January. Tough call on the flight in general. Can be lovely, can be seriously sucky. I’m sure you’ve thought of that part. Watch for cold frontal movement headed this way from west of you into CO. If a wave is coming it’ll make things gross for a day or two. Often the best weather is the sunny cold day right after the front ripped down from the north, and you’ve probably seen that in the Dakotas too, trying to link it to your local weather experience.
If you’re coming from the Dakotas, you know wind. When we have it, downwind of the big rocks can suck. When we don’t, and you’ve seen that in the Dakotas, when it’s nice out, it’s lovely in winter. Even if it’s cold as hell.
As far as venturing west goes... the performance of a Warrior kinda sucks up high. You probably know that already too. Not highly recommended without training.
So... if you can even make the trip (as
@murphey said, it’s been unusually mild this year, La Niña year they say...) there’s tons to see without really being back in the rocks. January is a toss up month. And usually very cold when it decides to finally do it.
The whole trip down from the KFNL area to KCOS along the foothills is very nice as
@Colorado182 mentioned. He forgot Garden of the Gods northwest of KCOS. Same geographic feature that created Red Rocks. Cool to see from the air.
Down in the KCOS area, Pikes Peak sticks way out east of the rest of the Front Range. It’s pretty easy to get a good gander at it from any aloft vantage point. It’s big. And...
You really don’t want to miss driving up the toll road to the top in a rental car anyway... but...
Even driving small rental cars in the mountains can suck royally if the weather isn’t cooperating. Nobody mentioned that! Both Warriors and rental cars can both be no fun at all in a winter storm.
And the winter winds aloft are often ripping at the top of Pikes. Even on what looks like a gorgeous day in the KCOS valley. Sunny, bright, and lovely, and massive turbulence and rotors directly downwind of Pikes.
So you’re seeing a theme here. It’s all about wind in January if there’s no storms passing through.
If the winds are howling out of the west like they often are in January, don’t be the leaf floating on the stream behind a bunch of rocks. Ha. It’ll suck. Even sometimes quite far away on the east side.
Again, if you’re from the Dakotas, standing in negative temps in 50 knot winds is probably something you’ve seen before. Hahaha.
You’ve got to do the tourist thing at Pikes if you haven’t. Drive up, go inside at the top and buy the donuts. They’re nothing special but the altitude and the cold makes the donuts and a hot cup of coffee taste really really good.
And I do hope it’s clear and non-windy up there, honestly, if you go up. Clear happens frequently. Non-windy, not so much. Ha.
It’s cool to stand up there on a perfect day and wonder if you can see Kansas out there to the east. You’re used to that view in the airplane, but it’s honestly fun to see that view while standing on solid ground.
Sorry about the toll road thing. We milk all tourists for money, of course.
So... if the winds are whipping... it’s not a fun flight. None of it.
Usually worse over near the foothills. Bumpy and rough on the plains but flyable. If your friend hasn’t done bumps, watch the winds.
If you’re dead set on coming in wind, east around Denver may be less bumpy and not as good a view. Maybe.
You’ll still see nice scenery west of KCOS after you get rocked crossing the Palmer Divide area. (The ridge between Denver and Colorado Springs.)
And a word of warning, when the winds are out of the north or south, that area is often the location of the largest weather changes on either side. Orographic lifting can sock in the Divide and/or split the weather between Denver and Colorado Springs significantly and seemingly schizophrenically. Watch for that. Catches a lot of pilots off guard.
Don’t know where you’re coming from in the Dakotas but that entire route from the KRAP area down to KPUB is like that. Nice when the wind isn’t blowing. Rocked when it is. Coming past KCYS even over the flat there is often a freaking washing machine too. So if you’re used to western SD flying nothing on the Front Range will surprise you, other than that Palmer Divide weather change thing.
Holler when you’ve got a better date and we can tell ya if the usual crappy January winds have set in for the winter yet. Usually they’re here by now or late December. It’s been unusually nice but I doubt it’ll last.
We supposedly get our airplane back from the avionics shop second week of January, so I can almost guarantee the weather will suck immediately thereafter. Haha. Like un-flyable horrible kind of suck.
Because that’s how my 2017 went. I’ll know if 2018 is going to be better if the stupid weather actually behaves once the airplane is back.
The tractor has the three point snowblower attachment on it and is parked in the garage with the battery tender on it, if you want to know whether I think the weather is about to suck or not. Hahahaha. I don’t trust it this time of year. One big “Arctic Express” and then we all freeze our butts off for a week or two.
Oh. Almost forgot. Drink lots of water if you go up Pikes. Stay hydrated. Drink more at the top. And drink again at the bottom. And plan for an altitude headache if you don’t.
The road up Pikes is very twisty and no fun when slippery.
That’s all I’ve got. When are you coming? The Winter PoA “fun” is usually freezing our butts off at Clark’s hangar at KFTG. Colorado pilots are unusually fond of grilling in freezing weather. Ha.
