Mountain Running St. Vrain Mountain: Fun in the Snow

As I mentioned, I was doing two posts on some of the recent mountain trail running conditions here along the Colorado front range. Kingston Peak from the Tolland Road out of Rollinsville is a great one. Another one, often that requires a little more melting out of snow before it is runable, is St. Vrain Mountain.

As of May 31, there was still a bit of snow. The trail was dry up until about treeline, at which point I had to do some serious snow running. However, the day was too good, the sun was shinning, and I was excited to be up high again. No one had made it across the substantial snow fields, up past the first headwall, across the flat saddle above treeline, and then up the final face of St. Vrain Mountain.

I guess as they say, the early bird gets the worm...


Round-Trip Length: 8.9 miles (includes .75 mile unmaintained segment to summit)
Start - End Elevation: 8,940' - 12,162' (12,162' max elevation)
Elevation Change: +3,222' net elevation gain (+3,370' total roundtrip elevation gain)

Directions:
To get to the St Vraim Mountain Trailhead take Highway 7 south from Estes Park to the town of Allenspark. Just inside Allenspark turn right on Ski Road (107) and follow it for 2.2 miles to the trailhead.