Pikes Peak soared above Colorado Springs as we drove towards the downtown area. As an ultra prominent peak, and one of the easternmost peaks in Colorado, it is easily visible for hundreds of miles on a clear day. The east face of the peak is massive, and the east face route of Pikes Peak, known as the Barr Trail, was our objective this weekend. The weather looked great except for the wind, which fortunately was coming out of the west, meaning the mountain would be our wind-block most of the trip. The mountain had also received about six inches of new snow earlier in the week. Did I mention it was February?

My friend Steve and I had not been on a trip since New Year’s, and our last successful summit together had been just after Thanksgiving, so we were overdue for a good trip. We had decided to get a calendar winter ascent, and to do it in style by backpacking the peak and spending the night near tree line. Doing the Barr Trail had been a goal for the winter because it is the longest standard route of any of the 14ers in Colorado. Gaining almost 7500 vertical feet and a round trip distance of 26 miles, it’s a long trip; however many consider it a technically easy route. The winter also meant solitude on the mountain. It is one of the most visited mountains in Colorado, and that weekend the summit gift shop would be closed, along with the road, and the train was only running part of the way up the mountain.

A Pikes Peak Hike (The Incline & Barr Trail) Begins

As we pulled into the trailhead and started up at one in the afternoon, I realized we would definitely have some company for the first mile. Because we figured it would cut two miles off of the trail and it would be a good experience, Steve and I elected to start out the climb with “The Incline”. The Incline is a popular day hike where we ascend over 2000 vertical feet in a mile, climbing up a makeshift stair of railroad ties. The Incline used to be a railroad until it was damaged in 1990. It eventually became a cult hit by being the steepest mile to hike in Colorado. You can hike the incline via an agreement between the private land owners, the forest service, and the government of Manitou Springs. We started up, with our overnight backpacks and zero degree sleeping bags we would need for the chilly night at 12,000 feet.

The first mile was hard, with us finishing in just under an hour. There was very little snow on the ground, and most of the snow on the incline had been compacted into ice. After reaching the top, we took a short break to eat and enjoy the view of the city from the top. Shouldering our packs again, we started up the much more relaxed path that wound through the pine forest. Unlike most of the 14ers in Colorado, which start near or above timberline, all but the upper three miles of the Barr Trail are below tree line. The crowds disappeared as we kept hiking up, only meeting a handful of people.

We noticed one of the solo hikers heading down had snowshoes on, and we stopped him to ask about conditions near the top. He said he had broken trail all the way to the summit earlier that day, and the snowshoes were overkill for the amount of snow he encountered. We knew he was right, with Pikes Peak receiving less than 24 inches of snow to date, most of it being blown off or melted by the warm weather the Front Range had been seeing that winter. I did not anticipate seeing more than ankle deep snow at any point. After 4 miles of hiking above the Incline, we found the next landmark, Barr Camp. Barr Camp is a year round bunkhouse, and is the only source of water in the winter. The stream that normally flows near the camp freezes and those that run the camp spend hours every day chopping the ice away to keep it running for their guests and others that use the trail. After filling our water bottles, we thanked them, and continued hiking. Since we started late in the day, the shadow of the mountain already covered us, and we slowly watched the shadow move eastward as we climbed higher into the forest. Finally, just after nightfall, we found our stopping point; the A-frame. We had covered approximately 5,500 feet and eight miles in six hours.

We found the A-frame empty, which is unheard of during the summer. The A-frame had been constructed by the Forest Service to be a storm shelter and overnight hut for people like us. They knew what they were doing, because there is an incredible view. Just above tree line, Colorado Springs was sprawled out below us in a grid of twinkling streetlights. The solid A-frame held off the wind quite nicely, giving us a fairly quiet night, staying warm as the temperature dipped to ten degrees. When my alarm went off in the morning, I rolled over to find an orange light surrounding the hut. As we crawled into the opening of the A-frame, the entire mountain was glowing; a phenomenon known as alpenglow. About twenty minutes later, the sun peaked up over the edge of Kansas, and lit up the east face. After enjoying the sunrise for a few minutes, we rolled up our belongings and stored them in the A-frame, and continued on with only our summit packs.

We still had 3 miles and 2000 feet to go until we hit the summit. The snow depth was mostly shallow and the hiker from the previous day had given us a good path to follow, hiking around the occasional drift. After many switchbacks, peeking into “The Cirque” and climbing the 16 Golden Stairs, we finally found ourselves at the summit. True to the weather forecast, the winds were blasting out of the west, rushing across the top. We snapped a few pictures, peered off the north side into “The Bottomless Pit” area where many of the spring mountaineering routes exist, and enjoyed the fleeting moment where we were alone on the top of the peak.

Tired of the wind, we hiked back down into the calm of the east face, with 13 miles to go to get back to the trailhead. As we made our way back towards the A-frame, we found 3 more hikers that had stayed at Barr Camp working their way up through our tracks. After getting back to the A-frame, we repacked our bags with the items we didn't bring to the summit and ate an early lunch. Back down the mountain we flew, stopping again at Barr Camp to refill our water. As we worked our way down the mountain, the snow we had been growing accustomed to disappeared, and the mountain warmed up more and more as we descended.

After retracing our steps through the forest, we found ourselves at the top of the incline again and the crowds reappeared. They ask for people to only go uphill on the incline, so we descended the Barr Trail, working our way down as fast as we could; avoiding the spots where the snow was trampled into black ice. We made it back to the car around 3pm, giving us a total hiking time of just over 12 hours, and 26 hours since we had left the car. We both congratulated each other, feeling great about another fantastic trip. As we drove out of Manitou Springs back to Denver, the shadow of the mountain began to creep eastward as it had done the day prior.

Information

For a map see National Geographic Trails Illustrated Pikes Peak, Cañon City 137. Pocket Pals Trail Maps also has maps covering the area that can be found here at REI-Co-op.

Editor's Note: This article by Ted "tmountainnut" Ehrlich originally appeared in Issue 8 of TrailGroove Magazine. You can read the original article here for additional photos and content.