at SP love to do...climb! Paul, my friend from the Houston area had never been to a mountain much less climbed one. I offered to take him down from Wyoming to Frisco, CO to climb as well as partake in the Breckenridge night life. On Saturday, 6/14/03 we summited Mount Democrat via the standard route from Kite Lake. Overall the weather was great with some decent wind at the summit. Having obtained his first ever case of AMS, I decided to save Lincoln and Bross for another day. Overall it was an excellent climbing day and Paul did great for his first time.
Summited this + Mt. Lincoln & Mt. Bross on the same day during a weekend outing with the CU hiking club. I think this was the last one. The weather was nice that day. I recall taking a different descent route than the one used for the ascent, & basically 'scree-skiied' for the first time (not recommended- have figured out since then that it is quite erosive) at a high rate of speed all the way to the base of the mountain. While most of the others seemed uncomfortable w/ it, I caught on right away, and had to wait 1/2 an hour before the next person (Wolfgang the German) showed up. After another hour of no-one else arriving, I decided I could wait no longer, & hopped into the nearest lake for a swim/bath (think it was Kite Lake). All in all, a great day & trip!
8.21.'9, via N ridge- left car (slightly below TH in pull-out) at 9.33. Weather was great, & trip up 4WD road was chill. Saw a herd of sheep below ridge before I gained it (they booked it over the pass when they realized I was headed their way), which was cool. Once finally attained ridge, climbing was quite enjoyable. Crux at notch (on true crest) was a few moves of exposed 4th. Exposed 3rd unavoidable if staying on ridgecrest, could possibly avoid this if were to drop down & traverse. Didn't see anyone on the actual ridgeline (& only one guy, a photographer, on the approach road), but actual summit was packed! Virtually everyone else approached from the Lincoln-Democrat saddle. Summited at 13.00 (less than 24 hrs after my plane took off from SF (read: sea level)!), hung out for awhile, enjoying an Avery 14er ESB, & left summit at 13.30. Made great time down the north scree slopes, & arrived back at the TH at 15.52. Encountered numerous hikers going other direction on my way down. Great day to be in the Rockies, perfect weather, phenomenal views, & highly enjoyable climb!
Route Climbed: Southeast Face Date Climbed: March 15, 2003
I had to park way before the Windy Ridge turnoff because of snow closure, so the approach was quite a hike. I climbed the southeast face (right above Kite Lake). There were terrific spring snow conditions all the way to the summit, and the grade was about moderate the whole way. I did a glissade from near the summit all the way down to Kite Lake again. It made for a nice, quick ride down.
Great day for climbing! Colorado blue skies!
big_g - Mar 3, 2003 3:59 pm Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2002
Route Climbed: East Ridge Date Climbed: 03 Aug 2002
1st of 3 summits (+ Cameron Point) that day.
mtnhiker13 - Dec 27, 2002 9:28 am Date Climbed: Jul 28, 2002
Route Climbed: Standard and Southeast Ridge Date Climbed: July 28, 2001
I have climbed this mountain twice and prefer the Southeast Ridge, much more direct and fewer people. Democrat will always be a very special mountain to me. I also climbed Lincoln and Bross on this last trip, we had wonderful weather and it was a great day all around.
hhsilleck - Jan 10, 2004 7:12 pm
Route Climbed: from Kite Lake Date Climbed: July 2000Three easy 14ers - but skip this one and head to Lincoln if you just want to do one for the day. Lincoln has the more interesting summit.
Erik Beeler - Jan 7, 2004 9:11 am
Route Climbed: Kite Lake - Face below false S. summit Date Climbed: December 31st, 2003About 10 degrees at the summit with constant 35-40 mph winds. Didn't stay there long. Enjoyed the climb.
JonBradford - Dec 18, 2003 6:54 pm
Route Climbed: Decalibron Date Climbed: July 1, 2000After almost ascending it the preceding evening (trying to get some photos of the sunset) I made Democrats summit on a nice July day.
