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Mt. Evans - mixed, couloirs

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Northwest Couloir 
Road, The 
Snave, The 
Sunrise Couloir 
Tike's Trike 


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Mt. Evans - mixed, couloirs

Submitted By: Dave Loring on Nov 30, 1999
Administrators: Ben Mottinger, Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Monomaniac
Elevation: 14,264 feet
Latitude: 39.5886  Longitude: -105.6430 
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A bit of ice, across from The Road, in the sun.


Description 

The Summit Lake bowl offers some fine alpine ice and rock routes topping out at or near 14,000'. Summer T-storms are the biggest danger. Easy access is limited to June-September by the closure of the Mt. Evans highway. It's a long hike up the road or Chicago Lakes basin the rest of the year.

There are some other options up in the Chicago Lakes basin which are accessed from Echo Lake.


Getting There 

Drive up I-70 to Idaho Springs. Take the Mt. Evans highway to the Echo Lake. Take a right at the Echo Lake Lodge, and follow the summit road to Summit Lake. The main bowl just below the summit offers easy ice/snow climbs and has the potential for some mixed routes just below the summit if conditions are right. This is accessed by hiking around the south side of Summit Lake and up the slope into the bowl. The Aprons are west of the Lake - First Apron is northwest, Second is due west, and Third is southwest just right of the bowl. Mt. Spaulding is accessed by dropping down to upper Chicago Lakes basin, north of Summit Lake.

For the Chicago Lake basin options, park at Echo Lake, take a trail off the I-70 side of the lake dropping down into the drainage of Chicago Lakes and go up the valley past the Idaho Springs Reservoir and higher up.


The Classics

Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Mt. Evans - mixed, couloirs:
Northwest Couloir   WI2     Trad, Ice, Alpine   
The Road   WI3 M4     Mixed, Ice, Alpine, 5 pitches, 900 feet, Grade III   
Sunrise Couloir   Mod. Snow     Trad, Snow, Alpine, Grade II   
Tike's Trike   5.10a WI4 M5+ A3 R     Trad, Aid, Mixed, Ice, Alpine, 250 feet, Grade II   
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Featured Route For Mt. Evans - mixed, couloirs
Chris Carr starting up Sunrise

Sunrise Couloir Mod. Snow  CO : CO Ice & Mixed : Mt. Evans - mixed, couloirs
This route follows the obvious couloir due west of summit lake in the middle of the Evans-Spalding saddle. Hike around the north end of the lake to the bottom of the gully and continue straight up to the top. To continue to the summit of Evans, go left from the top for 3/4 of a mile to the top, or you could take a right for a 1/4 mile or so to Spalding. This route has a large cornice every year which, when it melts out to vertical, is fun to pl...[more]   Browse More Classics in CO


Photos of Mt. Evans - mixed, couloirs Slideshow Add Photo
A bit of ice, right of The Road.

A bit of ice, right of The Road.

Rock across the valley from The Road.

Rock across the valley from The Road.