Hello, we're a party of two French-Canadian climbers that would like to climb in Colorado Rockies in either spring or early summer 2019 for a approximately a two weeks trip. However we had never climbed in US Rockies and would like to get some advices/tips on best suggested summit & routes, and suggested time of year for best climbing. we're from Canada, so we enjoy ice/snow route (don't mind if there is rock climbing as well). we would like to avoid crowded. thx for your input.

It likely won't be crowded in late spring or early summer in the high mountains.

There won't be many ice routes that time of year, but there will he plenty of snow routes.

If you are experienced mountaineers looking for snow routes, the San Juan Mountains, Elk Mountains, and Rocky Mountain National Park have plenty of that.

Check out routes on Capitol Peak, Longs Peak, or the Wetterhorn for example.

Keep a close eye on avalanche conditions though.

Hi Scott,
really appreciated your reply.
- Is there any sort of alpine information centre / website that we could seek reliable avalanche and weather conditions?
- would you recommend any guide book for route description?
- I had spotted the Y couloir on Ypsilon?
- we don't mind rock climbing, I've been reading that Vestel peak's rock is not good. how bad is it?
thx again

- CAIC is your source for avalanche info: https://avalanche.state.co.us

- May is often a good season for snow climbs in Colorado. I think there's decent beta on this site. There are a bunch of lines in Rocky Mountain National Park, e.g. Dragontail and Dreamweaver, and access is pretty decent that time of year.

- Vestal Peak actually has pretty good rock, but it's sort of a pain to get to that time of year.

- If you come in early-mid June, I'd recommend heading up to the Tetons, which have generally more pleasant snow than the CO mountains, and plenty of routes of various difficulties and types.

seano wrote:- If you come in early-mid June, I'd recommend heading up to the Tetons, which have generally more pleasant snow than the CO mountains, and plenty of routes of various difficulties and types.

Tetons is definitely worth checking if you want to experience the route with snow.