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Route: Mt Holy Cross (CO)

Submitted by jmiddaugh on Wed, 08/05/2020 - 01:43pm
Location
Colorado, US
Distance
11 mi
Vertical Gain
5,500 ft
Description

Mt Holy Cross is an iconic 14,009 ft peak, often depicted in photographs and paintings with the snow field in the shape of a cross, hence its name. 

The most standard route is the North Ridge.  The out & back has a Strava segment.

The Orbital, or Halo - North Ridge Loop route is the best way to see the snow field and also summit the peak.  The route is a loop, starting and finishing at the Fall Creek Trailhead at the end of Tigiwan Road.  The view of Mt Holy Cross from the Notch Mountain Shelter is absolutely stunning.  Along the route are two ranked 13ers and one unranked 13er.  The route descends the North Ridge and a final up and down over Half Moon Pass to return to the starting point.

https://www.14ers.com/routelist.php?peak=Mt.%20of%20the%20Holy%20Cross

Duathlon:  Bike from the winter closure gate on the Tigwon Road to the Holy Cross Trailhead, 8+ miles with about 2500 feet of elevation gain. Then run the standard route to Holy Cross Summit and back. Finish with the ride back to the winter closure on Tigwon.  This is a Gravel or MTB ride to a solid 14er run. Probably best to do on a weekday as the Tigwon Road can be busy on weekends. Parking at the Holy Cross Trailhead can also be a mess so this route saves you the hassle of having to park at the top.

GPS Track
My_Holy_Cross_Orbital_run_hike_shuffle_crawl.gpx5.32 MB

FKTs

Images
Related Routes
Colorado Fourteeners (CO)

Comments

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Thomas Chapman
Fri, 08/07/2020 - 03:51pm

Glad to see this route has made it on here. Seeing as there is no FKT at the moment, I'll be attempting to beat it tomorrow!

I was referring to the Halo loop without seeing that there was the option of the out and back. But that one got taken too. 

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nicomoric
Tue, 07/16/2024 - 12:48pm

Love this backyard peak and everything it has to offer. Been to the summit over 13times or so. Either hiking, backpacking, snowboarding, or climbing, but never ran it. Figured I’d see how fast I could do this and did it in 3:38 car to car which I was stoked on, but looking for sub 3 hours this year. Big ups to the humans who have set these fkts. Joseph Demoor, your 2:26 car to car is seriously mind blowing to me. I guess with enough training anything can be done. Keep the tempo everyone!