Mt. Parnassus

Route: Main Herman Gulch Route
Posted On: 4/25/2026, By: oldgrayhair
Info: Summertime conditions as of 04/25/2026. Any snow remaining, especially just after the trail turnoff to start the climb up the West side of Mt. Parnassus, is compacted or can easily be avoided. 

Route: NE Face
Posted On: 4/12/2026, By: slawrence2011
Info: Intermittent snow from the trailhead to around 10,8, mostly continuous above there with some billy goating and crossing a log bridge on skis. The NE face is discontinuous at one spot around 12,5 where skis must be taken off for 30 ft or so, but it is already low angle. Cornice is quite small at ideal entry points. Dropped in at 10:20, and on and off sun had not made it corn until way lower. Fortunately, there was some more winterlike snow up high that had softness in places. I managed to "ski" to the trailhead, but I did walk several hundred yards above the final snowfield in ski boots in hopes of skiing the final snowfield. 

Route: From Herman Gulch
Posted On: 4/6/2026, By: Piotr
Info: Parnassus/Bard loop from Herman Gulch parking lot, returning via Bard Creek trail. Mostly melted out, most of the remaining snow is in Watrous Gulch. Snow field on Parnassus/Bard saddle fairly firm in the morning, stay close to ridgeline. Bard Creek trail has two snow fields to cross and some drifts in the trees, otherwise nice and dry. Blue skies and low wind day. 

Route: south west
Posted On: 1/9/2026, By: nilaoire
Info: From Watrous gulch, the trail was a little icy in spots, used spikes on the way down. Used snowshoes around 11,000 to 12100ft where we began postholing up to our knees. From approx 12,100 ft to the top neither spikes or snowshoes were necessary just strength to push through the wind. Nicely placed log made the stream crossing easy, can't say I have seen it in the past. 

Route: From Herman Gulch
Posted On: 12/15/2025, By: Piotr
Info: Perfect weather, no wind, sunny, 40F at 9am in parking lot. Trail is packed snow until creek crossing. Took a ridge south of regular Watrus Gulch trail, all dry once I climbed out of gulch (see orange trail on attached map). Dry over to Bard if you stay on ridge crest. However, coming back on Bard Creek Trail was a mistake, lots of sketchy snow sections ready to slide, required extra time to bypass/climb around. Would have been much faster and safer to climb back over the Parnassus. 

Route: daway8's Bard Quartet
Posted On: 10/13/2025, By: jakewilson
Info: Did the 4 pack from Ruby Gulch TH. ~1-2 inches of snow on the ground along the whole route in the morning, but not enough to hide grass and rocks. Sun was out in the afternoon and may have melted quite a bit. 

Route: From Herman Gulch
Posted On: 7/6/2025, By: cdgibbons
Info: Summer Conditions. See Bard for notes on the loop. 

Route: EngRoBaParn Loop
Posted On: 6/15/2025, By: Dan_Suitor
Info: Starting at Ruby Gulch TH, it was clear. Going up the slope of Engelmann was clear until near the top, where there were a few snow fields. The loop from here to Parnassus saw some patches of snow. I used my spikes for safety, but you could get away without them. No need for floatation. I put my gators on since there were a few places I punched through. I found a dry rocky/grassy route down from the Parnassus/Woods saddle. From there, I went a little left and stayed high to avoid the snow in the willows. This worked ok to a point, but once I got into the trees, there was a lot of punchy snow and run-off. I got a bit off route and had to traverse some fast running streams utilizing logs and snow bridges. The road was snow covered in a lot of places. Again, no need for floatation if you don’t mind a little bit of calf to knee deep punch-throughs. 

Route: Drainpipe
Posted On: 6/7/2025, By: Wildernessjane
Info: The Drainpipe is still skiing pretty well, especially given the snowpack this year. We descended from the summit at around 10:30 with a good freeze the night before. There was a small wet-slide originating from one of the cornices but we were able to hug skiers right on the way down. It was a mix of powder, corn and firm snow. On the way in, we transitioned to skinning at 10,800 but we could’ve transitioned even earlier. With some minor shenanigans, we managed to ski to within a mile of the car on the way out. 

Route: Drainpipe Couloir
Posted On: 6/1/2025, By: Geckser
Info: I was amazed by how goos the coverage was on Parnassus. We were able to ski from the top all the way to the main road at 10,300, the coverage on the offshoot road was unbelievable. There were some walking sections but I was able to keep skis on all the way down with relative ease. None of this will be the case for long though!

Obviously snow was softening quick today but there was a passing freeze above 11,000. Descent started at 8:10 and some parts of Drainpipe were good corn, others were slopped out, and inset sections were still fully hard. Not sure if I could have timed it much better. The line is a fairly fun moderate and still skiable from the summit with only one rock crossing. 

Route: Drainpipe
Posted On: 4/26/2025, By: Danger_D
Info: You can ski a few hundred yards off the top, but there is a 20 yard melted section before the top of the couloir. The steep entrance to the line was rock hard at 10:30, but there is a lower entrance a few hundred yards down the ridge that was a lot softer. The line skied decently with a mix of sticky corn and churned up snow. The ski down to the car is downright enjoyable 

Route: Drainpipe
Posted On: 4/20/2025, By: Veory
Info: This weekend brought amazing snow (for skiing anyways, climbing the drainpipe was a bit of a slog). Road was open to the upper trailhead. A handful of folks skinned the ridge, my party and I booted the route, which was occasionally waist deep but a lot of fun, and much easier with a group of 5 to switch out with.

The drop in was pretty steep with a bit of slab to punch through, most of the rest of the route was deep powder on crust. Hit one rocky patch on the bowl, but otherwise an amazing way to celebrate my 100th ranked 13er. 

Route: NE Face
Posted On: 4/14/2025, By: jmanner
Info: Climbed the North face couloir, skied the NE Face. Both are skiable, although the north line requires more rock avoidance, the snow seemed colder and less sun affected. Good freeze last night, snow was till cold from the wind at the TH at 12:30pm. 

Route: From Herman Gulch TH
Posted On: 6/30/2024, By: kal_18
Info: Excellent conditions, all snow avoidable. Very beautiful right now with lots of flowers. Perfect time to hike it. 

Route: Herman Gulch
Posted On: 6/22/2024, By: AndrewJCraigie
Info: Parnassus & Bard - only a few very briefly handful patches of snow melting quick, easily avoided.