January Snow Climbs in Front Range/Vail Valley

Hey friends,

Looking to do some snow climbing somewhere in the 6-9 of January.

I'm open to anything, I've been looking at some stuff on Evans or in the Gore Range. I need a buddy whose been out a few times. I have a moderate amount of experience... done five or six snow climbs before, though I didn't place a ton of pro.

Can provide transit from Denver, and I have a launch pad in Vail we can use if need be.

Let me know!

Morgan

Hey! Not sure what exactly your expectations are for a snow climb mid January, but I'm assuming you are aware of avalanche danger in CO, and that most folks stay off of steep stuff until spring. By steep I mean anything more than 30 degrees needs to be carefully evaluated before you commit to it.

Colorado snow climbs by David cooper has some great suggestions for snow climbs and is organized by season, so you know what is "most likely" in season during the winter, spring, and even summer. I'd say for most snow climbs, placing pro is unnecessary. However, if that is something you are looking for, the east ridge of Bancroft is a great winter ridge scramble with a few moves of easy rock climbing.

The Gore has some great lines, but yeah, typically not done until spring. Winter snow climbs are possible with a good stable period and aspect, but still quite risky and powder sloggy. The s facing technical snow and mixed lines still have topout and approach danger.

There are plenty of good winter ridgelines in the frange and Gore with reasonable approaches. Check out the partners traverse, snow s ridge, or Bancroft E ridge. Most of the Gore traverses require bypasses to keep them reasonable, so even a third class route becomes 5th class when the bypass around a 10 ft tall tower or into a 10 ft notch is a sugar covered slab.