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I was hoping to get one more snowclimb in before everything melted away and looking for partners. My wife's cousin Jeff had just moved to Colorado and said he was interested. The catch being he had no gear, had never climbed a peak, and his skiing resume involved some trips to a few mid-west ski resorts. With that being said the guy is in great shape a few years removed from being a linebacker in college and had a great attitude about getting outside and getting after it. That climbing resume sounded good to me and figured lets give it a try.
We borrowed some gear for him from friends and rented the rest from REI.
The Indian Peaks were still holding good snow so we decided to try for Jasper Peak.
We drove up Thursday night and did a short 1.5 mile backpack into camp. We setup camp in a nice meadow near an old mine.
The alarm went off at 4:30 am it was cold I was tired and was secretly hoping for my climbing partner to call off the trip before it started. No such luck as I emerged from the tent to find Jeff in full gear ready to go. We were off shortly after 5am. It was a short 1/4 mile on trail hike and the bushwacking started.
Cross the Creek. Get south off these falls and leave the trail and the crowds behind
I told him if he didnt feel comfortable he could veto out of the climb at any point. It turned out he wouldn't need it.
There was no need for a GPS on the bushwhack. A few checks of the compass was all that was needed as we did an ascending traverse heading Southwest. Before long we emerged from the trips just north of the east ridge of Jasper. It would also be pretty hard to miss the trail on the descent at this time of year as well.
Nearing the end of the bushwack.
We switch to crampons and went up a series of easy snowfields to reach the upper basin.
Once in the upper Basin we made our way to the west end of Lake Xandau
Really a cool alpine lake that doesnt see many visitors
The snowslope looked liked to be about 35 degrees the whole way up but since the runout ended in a cliff we took rocks up to the Saddle.
Typical Terrain. Class 2 and not too loose.
The final pitch to the summit stayed about 35 degrees the whole way. With a pretty good size cornice facing southwest. Jeff Climbing up with the cornice and upper diamond providing an awesome backdrop Jeff working up the slope snow was a little soft but not too bad. Nobody said this was easy I wasnt about to ruin a succesful first summit with an out of control glissade so we downclimbed.
From the false summit Jeff took the lead and we made quick work to Jasper Peak Jeff taking final few steps to the Summit Mt. Neva From Jasper Upper Diamond Lake
Only thing standing between us and a whole lot of beer in Nederaland was 3.5 miles and a 3000 foot descent. We saw exactly zero other people that day had some great views on a peak with a lot of great routes. so long story short who needs 14ers? or 13ers for that matter? Thanks for reading. Hope everyone has a fun and safe summer outdoors.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
I think i will get him out there again. He seemed to enjoy it. It looks like if you dont slow down you will climb every snow route on the front range this year.
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