5/6/2022 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. |
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2/12/2022 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. |
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11/27/2021 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. |
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6/17/2021 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. |
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6/5/2021 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. |
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6/4/2021 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. |
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5/8/2021 Route: The Drainpipe Posted On: 5/9/2021, By: ClimberSkierDave64 Info: Climbed and skied the Drainpipe on Parnassus yesterday! The road to the parking pulloff at the Urad mine is clear of snow. There was deep uninterrupted snow all the way to the bottom of the Drainpipe from the car. There was also a snowmobile track that went all the way to the start of the Couloir. The skin up to the bottom was quick and easy and only took a little over an hour. From there we transitioned to crampons and axe for the climb. The choke point of the lower Couloir was all chunky frozen Avy debris. There was a bootpack all the way to the top, so it was fairly quick and easy. It was really WINDY on top and clouds were rolling in quick so we transitioned quick after summiting and started skiing. I did get a look at the NE face and it looked filled in with good corn all the way down, although both the pipe and NE face have big cornices on top with easy entrances on the sides. The top 300 feet was powdery snow with a little wind slab, but it felt well bonded to the snow underneath and it was skied out by many people. After that, it transitioned it soft corn all the way down to the choke and it was some really good skiing! Then, we cut left over a spine and onto a bypass so we didn't have to ski the horrible Avy debris in the choke, and there were some tracks down the area from the day before. The snow was icier in this area before going back to corn on the apron. We saw a couple other groups but we were the last ones down when we got done a little after noon. In total, it took us 6 hours car to car. We started at 6:00 and I think we timed it about perfectly because we got soft snow and the storms rolled in right after we got done. Overall, it was a really fun day of spring skiing! Our ascent is in red and the descent is in blue. |
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3/20/2021 Route: Woods-Parnassus-Bard-Robeson-Engelmann Posted On: 3/20/2021, By: gluckhikes Info: Windswept snow and tundra from Woods saddle. Ridge to Bard is well packed with snow, easy to plunge step while avoiding cornices to the north. A pair of snowshoers also climbed from Watrous Gulch. |
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9/16/2020 Route: Watrous Gulch Route Posted On: 9/16/2020, By: Brittanyjomad Info: No snow on the route minus a few very small, easily avoided patches. So no spikes needed. GPS clocked 7.2 miles round trip and 4 hours 23 minutes (includes a 5-10 min stop at the top) Once you reach the saddle there is no more trail, but you can easily follow the ridge up to the summit. Arrived at TH (Herman Gulch TH)at 5:55 am and was only the second car there. It was pretty full by the time we were leaving. Although the peak forecast said high of 57 and 8 mph winds it was much higher winds and much lower temperature- water was freezing. Winter hiking appears to be officially here! |
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6/18/2020 Route: Watrous Gulch Posted On: 6/18/2020, By: madadraw1 Info: Summer conditions for Parnassus. See my Bard Pk condition report for Parnassus-Bard loop. |
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6/16/2020 Route: Watrous Gulch Posted On: 6/16/2020, By: gavyns Info: Beautiful day! We started at 1:50pm, took 2h10mins to summit, back to the lot but 6:15pm. The trail is pretty dry the whole way up! There are a couple piles of snow along the trail still just after crossing the creek before making the left turn north on the Watrous (easily avoidable, I'd say 20ft wide and maybe 10-35ft long). There was about a 150yd stretch of snow on the trail about half a mile down from the saddle of Woods Mountain and Parnassus, but easily navigable up the left (West) side. The trail pretty much disappears after the snow field below the saddle, but just head East up the ridge and switchback as necessary, it can get steep! No problem staying dry all day, in terms of weather or on foot! We only saw one other couple all afternoon! |
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6/14/2020 Route: Watrous Gulch Posted On: 6/14/2020, By: CaptainSuburbia Info: No snow to worry about. |
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6/7/2020 Route: From Herman / Watrous Gulch Posted On: 6/7/2020, By: WildWanderer Info: No traction needed to get to Parnassus or Woods (last photo). There is still some snow on the trail, but it's avoidable. |
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5/31/2020 Route: Watrous Gulch Posted On: 5/31/2020, By: VeraUndertow Info: Climbed Woods and Parnassus early this morning, left my car at around 5:45 from Watrous Gulch. Really nice trail dry on the way in till you get to the big stream crossing, I waded across this morning because the log bridge was icy. After this I turned left up the gulch where the trail splits with bard trail. There is a pretty solid boot pack the whole way if you stay on trail or you could be like me and find your own way and posthole and smash your shins on icy punch crust. IDK why I do that to myself, but it was more fun I guess. Snow stops about 500 ft vertical from the saddle but can mostly be avoided by staying on the well packed trail. Once on the saddle I went up woods first and summited around 7:40, there is a nice summit register but no pencil or paper inside so if you head this way it could use some supplies. Back to the saddle at 8 and on the summit of parnassus by 8:40. Was back at my car by 10:40 after a leisurely descent. |
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5/29/2020 Route: Watrous Gulch Posted On: 5/29/2020, By: Piotr Info: The trail is snow-free all the way to creek crossing. Afterwards you can find a line without any snow all the way to the top. Top of the gulch still has lots of snow. |
