A Winter Hike to Sky Pond in Rocky Mountain National Park

It was 17 days before the Winter Solstice and the sun was getting low on the horizon. The temperature above 9,000ft had stayed below freezing, but on this day, the temperature hovered near the freezing mark and the sun felt warm, even spring like. 17 days after Winter Solstice would put us into early January and I would hope by then the temperature would feel considerably colder.

(Click on the photos for a larger image)

In other words, it was a pretty mild day, on top a string of mild days, for our first winter venture out for the season. My hiking partner and I were heading up the four and a half miles to Sky Pond. We found the trail covered with packed snow, but not icy, so we knew there had not been very many days above freezing, which would make the trail icy with the melting and freezing.

Alberta Falls was pretty well frozen over with thick ice for the winter, though we could hear the water flowing below the ice, but snow had not yet covered over the falls. It had been a while since there had been any significant snowfall.

Not far past the falls and a short step off the trail there's an overlook that looks off to the north. To the left, the crags of Flattop Mtn above Emerald Lake are barely visible. In the foreground, the Bear Lake Road switchbacks up, and off in the distance were the snowy Mummy Range. Normally, those would be the notable features to point out at this spot. But this year, sitting in the middle of all of that is Mt Wuh and the burn scar visible on its' western slope from the recent Troublesome fire. That part of the Park is currently closed to hikers.

We continue on, following the windy trail around the east Glacier Knob until, finally around its east flank, the Loch Vale comes into spectacular view. Even though it was near mid-day, the low sun cast bands of sunlight across the scene. But in the far distance, the Taylor Peak massif basked in the midday sun. 

The snow had not built up much of a base yet and there was no need for snowshoes yet. We hiked past the trail junction for Mills Lake, saving that for another day, and took the trail that follows The Icy Brook and switchbacks up into The Loch Vale. In the depths of winter, after many more snowfalls, the Icy Brook drainage catches a lot of blowing snow and fills up becoming the common way to The Loch. But it was still too early for that.

It was quite a stellar day once we reach The Loch. The lake had completely frozen over and there were many tracks that headed across it, which we followed. There was about and inch of snow on top of the ice, which indicated that there had not been even a wiff of wind since whenever the last little bit of snow fell, very unusual. Timberline Falls was, of course, spectacularly frozen over and on the return, we watched as a couple of ice climbers make short work of a one pitch ascent of the right falls.

The most difficult part of the hike to Sky Pond is the short stretch of low class climbing next to the falls. There was some ice to navigate around and could become a treacherous ordeal if one wasn't careful here. But once over the top, the dramatic upper basin comes into view at Lake of Glass. It is worth taking a break here in the sun and admire the view.

After trekking across Lake of Glass, the snow trail winds its way up to Sky Pond where you can walk across the lake here, now in the shadow of the south ridge, and take in the incredible rock formation of The Sharkstooth, the thin blade of The Petit Grepon, and The Saber, rising up as natural cathedral spires. 

We retrace our steps back down to The Loch, crossing the middle of the Lake. The winter time offers an opportunity to visit a small island in the middle of the lake with a beautifully gnarled Bristlecone Pine growing out of the rock. These amazing trees have to tough out tremendous winter winds. Please stay off the island and let these old trees of the mountains continue to grow unharmed.  Just admire their stamina.

This was a shake down hike. We had gathered our winter gear and needed to figure out what we had forgotten for future trips. But we felt we scored a pretty good first winter day out with fantastic conditions.
​Now, bring on the snowstorms!! We're ready!!