Pikes Peak

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 3/23/2026, By: sheller
Info: Summited on Sunday. Here’s the breakdown- Only a couple avoidable ice patches to Barr Camp. From Barr Camp to treeline 50/50 mixed icy spots and dirt. Didn’t feel like traction was needed, but could be useful on the way down. From treeline to summit there was 10-15% of the trail covered with 10-50m stretches of snow. Most of it was frozen enough to walk on, but will change as the weather warms. Definitely saw spots where you could step in knee to even waist deep. Worst spots were at the start of the long switch back about 2 miles from the summit and the last .5 miles before the summit. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 3/24/2026, By: hotbutteredrum
Info: Mix of icy conditions and dirt below the treeline. Microspikes definitely are helpful but not necessary. I left mine on for the descent.

Above treeline there was one section around a road corner where you'd definitely want spike. Might be better to stay along the road in that spot.

Feels like early summer conditions right now. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 3/2/2026, By: fiercedude
Info: Hiked Barr trail to the top; Pretty much all snow before Barr camp is gone, after that it was a bit icy until the tree line but didn’t need to put on my spikes. After the tree line, most snow was gone except a few big drifts, but they were pretty solid to walk over. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 3/2/2026, By: felttrip
Info: A couple of small patches of snow on the way to Barr Camp but nothing requiring traction. Put micro spikes on after Barr Camp and kept them on until the summit.

A good amount of hard packed snow and ice up to tree line. Above tree line some minor post holing in the snow fields as the day went on and things softened up in the sun. Nothing so bad as to make me wish I had carried snowshoes though. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 2/28/2026, By: brian4328937
Info: No snowshoes needed. Didn’t even use spikes but could be helpful on the downhill. Lots of ice in the forest but also a lot of dry patches and didn’t feel like putting them on/off the whole time. Not a whole lot of snow on the peak at the moment. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 2/9/2026, By: alexnoble124
Info: Spikes definitely very helpful for the forest section as there is a lot of icy parts and the ground is entirely covered by snow. Besides this the trail is nice for this time of year. I didn't encounter any snow drifts that were even knee deep and you can avoid most of the larger patches of snow. I recommend poles if you have them but definitely not needed. Note: Snow is supposed to move in shortly after writing this post so conditions may vary. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 1/18/2026, By: nathanolds146
Info: Really not a lot of snow coming up from the crags. Minimal post holing in a few snow drifts above treeline, many many spots are barely covered by snow. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 1/5/2026, By: mbrown126
Info: Unrelenting, brutal wind up there today. My water was frozen when I reached the summit. No snowshoes needed. Highly recommend spikes though. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 1/3/2026, By: Jonathan Deffenbaugh
Info: Was able to follow the trail all the way to the summit after hitting up the Incline. No snowshoes required, however icy in sections leading up to the summit. Recommend bringing microspikes for traction. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 1/1/2026, By: Myankelshurt
Info: Hitting it from the back for my 27th PP ascent. Took me 3 hours longer than normal with the gate and snow, but totally doable!
I clocked 8 hours and 16.2 miles. With the amount of ice on the trail, spikes are required below tree line and poles would help.
Most of the trail is well traveled and very few spots that you have to trail find.
An overall great day. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 12/30/2025, By: acctforfun
Info: Snow not deep enough to be an issue/concern or slow me down. Had several dry spots, but reasonably consistent coverage from the winter TH to Devil’s Playground. Trail is well bootpacked. Once you reached to the road crossing sections it felt like a normal early summer hike (albeit it being feels like -10 at summit and not much warmer below).

I found microspikes helpful as there is definitely ice. Snowshoes completely unnecessary.

My Garmin said 16.8 mi, 4800ft. Personally took me 8.5hrs car to car, but I was feeling it. Enjoyed the brief respite from the temps in the summit building with some donuts, another nice day in the mountains. 

Route: Cornice Bowl/Rock Garden
Posted On: 12/4/2025, By: ProfetaP
Info: Conditions have definitely changed since I was here!

Went and did a little snow climb on Saturday via the Cornice Bowl / Rock Garden. Avy conditions were low, but was still cautious as this was north facing, and had wind slab at the top (no surprise with the name Cornice bowl).

Start - it was sugar snow.
Middle - Sugar snow with a thin layer of crust on top.
Top - Crust which was great for snow climbs, but was definitely weak.

Didn't cause any avy's but was cautious and careful. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 12/1/2025, By: sophia_layden
Info: Waist deep snow past tree line. Snow shoes would have definitely been helpful. Coming up by devils playground gets sketchy with snow and ice, an ice axe could be useful too for the steep climbing of the face. Super windy up top! Overall it was beautiful 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 11/16/2025, By: Amratkov
Info: Summer conditions! Beautiful weather. I did not think the trail would be so rocky with quite a few washed out areas. Minimal patches of snow once you get above 12000' or so. All avoidable except one large section between the Devils Playground and start of the class 2. I opted to walk on the shoulder of the road (tsk tsk) to avoid it going back down. Class 2 some small spots of ice but, again, easy avoidable. 

Route: Northwest Slopes
Posted On: 11/7/2025, By: MaryinColorado
Info: Overall, route is mostly dry. We had no need for traction. The areas to be careful of, though, are below Little Pikes where the snow that's holding is a bit slick. And on the final boulder scramble, there are plenty of patches of sneaky ice. We had a lot of cold wind today! I didn't realize the hot chocolate at the summit house is so damn good - or maybe just seems that way since it was so needed by the time we arrived, haha.