Alpine/Engineer Pass vs Imogene, Ophir?

Whiskeyjack

Whiskeyjack

Member
Just hoping for a "difficulty" ranking.
I did the Alpine Loop today, and I plan to do Imogene tomorrow and possibly Ophir later.

I found Engineer Pass relatively easy, nothing too technical, but there were a couple moments that didn't feel great (nothing alarming or sweaty palms), mostly just when facing incoming traffic.

Is Imogene technically more difficult?
 
Ophir is a cakewalk, but you get a cool view. I like doing it as a loop to get to Black Bear and back to Telluride (Def do Black Bear, I think it just opened last week). Imogene can get a little hairy on the Ouray side if there is trail traffic, but if not, it's about the same level as Engineer IMO.

Edit-saw your other thread about BB. San Juan road conditions HERE
 
Last edited:
jdofmemi said:
Imogene is not technically challenging.

If you want a challenge in the area, try Poughkeepsie. It has some optional areas that will present a challenge.
Click to expand...
Imogene turned out to be pretty easy. Definitely worth the time. I didn't get to Poughkeepsie because I didn't even realize it was a thing until I was already on my way out, I'll have to come back for it some day.

jake250k said:
Ophir is a cakewalk, but you get a cool view. I like doing it as a loop to get to Black Bear and back to Telluride (Def do Black Bear, I think it just opened last week). Imogene can get a little hairy on the Ouray side if there is trail traffic, but if not, it's about the same level as Engineer IMO.

Edit-saw your other thread about BB. San Juan road conditions HERE
Click to expand...
Ophir was a joke. I honestly thought, with it being one of the Jeep Badges for Colorado, that it would be difficult. There was nothing difficult about it at all, and the only thing I'd say would put people off would be the short narrow shelf where passing would be difficult if not impossible, but downhill traffic yielded at the end and I passed it pretty quick. I was super underwhelmed, but it was still a nice route. Wish I had done that first.

I didn't make it to Black Bear...I made the mistake of showing my wife the video of a Jeep rolling down the side...she veto'd. I might come back to CO in the future to knock that one out.
 
No trails in the Ouray area are hard from a rock crawling perspective. They are all mostly scenic but worth it. Even black bear is literally a road for the most part. Very little challenge other than pucker factor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom