Mt. Parnassus

Route: EngelRoBardAssus
Posted On: 7/17/2023, By: E_A_Marcus_949
Info: Summer conditions - avoidable minimal snow on ridge between Bard and Parnassus. Avoidable snow between Parnassus and Woods before descending back down into Ruby Gulch. Many options when down in the gulch. Route: Ruby Gulch --> Engelmann --> Robeson --> Bard --> Parnassus --> down to Ruby Gulch 

Route: Watrous
Posted On: 7/1/2023, By: MaryinColorado
Info: Dry from Watrous Gulch. Couple super minor patches of snow covering the social trail on the way to the saddle. Other than that, completely dry, as is getting over to Woods. 

Route: SW ridge
Posted On: 7/1/2023, By: Jay521
Info: Summer conditions. 

Route: Watrous Gulch
Posted On: 6/10/2023, By: LetsGoMets
Info: Did not climb, but was on Woods and Machebeuf today, taking Watrous Gulch out from the saddle of Woods and Parnassus. If you don't mind the occasional bit of snow here and there, the overall route I would consider 95% summer conditions. If anyone else cares about Woods and Machebeuf, I took the SE ridge direct up Machebeuf from the Watrous trail, looped the ridge over to Woods. Mostly summer conditions that way as well. Largest obstacle was snow between the two Woods summits that you have to stay on the ridge for, but the snow was solid. I'd do it all in trail runners if I could do it again. 

Route: Watrous Gulch Trail
Posted On: 4/16/2023, By: CheapCigarMan
Info: NOAA lied. Bluebird day with very little wind. Wore micro spikes up and back. Postholed a few times. First mile was hard packed snow through the woods. From the turn north to the high basin solid snow. Mostly packed. Basically dry from saddle to summit. Gorgeous views of Evans, Sawtooth, Breckenridge, Ten Mile range, Quandary, Sniktau, Torreys.... Nice chatting with Adam & Alicia and a big thanks to them for laying a trench through the woods :) 

Route: Watrous Gulch
Posted On: 10/14/2022, By: angry
Info: Ascended Watrous Gulch, over to Bard and descended Bard Creek Trail. Mostly dry. Some snow patches above 13k. Alpine start of 12pm and had entire route to myself. 

Route: NW Ridge
Posted On: 10/11/2022, By: Piotr
Info: Dry all the way, spectacular views of Torreys 

Route: Ruby Gulch TH
Posted On: 7/18/2022, By: kwhit24
Info: I wanted to finally hike The Law Firm so parked at the Ruby Gulch "TH" at 6am and was the first car there. By the time I got back to the car at 12:30pm there were 20ish vehicles there many of which were parked along the road. To get up Engelmann Peak I followed MaryinColorado's TR up the drainage and then used the West NW ridge to gain the summit. The rest of the hike is straight forward. Didn't see any people until I was heading up Parnassus when I saw two groups of two. Coming off Parnassus there were probably 30-40 hiking Woods and/or Parnassus from Herman Gulch TH. Coming down off Woods I traversed the slope via a game half-ass game trail until the old mine road came into view. The traverse isn't great but it looks a lot better then head straight down the steeper slopes. Once I saw the road I head straight down making shortcuts beteen the switchbacks since the slope wasn't bad. There were a couple spots I didn't see the road well but as long as I headed in its general vicinity I always found it again. Shortly after getting in to the tress I just followed to road/trail. It wraps around a little backtracking south and adding some distance but that looked a lot better than bushwhacking threw the dense trees. Plus at each creek crossing there are good rocks or pipes to help cross. (10.38 mi; 5,203' gain; 6:09:23 total time) Start at TH 6:15am; Engelmann Peak 8:10am; Robeson Peak 8:40am; Bard Peak 9:25am; Mt. Parnassus 10:15am; Woods 11:05am; Back to TH 12:25pm 

Route: Ruby Gulch
Posted On: 5/24/2022, By: dsr80304
Info: With recent snow and a good weather forecast, went up aiming for Drainpipe. Snow coverage looked great, but winds were cranking (vs modest wind forecast) and lots of snow was blowing into Parnassus north basin. Figured it just wouldn't be safe so diverted to mellower slopes on Woods. Snow was suboptimal. Needs a few freeze-thaw cycles to get back to corn mode. Some pics here of Parn, Woods north side and across the way to Torreys. 

Route: via Watrous Gulch
Posted On: 5/6/2022, By: csf-lhiver
Info: Snow in Watrous Gulch. Took a more direct route to the summit and avoided going to the saddle and turning right. Patchy snow on the way to the summit. The posthole session on the way out was my hardest so far, but I hope to break that record soon. Rollerball debris from a prior day. 

Route: Herman gulch
Posted On: 2/12/2022, By: jbealer
Info: Packed trail from TH till the split. we took Watrous Gulch till we turned right towards the upper sign, We broke trail with snowshoes from that point till farther up the right side of the gully where it got to rocky, switched to spikes. Windy as hell today. We took the other ridge down and postholeed to our waist through the trees. Not that bad of day out. 

Route: Herman Gulch
Posted On: 11/27/2021, By: DorothyK
Info: Starting from Herman Gulch, the first mile or so is completely dry. Then there's a 1" layer of hard pack snow / ice. Further along, closer to where you turn right to go up to the Woods-Parnassus saddle, there are drifts of deeper snow, though going up higher you can meander so as to avoid snow. The south face of Parnassus is a mix of snow, dirt and rock. I found microspikes were helpful on the descent, though my friends did not put theirs on and were okay as well. 

Route: via Watrous Gulch
Posted On: 6/18/2021, By: Chelsea
Info: Summer conditions. All snow on the route is gone now, wildflowers are blooming like crazy. 

Route: West Slope
Posted On: 6/6/2021, By: dleflar
Info: Watrous Gulch trail to saddle of Woods Mtn and Parnassus, west slope to summit are almost entirely clear of snow. 

Route: Drainpipe couloir
Posted On: 6/4/2021, By: SnowAlien
Info: Bottom part is on the way out, but the top half skied really well. Line goes practically to the summit cairn with very minor sidestepping. Dropped in at 11am, probably an hour later than should have, but still skied pretty nicely and snow goes almost all the way to the TH (within 0.25 mi). Almost 3k of continuous skiing. Engelmann looks completely dry above treeline.