Jon
bdewoody - Dec 3, 2003 6:39 pm
Route Climbed: Montgomery Reservoir Date Climbed: August, 2002Might as well climb all four.
Grant - Dec 1, 2003 4:52 pm
Route Climbed: 300' shy of Kite Lake Date Climbed: October 6, 2002After a couple of weeks of snow in the mountains all of the peaks I wanted to get in before the end of the year was to come to an end after Mount Democrat four short of my goal.
I drove up to Kite Lake knowing that it’s only a 2,000 foot climb to the summit but it was snow all the way to the summit. There were more people up there than I was expecting and we were all going up the wrong way. After passing the little miners shack the trail was lost in the snow so we all went up a little hill and up around a bend and headed straight up the mountain. It was a little loose but nothing like Ellingwood. Once on the ridge I realized that I was looking at the sub-peak the whole time down low. It was another couple hundred feet to the summit but it was easy. It was a little windy but nicer than I though it was going to be on the summit.
jeffgun - Nov 15, 2003 1:36 pm
Route Climbed: Kite Lake approach Date Climbed: MultipleI have been on top of this peak several times. Most of them in the winter. Beautiful ridges to look down on from the summit. Usually combine this with Cameron, Lincoln and Bross.
IdahoSummits - Oct 12, 2003 11:08 pm
Route Climbed: Kite Lake Date Climbed: August 6, 2003I thought this was the most interesting of the Lincoln group. Some nice views to be had to the south from the summit.
eurobeer - Sep 2, 2003 9:32 am
Route Climbed: Kite Lake Date Climbed: August 23, 2003Camped out the night before, and got an early start. This wasn’t an extremely hard hike. A good warm-up for the next two mountains.
bernardhohman - Sep 1, 2003 10:27 pm
Route Climbed: Kite Lake Date Climbed: September 1, 2003Nice day. Took a Floridian up his first fourteener today. He did quite well.
John Styrnol - Aug 31, 2003 2:50 am
Route Climbed: Kite Lake Trailhead Date Climbed: 30 August 2003Nice little hike, we got snowed on plus the fog was very thick.
DaFreshman - Aug 25, 2003 5:27 pm
Route Climbed: South Ridge Date Climbed: 23 August, 2003Did kind of a non-guidebook variation of the south ridge route. Really worthwhile effort - the ridge is not nearly as bad as advertised, and there is NOBODY over there. Great tour de Democrat when combined with the standard trail for the decent. Check it out :)
ben - Jul 21, 2003 6:42 pm
Route Climbed: Kite Lake Date Climbed: 31 August 2002It's nice to climb 4 in a day!
Bryan W - Jul 16, 2003 1:21 pm
Route Climbed: Kite Lake Date Climbed: 7/9/03Camped at Kite Lake the night before, so I did not need to get too early of a start. Headed up the easy to follow trail to the saddle between Democrat and Cameron. From there, it is a pretty good trail to the summit. You can't really see the summit for most of the day. You are looking at the false summit, but when you get there it is just a short hike to the summit. 1/2 hour on top and then off to Lincoln.
395guy - Jul 15, 2003 7:38 pm
Route Climbed: Kite Lake to Democrat to Lincoln to Bross Date Climbed: July 3, 2003My first 14er! Awesome circuit across three 14ers. Going from Kite Lake to Mt. Democrat to Mt. Lincoln to Mt. Bross is like rounding a seven-mile baseball diamond backwards. Democrat would be third-base.
Mt. Democrat is quite steep to get up for a cat 1/cat 2 climb. Great views on top. It's funny to look back at Democrat from the trail up Mt. Lincoln because you can see trails crisscrossing all over the top of Democrat.
