Drive I-70 west from Denver to exit 240 and up the Mt. Blue Sky (formerly Mount Evans) CO Highway 103. Go to Echo Lake (~10,000'). Follow the summit road to ~12,500 to Summit Lake. Park. Look up. These aprons are arbitrarily called (from left to right) first, second, third. If you can't see the aprons, you may want to do something else. Take a leisurely (Addendum: some argue with this adjective) alpine walk 25-35 minutes (Addendum: timed with a watch avoid walking on vegetation; later - some take up to 60 minutes) to the base of your desired apron. Hop aboard. Some early season ascents will require a bit of snow crossing. During moist years, snow may persist. Ambulatory descents include right of the 3rd Apron or left of the 1st Apron down the hiking trail. Automobile descents require a traverse to the observatory area (L) and a protuberant thumb or a bit tourist schmoozing between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Update: note the new signage to avoid getting ticketed for new restrictions.
Westminster, Colorado
Also, one of my partners came across an old pin in a thin crack between the right and central lines I described earlier. It is below the left side of the M-shaped overlap about 80 feet up. Seemed the rock was getting smooth in the 5.9 range with diminishing pro options. You may find a white sling hanging on this pin about 40 feet up. Aug 15, 2002
Santa Fe, NM
Glenwood ,Co
Golden, CO
Doug Redosh Aug 1, 2006
1) I took two altimeters with me yesterday, and the average between the two put the Second Apron at 750, which seems right, as it took me four and a half pitches at 50 - 65 meters per pitch (I was using a 70m rope).
2) The approach. Let's be clear about this. You don't just "take a leisurely alpine walk." Not even close. It will take about an hour from the parking lot to the base of the Second Apron. I'm in pretty good shape, live in Denver, and unless I knew exactly how to get there and really huffed and puffed getting there, even 35 minutes is unrealistic. I mean, there's about a 700-800 foot gain in altitude just on the approach. Also important is how to get there. From the parking lot, walk back to the road and follow the road about 100 yards on toward Mt Evans. Cut back off the road just where the lake meets the road. You'll walk a trail that will eventually disappear amidst tiny ponds, and then you'll begin the harder section ascending a skree field. It took us 50 - 60 minutes to get there, once we'd found the trail.
3) The car/hitch hiking descent is not always an option. Be sure you check to see if the last five miles (after Summit Lake) is open or not before you bank on this; luckily for us, we took our hiking shoes and just descended the talus on the climber's right of the Third Apron (about 1 - 1.5 hours back to the parking lot).
4) Regarding the Second Apron. Climbed on September 18th, 2010, there was a bit of snow on it, and I don't think it was leftovers from last winter. Also, a lot of the climbing was "dirty," covered in moss, dirt, and/or lichens. Not all that hard, a bit heady in places (often because it wasn't so clean), but still a fun way to summit a 14er. Sep 20, 2010
What appears to be acceptable is to walk further up the road and get directly onto the talus field/slopes and stay off of the alpine vegetation around the lake. Aug 17, 2014
Durango
Bailey, CO