James Peak

Route: St. Mary's Glacier
Posted On: 4/11/2017, By: aislinnmcl
Info: Sunny bluebird day. Dealt with 40mph gusts around 7:30am up St. Mary's Glacier but the wind died almost completely after we were halfway across the tundra. Snowshoes are still a great idea and the snow is skiable once it softens up mid-morning. 

Route: Mary's Glacier
Posted On: 4/7/2017, By: madadraw1
Info: Continuous snow from TH to summit, except for one short stretch I carried my skis. No biggie. 

Route: SE SLOPES
Posted On: 2/12/2017, By: dolfh
Info: The trail from parking lot to glacier is hardpacked. The glacier is windblasted. Slope angle around 20 degrees. The route up to the summit of James Peak is dry in many areas. The snow slopes do not require floatation. High winds with intermittent whiteouts during the morning. A large boulder pile west of the top of the glacier provides a useful landmark on the descent. 

Route: St Mary Glacier
Posted On: 2/3/2017, By: blainerblainer
Info: Hiked up skis to top of St Mary's Glacier, after that there was not enough snow to ski down, so we left skis and continued on to summit. Windy but warm temps made for an excellent day. Skiing started out with bad snow at top of Glacier, but got progressively better the closer to the trailhead. 

Route: Rogers Pass Route
Posted On: 7/5/2016, By: hberry
Info: A few small snow areas to cross that do not require any traction, sneakers are fine. Rollins pass is in decent shape, saw a few passenger cars at the trailhead but is slow going for a lower clearance vehicle. 

Route: St. Mary's Glacier / standard route
Posted On: 6/25/2016, By: LarryM
Info: Snow free except for two short, easily avoidable sections, and of course the glacier. 

Route: SE from Fall River rd trailhead
Posted On: 6/22/2016, By: ronbco
Info: Trail is 95% Clear of snow. Not even that wet. 

Route: St Mary's Glacier
Posted On: 6/12/2016, By: WillRobnett
Info: About half the route has snow coverage for skiing/snowboarding. Glissades are maybe 1/4 of the route. Pretty good 1000+ feet up from the summit though it's clear of snow on climber's right after the false summit. Coverage is probably 600 feet or so on the glacier. The flats below 12,000 are soaked.. 

Route: St Marys Glacier
Posted On: 6/5/2016, By: Paula
Info: Started at 6am with reasonably firm snow, finished at 2pm with a soupy mess on the glacier. About 50/50 mud and snow on the flat part after the glacier. Spikes were helpful, one group had snowshoes that were probably helpful in a few places, but we did fine without. 

Route: St. Mary's Glacier/Kingston Peak
Posted On: 5/23/2016, By: jaymz
Info: Skirted up the climber's right side of the glacier, along the south slopes of Kingston up to Jamaica flats. Snow was rock hard until about 9:30am, and then it started softening up quick. Spotty snow on Kingston, but it looked like continuous snow to James. Descending the glacier, would have needed floatation within another hour or two. Still quite a bit of snow from the TH to the lake - probably 80-90% coverage on the trail proper; microspikes would have been helpful, but not necessary. 

Route: Saint Mary's Glacier
Posted On: 5/21/2016, By: appleseeds
Info: There is still continuous snow to the summit from the bottom of the glacier, but it softened up pretty early (by 9). Flotation recommended. 

Route: Shooting Star Couloir
Posted On: 5/3/2016, By: AndyJB444
Info: Lots of snow on and around James Peak, and plenty of coverage across jamaica flats. Currently, a pretty nasty crust on most/all aspects this morning making for some spicy skiing. Some wind transport going on as well. Flotation recommended. 

Route: From St. Mary's Trailhead
Posted On: 4/10/2016, By: braydn75
Info: Summited James Peak from the St. Mary's Trailhead. Snow conditions started out nasty and hard going up the glacier, spikes very beneficial but not required. Hike through the flats and put on snowshoes as we started the climb up the south/east slopes. Things got a little tricky as conditions worsened and visibility dropped to about 25-30 yards. Worked our way to the east ridge and made the summit right at noon, visibility was about 30 feet at the summit. 5 minutes after starting our descent everything cleared up and the sun came out. Would have been a much different hike with good visibility and being able to see the peak on the way up. Snow really started to soften as the sun was out. 

Route: east slopes
Posted On: 2/29/2016, By: AlexeyD
Info: Climbed James Peak from the St. Mary's trailhead yesterday. 2 of us were on skis, and 1 on snowshoes. Conditions for skiing are downright crappy right now (particularly for skinning). Had to stop to take skis off/on at least 5 times throughout the ascent and descent. Even the normally continuous snowfield on the SE slopes of the summit cone is currently 3 separate sections with rocks in between. What snow does exist is mostly wind-packed, icy, and often covered in sastrugi. For those without skis/skins, some type of traction is very highly recommended - probably snowshoes, as there are some sections of breakable crust on the tundra and the upper slopes. On the plus side, we had the mountain completely to ourselves, did manage a few nice turns on the descent (best conditions were on the middle snowfield on the SE face), had a totally bluebird day (winds were high in the morning, but nearly died down by afternoon) and, in all technicality, did get a summit descent in (the final snowfield extends right up to the summit cairn). Still...for the skiers out there, I'd strongly recommend either waiting for more snow, or picking something else. 

Route: St Marys Glacier
Posted On: 1/4/2016, By: gspup
Info: For skiers...continuous snow from the parking lot to where I turned around, maybe halfway to James. Skiers ahead of me were still skinning up way in the distance. Snow was pretty hard packed and wind blown as expected.