The trail starts out with substantial amounts of ice covering it which were quite slippery. I debated bringing my spikes and regretted not bringing them for most of the trail. The trail improves until the turn off to Granite Mountain where more sheets of ice cover the trail which are quite tricky to navigate (I fell rather hard on the way down here). From there on the trail can be done easily with spikes on your feet- not enough snow to warrant the use of snowshoes but extra traction is highly advised as it is compact and slippery. Some small trees are poking their branches across the trail- so watch out for your eyes. Once you reach the meadow, you will want snowshoes but a determined person can make it without them (not happily I will add). Once you reach the spine, there are parts that are rocky and hard to navigate with snowshoes and others that the snowshoes help a ton on. The snow is still only about 2ft deep and most of the old beargrass stems are poking through. If you decide to go along the summer route- there is a lot more snow there and not many tracks to follow. Overall it was a beautiful place to spend the changeover to the New Year and I barely slept as I was having too much fun taking photos!

Microspikes were helpful after 2 miles. Snowshoes necessary after 3 miles. 4-5 feet of snow the last 1.5 miles. Very windy and cold above the tree line (10 degrees with windchill -5), but after 12 noon, the wind calmed and the conditions were pleasant but cold. Possible to climb without snowshoes, but would be difficult. Several parties turned around at the ridge (due to inadequate clothing and/or no snowshoes). With the right equipment, this is a fantastic climb. Gorgeous summit views of God's handiwork.

Early morning day hike to the top of granite mountain on Super Bowl Sunday. We arrived to the trailhead at 7:10 and hit the trail just before sunrise. Put microspikes on after the first .5 miles due to icy trail conditions, but nothing too bad. The first avalanche chutes on the trail were mostly clear, as was the trail until exiting the trees around 3800 feet. After leaving the trees, the boot trail switchbacks up a steep snow slope to the southeast ridge. This is where we really started to notice the recent snowfall. around three feet deep at this point, the snow felt like it was mostly powder and we frequently found ourselves postholing on the way up. We were lucky to have tracks well beaten in most of the way up, so we used microspikes although we had snowshoes with us. Upon reaching the ridge we faced two options, break new trail and follow the ridge line up, or follow the boot trail which took a less direct route to the summit. We chose the former and closely followed the ridge to the lookout since the wind was little and we eventually met up with the boot trail a little ways before the lookout anyways. At the top we found ourselves in a cloud with high winds and decided to head down after a quick snack. Getting out of the wind at the lookout can be tough. We also ran into two other groups at the top, the only other hikers we saw all day. We used snowshoes for the descent until hitting the trees again. We also probably glissaded around 500 feet on the north side of the southeast ridge. This hike is tough, but not too tiring if you get an early start. Route finding skills are necessary. Overall this was an excellent hike, despite the lack of views. I would not recommend attending this if you have little experience navigating and traveling in steep snow. Start:7:10 Top 11:30-40 Finish:2:15 Pictures Below:

Fabulous sunshine and soft snow on the top half of the mountain. Witnessed a graceful parasail jump from the peak.