We arrived late at night as far as the road is open, just past Morrison Creek Campground. Got about an hour of rest in the car before gearing up and heading out around 2:30am.
After about a 3mi hike up to the trailhead, we had a lot of trouble navigating the trail. There were no reflectors or trail markers, and very faint footprints in the ice were the only indicator. We got off track many times and couldn't properly ascend until we teamed up with 2 other climbers at around 4:30am-5am.
The hike up to the Lunch Counter was great, perfect climbing conditions. Hard packed snow/ice with about half an inch of give made it easy for microspikes; we never needed our crampons, although ice axes are recommended for the steep pitches as the ice is very slippery going up.
We arrived at the Lunch Counter around 8am and were hit with severe winds, so we hid out behind the rock line and had some breakfast and attempted to get warm.
After trying to wait out the winds for an hour, we pushed on up Pikers Peak but were turned around by the winds - the windchill was easily below 0 and we had packed for a much warmer day. The 2 other climbers we teamed up with had heavier jackets so they shoved on up the steep, icy grade to the false summit.
Disappointed we didn't bag the summit but headed back in a couple weeks to get it done. In my opinion crampons aren't necessary for the conditions/route at the moment but it's better to have them and not need them. Bring ice axe and WARM gear in case you run into similar winds.
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