James Peak

Route: James Peak - East Slopes
Posted On: 5/17/2025, By: Wimyers
Info: Skied continuously from summit to Mary’s lake and barely had to skate through the flat, great conditions. Skinned the ascent. 

Route: James Peak - East Slopes
Posted On: 5/12/2025, By: JakeByk
Info: Brought snowshoes but didn't use em. Flats between the top of glacier and the slope were supportive in the am (8:00am) and not in the early afternoon (11am) but managed with wet trail runners and spikes. Lots of ski lines (not a skier) but you can still get it for sure. 

Route: James Peak - East Slopes
Posted On: 5/2/2025, By: Ryan987
Info: Snowy and wore my snowshoes all the way from St. Mary's glacier. Snow is in everywhere. Lots of good lines to choose from 

Route: James Peak - East Slopes
Posted On: 1/26/2025, By: Veory
Info: Continuous snow more or less, but pretty rough ski. Deep powder over rocks, sastrugi, and zero visibility today. Not as cold as I thought it would be though. The bottom half of St Mary's was nice however. Took 3.5 hrs up and a little over 1 down. 

Route: Via South James Peak TH
Posted On: 10/20/2024, By: FlipFlap55
Info: No snow on trail up to James Peak, there was some patchy snow on North facing slopes from James to Mt. Flora, but nothing that required microspikes. Looks like peaks South of I-70 had more snow, but the IPW North looked dry 

Route: St. Marys Glacier
Posted On: 5/28/2024, By: mjlucarelli
Info: Plenty of skiers taking advantage of continuous snow from the glacier to the summit. Bare spots and thinning snow where the route gets flat. Get an early start to avoid the slushy mess on the way back down. Since I wasn't skiing I was glad to have snowshoes on that flat section. 

Route: SE Face via Saint Mary’s Glacier
Posted On: 4/13/2024, By: cloudkicker
Info: My first time on James. Nearly full snow coverage from trailhead to summit. Nice hard pack to the lake and crunchy snow up the glacier. We put on snowshoes at the top of the glacier and wore them nearly the entire rest of the way. There were several skiers today. The snow on the upper mountain was icy in the morning but it softened later in the day. Not too sloppy though. A few sharky or thin spots if youre skiing but it can still be skied all the way back to the car. 

Route: St. Marys
Posted On: 3/17/2024, By: jbealer
Info: We wore snow shoes the whole day, nice packed trail after the big storm. We took the ridge up and down. Lots of skiing done by others today. Noticeable slides above the lake. Nice last snowflake for the season 

Route: St. Mary’s Glacier
Posted On: 3/2/2024, By: fdgonzalez
Info: Via St. Marys Glacier. The hike to St. Marys Lake was easy. The lake was completely frozen over. Ascending St. Marys glacier was steep and windy with blowing snow. Microspikes helped a lot here. The trail flattens out when crossing the large plateau (Jamaica). Put on snowshoes halfway across, which definitely helped. The trail was straightforward to follow as there were other climbers and skiers and well defined tracks. The final section was a long, snowy climb until the summit of James Peak. Spectacular views. The descent was far easier. Bagged Kingston Peak on the way down. 

Route: N slopes
Posted On: 1/20/2024, By: EthanSpessert
Info: Ascended the SE slopes. Got the summit planning to ski the N face. The N face/slopes were completely bare, likely wind stripped from strong northerly winds 

Route: From St. Marys glacier
Posted On: 10/8/2023, By: shapovalovm
Info: No snow at all on James or nearby peaks 

Route: East Portal (South Boulder Creek)
Posted On: 9/24/2023, By: madmattd
Info: Summer conditions minus a few tiny pockets of icy mud below treeline. Completely clear above treeline to summit. A bit windy, particularly on the last 4-500ft of the summit cone, but manageable - 30ish mph max. Fall is in the air, I got pretty chilled at the summit - time for warmer clothes in the pack! This is a lengthy, but simple enough route to James Peak - 13.75mi and 4250' of gain round-trip, class 1 trail most of the way with class 2 trail on the summit cone. Trees are starting to change along the trail, still a weekish from peak. Road in is much further along. 

Route: via St. Marys Glacier
Posted On: 9/24/2023, By: mike21284
Info: Distance: 8.5mi Vertical: 4,000 up Type: Trail Run Runnable: 95% Weather: Windy; 30-45mph sustained; foggy; cold Start / End Time: 630a to 10a Parking: abundant, $20 fee Signage: Almost non-existent Gear required: GPS, warm clothes, poles Summary: Virtually empty, great views when the fog cleared for 5 mins, bring warm clothes as fall has arrived. WINDY WINDY WINDY. without GPS, getting lost could easily happen, especially in the high alpine meadow section as there are many crossing trails. 

Route: Loch Lomond
Posted On: 8/15/2023, By: angry
Info: From Loch Lomond, dry to summit. No register. Short and easy route that provides great views of ice, ohman and stewart lakes. 

Route: St. Mary's Glacier
Posted On: 7/8/2023, By: MaryinColorado
Info: Suspiciously low wind. Suspiciously lacking in a need for flotation and spikes. James, you are nothing like the last time I tried to visit you. Full-on snow from St. Mary's to "the plains", but both up and down no flotation or spikes were needed. No post-holing was had, either. Couple super minor snow crossings along the rest of the way. Other than that, LOTS of dry/summer conditions!