Could easily spot Quandry, Holy Cross, Elbert, Massive, Grays, Torreys, Evans, and even Pikes Peak in the distance.
xskier77 - Jun 26, 2003 6:17 pm
Route Climbed: Kite Lake Date Climbed: June 23, 2003Started at Kite Lake and the plan was to get all four summits. This was the easiest set of 14ers I've done to date as it only took 5.5 hours to get all 4. The weather was amazing and didn't have to worry about afternoon thunderstorms at all as there wasn't a single cloud in the sky until about noon.
TexasClimber - Jun 16, 2003 12:28 pm
Route Climbed: Standard Route from Kite Lake Trailhead Date Climbed: June 14, 2003Nothing gives me better satisfaction then to introduce to others what it is that all of us here at SP love to do...climb! Paul, my friend from the Houston area had never been to a mountain much less climbed one. I offered to take him down from Wyoming to Frisco, CO to climb as well as partake in the Breckenridge night life. On Saturday, 6/14/03 we summited Mount Democrat via the standard route from Kite Lake. Overall the weather was great with some decent wind at the summit. Having obtained his first ever case of AMS, I decided to save Lincoln and Bross for another day. Overall it was an excellent climbing day and Paul did great for his first time.
Diggler - Apr 2, 2003 6:46 pm
Route Climbed: traverse Date Climbed: fall, 1995Summited this + Mt. Lincoln & Mt. Bross on the same day during a weekend outing with the CU hiking club. I think this was the last one. The weather was nice that day. I recall taking a different descent route than the one used for the ascent, & basically 'scree-skiied' for the first time (not recommended- have figured out since then that it is quite erosive) at a high rate of speed all the way to the base of the mountain. While most of the others seemed uncomfortable w/ it, I caught on right away, and had to wait 1/2 an hour before the next person (Wolfgang the German) showed up. After another hour of no-one else arriving, I decided I could wait no longer, & hopped into the nearest lake for a swim/bath (think it was Kite Lake). All in all, a great day & trip!
8.21.'9, via N ridge- left car (slightly below TH in pull-out) at 9.33. Weather was great, & trip up 4WD road was chill. Saw a herd of sheep below ridge before I gained it (they booked it over the pass when they realized I was headed their way), which was cool. Once finally attained ridge, climbing was quite enjoyable. Crux at notch (on true crest) was a few moves of exposed 4th. Exposed 3rd unavoidable if staying on ridgecrest, could possibly avoid this if were to drop down & traverse. Didn't see anyone on the actual ridgeline (& only one guy, a photographer, on the approach road), but actual summit was packed! Virtually everyone else approached from the Lincoln-Democrat saddle. Summited at 13.00 (less than 24 hrs after my plane took off from SF (read: sea level)!), hung out for awhile, enjoying an Avery 14er ESB, & left summit at 13.30. Made great time down the north scree slopes, & arrived back at the TH at 15.52. Encountered numerous hikers going other direction on my way down. Great day to be in the Rockies, perfect weather, phenomenal views, & highly enjoyable climb!
Ed F - Mar 16, 2003 12:53 pm
Route Climbed: Southeast Face Date Climbed: March 15, 2003I had to park way before the Windy Ridge turnoff because of snow closure, so the approach was quite a hike. I climbed the southeast face (right above Kite Lake). There were terrific spring snow conditions all the way to the summit, and the grade was about moderate the whole way. I did a glissade from near the summit all the way down to Kite Lake again. It made for a nice, quick ride down.
Great day for climbing! Colorado blue skies!
big_g - Mar 3, 2003 3:59 pm Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2002
Route Climbed: East Ridge Date Climbed: 03 Aug 20021st of 3 summits (+ Cameron Point) that day.
mtnhiker13 - Dec 27, 2002 9:28 am Date Climbed: Jul 28, 2002
Route Climbed: Standard and Southeast Ridge Date Climbed: July 28, 2001I have climbed this mountain twice and prefer the Southeast Ridge, much more direct and fewer people. Democrat will always be a very special mountain to me. I also climbed Lincoln and Bross on this last trip, we had wonderful weather and it was a great day all around.