What kind of snow/ice gear are NOBO hikers using, if any? I was thinking of just using my poles but have also considered microspikes and a small ice axe for bad sections. What do you think?
Snags
Snow gear - Continental Divide Trail
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#2
A short ice axe may stop you if you fall. A long ice axe will help keep you from falling.
If you are in Colorado in a normal snow year, you will run into consolidated snow in early to mid-June. An ice axe is a necessity then. You can take detours around some of the worst sections (i.e. the Knife Edge and parts of the south San Juans) but you will still run into a fair amount of snow unless you roadwalk the whole area. Some hikers have successfully used snowshoes. Our timing didn’t require them.
Ginny
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#3
Like the PCT, I did use the ice axe a few times on the CDT and I’d recommend having it from Chama northward until July 4th, if '11 turns out to be a high snow year. I also used Katoohla Microspikes on a couple of occasions.
Handlebar
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#4
Ginny, What time of year did you hike Colorado? I would like to hike across Colorado this Summer. I want to go at a time when I can see the wildflowers and don’t have to posthole. I’d appreciate hearing from you, Snapshot
snapshot
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#5
Early July is a good time to hike in Colorado if you want wildflowers and little snow. We did our first visit to the CDT at that time of year. On our second thruhike, we entered Colorado around June 10 in a low snow year and still had snow in the south San Juans but we also had lots of wildflowers later in the month. The biggest issue with hiking the high country in July is thunderstorms. Our first visit we had rain almost every day. Mostly showers with some hail. Sometimes the rain lasted five minutes, sometimes five hours. We only had bad thunder/lightning a couple of times, but I’ve known hikers who got bad thunderstorms every day.
Ginny
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#6
A few thoughts from southern Colorado:
- 2011 is predicted to be a rather low snow year and it certainly has started out that way (despite yesterday’s much-welcomed storm)
- July is the beginning of the thunderstorm season, but in my experience, August is the most volatile month. Buzzz …
- Best wildflowers are in late July!
Matt
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#7
Chama is good place to pick up your crampons/ice axe. Northbound you will enter Colorado and hitch down Cumbres Pass back into New Mexico. Maybe worth picking up another layer at Ghost Ranch for last 3 days of hiking to Colorado above 10,000 feet.
I was a total slop-fest starting a three days south of the Colorado border. I watched a few friends posthole past their waist and we were slipping and sliding a bit. Few times I even lost my shoe and had to dig it out also.
Sadly I had already planned on returning home, when I reached Colorado for a small work project - two weeks. Long story it turned into two months and I didn’t get back on the trail until late July 
I can attest to the volatile weather in August. Rained at least once a day mostly in the afternoon and evening - sometimes at night. Hail and sleet sometimes too. Got lucky with the thunderstorms, no close calls - but plenty of them still. I don’t remember having to break camp in the rain any morning.
San Juan Mountain range is something I wouldn’t miss. Some thru’s had to take the Creed Cutoff or tried flipping up to Wyoming and hiking south.
Colorado is crazy and fun!
Flippy
