Mount Bierstadt or WØC/FR-Ø15 is one of the easier fourteeners (mountains with peaks above 14,000 ft (4267 m)) in Colorado. It is located near Denver in the Frontrange of the Rocky Mountains. The peak is named after the German/American painter Albert Bierstadt. The easy access from Denver and the close proximity to Mt Evans (another 14er) makes this summit a popular destination all year round. There are several routes to the summit, I have chosen the ‘standard’ route from Guanella Pass over the west slopes.

Trailhead: 11607 ft/ 2565 m
Summit:   14060 ft / 4285 m
Elev. gain: 2897 ft / 883 m
Roundtrip: 7.0   mi / 11.3 km

Compare this summit with my other activated summits

How to get there:
As mentioned, access to Mt. Bierstadt is rather easy coming from Denver. Take I70 West, exit at the Georgetown. Follow the many signs to Guanella Pass Scenic Byway. Follow the road for ~12 miles all the way to the pass. The road is brand new and two large parking lots (on either side of the road) cannot be missed. The trail starts near the parking area on the east side of the road (first parking lot coming from Goeorgetown), just behind the restrooms.

Parking/Trailhead

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Red Tape:
Parking lots fill up quickly, specifically on week-ends.

The Ascent:

The ascent does not present any challenges. The summit is clearly visible from the parking lot and so is the route. The well maintained trail starts rather easy, slightly downhills through the Guanella Pass marsh area with a thick willow growth. To lessen the impact on the trail, you will find wooden bridges leading you towards the base of the mountain. You have to cross a creek and interestingly you will not find a bridge but you have to jump from rock to rock to get to the other side – with quite a few people on the trail, you might have to wait in line until it’s your turn. That’s when I remembered why I am not a big fan of fourteeners… it’s not the elevation, the thin air or the steep slopes – it’s their popularity and the resulting crowds trying to summit. Needless to say that I was never alone during my hike to the summit. I tried to stay equidistant  between a larger group in front of me and a group of eight college students behind me. You can’t see the other groups as long as you are hiking in the willows, you can however hear them – a problem which was resolved when the trail got steeper about half way up the mountain. After reaching the saddle, most of the elevation gain was behind me and the remaining part to the top consists mostly of boulder hopping.

The Summit:

The view from the summit is of course spectacular. Mount Evans (WØC/FR-ØØ3) is just a mile or two to the north-east and can be reached crossing a class 3 ridge (over Sawtooth). Many higher SOTA peaks can be spotted including Torrey Pk. and Gray Pk. (both 14ers) to the west. The summit never had less than  probably 25-30 people during the time I was up there. Finding an appropriate location to setup my HF antenna with all the guy lines and counterpoise was important to me… with all the people mulling around, there was a danger that somebody trips and takes down the antenna (or worse).

I set up my 2m tape measure Yagi and pointed it towards the west, hoping to catch Bob/KIØG near Glenwood Springs on the HT. Bob did not answer my call, but Tom/K7HRO picked-up my signal in Cheyenne (WY). Since there were no more takers on 2m, I put down the Yagi (still pointed towards the west) and started to setup my vertical Buddipole. Tuned for 20m, I made contact with the usual suspects, Elliott/K6ILM leading the way. There were also some new (to me) stations who were chasing before I picked up KIØG on the HT. The signal wasn’t great and I started to jump from boulder to boulder, waving my Yagi towards the west in the hope to pick-up a better signal. My behavior attracted the attention of my fellow hikers on the summit who started to wonder whether I had lost my mind, waving a magic wand and speaking in code. Nevertheless, Bob and I had a successful QSO on 2m and I spend the next few minutes answering questions about amateur radio and SOTA.

Keeping an eye on the clouds and weather in general, I re-tuned the BP for 17m… realizing that I would have to leave soon. One of the clouds looked kind of black, but not quite threatening (yet). Made only one contact on 17m withing 10 minutes and decided to call it quits and get off the summit due to the increasingly dark cloud hanging over us. Some newly arrived hikers assured me that they are not worried at all about the clouds – but I was. Within a few minutes I was on my way.

The Descent:

About 300 ft below the summit I saw the first lightning strike towards the west, followed by loud and rolling thunder echoing back from the mountains. Dense rain and hail showers developed quickly and I spent the remaining descent in heavy hail and rain showers. I put on my gaiters and rain jacket before the first wave of hail hit – a smart move… the constant hail and rain made the descent a slippery slope – literally. By the time I reached the flatter area down in the willows, it was a swamp with several inches of hail/rain mix to wade through. Thanks to the gaiters, my feet stayed (mostly) dry – however I was dirty all the way up to my knees as if I had been shoveling manure on a pig farm.

I was wondering how the sandals wearing crowds I had met on my way up and on the summit were coping with the icy situation – I am sure it was tough.

Luckily I still had all my winter equipment in my Subaru Outback. The car was covered in ~2 inches of heavy/wet hail. I literally had to dig out the car – in June.

Some video impressions:
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opAyuMhfffA

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!! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and bold mountaineers... there are no old-bold mountaineers. Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required - enjoy!