James Peak

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! 

Route: Superstar Couloir
Posted On: 7/1/2023, By: colin j
Info: James' E face couloirs are a mixed bag right now. Shooting Star is out. Superstar still holds a cornice but the 5.4 exit looks dry. Near where the couloirs split is a moat and a massive runnel with exposed rock; I backed off before crossing the moat. This couloir has the look of a mixed climb right now. 

Route: SE face via st. mary's glacier
Posted On: 5/7/2023, By: tylerhohs
Info: Continuous snow from the lake to summit, below the lake was a bit variable and messy as expected for May. Be mindful of sharks below the lake, took a good core shot on the way down. Jamaica flats had some bare spots but easily avoidable. Glacier and James SE face coverage is great. Was able to skin and ski 95% of the route with minimal hiking below/around lake. Enjoy the corn harvest! 

Route: St Mary's up, ski Northeast Face
Posted On: 5/5/2023, By: slawrence2011
Info: Paid the $20, with creative skinning through trees, can stay on snow most of the way from the trailhead. I hiked to the summit in hiking boots with a good firm surface, summiting shortly before 10. Skied down shooting star, and coverage was surprisingly good, plenty wide through the whole thing. Plenty of room for turns, but I got scared given harder snow conditions and steepness, with cliff exposure at the very bottom, and side slipped a good amount, but I did make several turns throughout, and they were gut wrenching with having to keep it together on the hardpack. I then bootpacked up starlight couloir in hopes it would be a little softer and it was, it was perfect! Then skied down to James peak lake, and did the long slog back up to the saddle and out. Saint Mary's is skiing really nice right now. 

Route: Standard route from St. Mary's Glacier parking lot
Posted On: 4/30/2023, By: HCLRockyMountainHigh
Info: Summited James Peak today (April 30, 2023) - Wore snowshoes the whole way. Flotation probably not absolutely necessary. But even with snowshoes I was sinking to my ankles in many spots in the last ~1,000 vertical ft to the summit. I saw several others make it either to the summit or close to it in skis but did not see anyone wearing only microspikes make it far above St. Mary's Glacier. Will post/share pictures later. 

Route: St Mary's
Posted On: 4/24/2023, By: HPIvelocity97
Info: Mostly same as previous post. Parking is $20 now :(. Skinnable from start of trail, but hard packed enough flotation not required to the lake. Glacier had enough wind blown/new snow that flotation is required from there on up. We stopped about .8 miles from summit (just after the flats) due to relentless wind and near ground blizzard conditions. Our skin track across the flats was already filled back in after we transitioned and headed back down. Glacier skiing was glorious though! Watch for rock sharks hidden just under the snow from the lake back to the road. Free base grinds abound haha! 

Route: From St. Mary’s
Posted On: 4/22/2023, By: runningbuff
Info: Lots of fresh powder today. By the afternoon, the trail to St. Marys was decently packed down, but anything from the start of the glacier to the summit requires flotation until the new snow consolidates. Set the skin track from the top of the glacier to the peak and I was sinking up to my knees most of the way even with skis on. Skiing down from the summit to the flatter section was eh with all the powder. The glacier was a lot more fun. 

Route: St Mary's Glacier
Posted On: 4/9/2023, By: 9patrickmurphy
Info: Skied from summit to the lake, had to click out for 20 paces before skiing back to the road. One snowboarder in my group was able to ski the flats without poles, but he has some well of energy inaccessible to most. The other two snowboarders clicked out for 5 or 10 minutes on the flats before getting back to skiable terrain. Great day making great turns with great people. We saw a few other parties with snowshoes. I wouldn't attempt without floatation, but it might go. Parking is $20 now so factor that in. This was a surprise to me. 

Route: St Mary's
Posted On: 3/19/2023, By: swilson753
Info: Nice day out there to wrap up winter. We carried traction but didn't use it. Flotation would have been nice to have, but we managed without it. Starting from the top of St. Mary's and up to about 12.5k, the snow was super punchy. We sunk 3-6" with every step, which made for slow progress until we reached some rocky sections. The skiers seemed to have an easier time of it than we did in boots. Wind was brutal in the morning but calmed down around 12:30. 5/5 on winter summits this year feels good. 

Route: St. Mary's Glacier
Posted On: 3/18/2023, By: stomblin7
Info: Did not use any floatation or traction from lot to summit - this may or may not be the correct decision. Snow was pretty soft and punchy past the lake - but only ankle to calf deep in places, not quite enough to make me get the snowshoes out. We chose to hug the ridge south of the peak - to avoid some of the deeper pockets of snow on the ascent and to try to get a break from the wind. Wind was very strong today and consistent. Descended the east ridge and put snowshoes at the base to walk back to the lake, I'd say at that point and that route they were needed. We wanted to practice some self arrest, but tried to pick a more conservative spot without the heavy loading above - the snow was breaking in 3 inch slabs near where people usually practice and looked loaded with snow. Our snowshoes got buried in about 20-30 min when placed on top of the snow so use caution. 

Route: St Marys Glacier
Posted On: 2/26/2023, By: AndrewJCraigie
Info: Nice hike. A bit windy at spots, but nothing terrible plus it was warm out. I threw on snowshoes for a few parts as the crust wasn't holding me, but not necessarily needed if you don't mind postholing a bit. Passed plenty of groups going down so there should be a good trail to follow. 

Route: St Mary's Glacier
Posted On: 11/25/2022, By: Laxer04
Info: Hiked from St Mary's Glacier. We carried snowshoes, but didn't need them. Spikes were super helpful in spots 

Route: St. Mary's Glacier
Posted On: 11/19/2022, By: bryanpeck3
Info: Carried snowshoes but did not use them (one group did but we followed rocks more). Wind covered our tracks quickly. Snow most of the way with some ice to avoid on the glacier. The trail to the glacier was packed down by 12pm after being six inches of fresh snow at 8am. 

Route: St Mary's Glacier
Posted On: 11/2/2022, By: KevinInFoCo
Info: Zero cars in the parking lots when I arrived 8:45am. Trail is dry in spots, snow packed and icy in others. Spikes definitely needed, snowshoes are not. Recommend gaiters too, quite a bit of postholing above the plateau all the way to the summit, up to knee deep. A good amount of easy route finding needed on and above the plateau. It's easy to lose the trail there, and often the trail is not the best route right now anyway, as it is a snow-filled trench in places. 

Route: from East Portal
Posted On: 10/19/2022, By: the_hare
Info: Route is dry up until James's upper N slope where boot-packed snow fully covers the trail. I would highly recommend microspikes at least for the descent down this section as the snow is quite icy and slick. Winds were forecast as 5-10 mph towards the S/SE, barely felt any wind all day even up on the ridge or upper slopes. The pointy N ridge seemed like a fun class 3/4 time, not sure if anyone's written about it or if it actually goes like that the whole way. East Portal is such a gorgeous area! The trail is decent and gentle, the trees are lush and draped in moss, the rushing S Boulder is stays with you nearly the whole way, and there's plenty of neat structures to explore along the trail.