{"id":2446454,"date":"2019-07-17T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=309649"},"modified":"2019-07-17T21:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-18T03:00:00","slug":"aspen-wilderness-rangers-report-a-lot-of-snow-on-trails-above-11000-feet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-wilderness-rangers-report-a-lot-of-snow-on-trails-above-11000-feet\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen wilderness rangers report \u2018a lot of snow\u2019 on trails above 11,000 feet"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Aspen-Sopris District Wilderness Ranger Jerome Olp completed the Four Pass Loop on Monday. He encountered significant snow, as this photo of the West Maroon Pass area shows.<\/strong>
Jerome Olp\/courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Hikers in the high country around Aspen should still expect to encounter \u201ca lot of snow\u201d above 11,000 feet, according to forest rangers.<\/p>\n

Wilderness Ranger Jerome Olp of the Aspen-Sopris District was the first employee of the Forest Service and one of the first few people to hike the popular Four Pass Loop this season. He made the journey July 12 to 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cExpect wet feet the entire loop,\u201d Olp wrote on the Four Pass Loop Facebook page. \u201cTrails are muddy and often have running water on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hikers who venture on muddy trails, on the Four Pass Loop and elsewhere, have the responsibility to stay on the trail and not create new routes.<\/p>\n

\n
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\u201cRoute finding is necessary as 60 percent of the (Four Pass Loop) is under snow and avalanches.\u201d \u2014 Jeremy Olp, wilderness ranger<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

Olp advised hikers to count on the loop taking more time than usual due to travel on sun-cupped, soft snow for a good share of the trip. It\u2019s also easy to get off course.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoute finding is necessary as 60 percent of the loop is under snow and avalanches,\u201d Olp wrote.<\/p>\n

His picture of the West Maroon Pass area resembled winter more than summer. Olp said he anticipates there will be significant snow on the Four Pass Loop and other high-elevation trails well into August. However, there are a lot of opportunities to explore on lower-elevation trails. Anyone who has ventured out can attest the wildflowers are magnificent.<\/p>\n

Shelly Grail, recreation manager in the Aspen-Sopris District, said there are a variety of challenges on trails throughout the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cWest Maroon Pass is challenging to navigate because of snow. Yule is challenging because of avalanche debris,\u201d she said. A bridge washed out July 2 across Hell Roaring Creek on the Avalanche Creek hike.<\/p>\n

Grail advised hikers and backpackers to check the White River National Forest\u2019s trail and road conditions report before venturing out. The report is divided into districts of the forest. Wilderness rangers update observations each Tuesday. The report is found at https:\/\/www.fs.usda.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The latest report advises people that \u201cbackpacking over the passes will not be accessible until late July to early August.\u201d Hikers should expect snow, downed trees, mud and high, cold, swift river crossings.<\/p>\n

scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aspen-Sopris District Wilderness Ranger Jerome Olp completed the Four Pass Loop on Monday. He encountered significant snow, as this photo of the West Maroon Pass area shows.Jerome Olp\/courtesy photo Hikers in the high country around Aspen should still expect to encounter \u201ca lot of snow\u201d above 11,000 feet, according to forest rangers. Wilderness Ranger Jerome […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2446454","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 12:07:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2446454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2446454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2446454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2446454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}