James Peak Trip Report 07/11/2021

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	James Peak - 13,272 feet Mt. Bancroft - 13,262 feet Parry Peak - 13,367 feet Mt. Eva - 13,131 feet Mt. Flora - 13,129 feet Colorado Mines Peak (12,493')
Date Posted	07/11/2021
Date Climbed	07/07/2021
Author	Mtnman200
Additional Members	RandyMack

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together
Tuesday, July 6, 2021. In late June, Randy and I wanted to do a ridge run from the Rogers Pass trailhead over James Peak and five other summits on the way to Berthoud Pass, but a poor weather forecast caused us to cancel that trip and climb Medano Peak and Mt. Herard instead. With rain chances forecast to be only 15% tomorrow, we jumped at the opportunity to reschedule the ridge run. The Riflesight Notch railroad trestle at the Rogers Pass trailhead on Forest Road 149, about 10.8 miles west of U.S. 40 near Winter Park (All photos by Randy Mack) After leaving my 4Runner at Berthoud Pass, I rode with Randy in his 4Runner to the Rogers Pass trailhead. A closer look at the railroad trestle Camping options were limited at the trailhead, but we found a (mostly) level area to set up our tent. The Rogers Pass trail heads into the trees south (right) of the tent Looking west toward Winter Park from the Rogers Pass trailhead; FR 149 (center) is Subaruable, though the last 1/2 mile to the trailhead is a bit rough Wednesday, July 7, 2021. With a good weather forecast, Randy and I didn't need a super-early start and intended to start hiking about a half hour before first daylight. When the alarm went off, I commented that the night seemed to go by quickly. We broke camp and, while eating breakfast, realized why we didn't feel like we'd gotten eight hours of sleep: my watch has three separate alarms, and two of them were still set to go off at midnight from Randy's Cielo Vista Ranch trip the previous weekend. Randy and I considered our options and decided we didn't feel like setting up the tent again but didn't want to start hiking at 12:30 AM either. We put our sleeping bags and thermarests on the tent's footprint and slept under the stars for four hours. That was the right call. When the alarm went off at the correct time, we threw our gear into Randy's 4Runner, grabbed our daypacks, and within five minutes were hiking south along the pleasant Rogers Pass trail. James Peak in the early morning light The Ute Trail goes left here. Stay right to continue toward James Peak Looking back (north) toward the Rogers Pass trailhead from the same location as the previous photo; you can see how gentle the trail is Early morning sky from the Rogers Pass trail The trail bypasses a ridge bump on its way toward James Peak (the high point in the distance) A little bit of snow on the high plateau James Peak as seen from the north The trail continues up the gentle tundra/rock toward the summit of James Peak The summit of James Peak Mt. Bancroft (left) and Parry Peak from the summit of James Peak The initial part of the descent toward Mt. Bancroft was gentle Looking down on the well-named Ice Lake from the James Peak - Mt. Bancroft ridge We'd heard that the traverse from James Peak to Mt. Bancroft was the hardest part of the ridge run, which it was. We'd also heard that the traverse was a bit sketchy and might even have a class 4 section. However, Randy and I had no trouble finding a route that was no more than class 2+, and our route choices were frequently reinforced by the presence of cairns. I suspect the route is more obvious going from James to Bancroft rather than from Bancroft to James (which is the direction most people go). We bypassed the snow in the lower left of the photo on our descent to the James - Bancroft saddle Near the James - Bancroft saddle Ascending Mt. Bancroft, with the south side of James Peak visible behind The north side of Mt. Bancroft was mostly grass with some rocks thrown in for good measure Mt. Bancroft (left) and Parry Peak from about 13,000' on Mt. Bancroft James Peak from the summit of Mt. Bancroft Looking west toward Parry Peak from the summit of Mt. Bancroft Parry Peak from near the Mt. Bancroft - Parry Peak saddle Nearing snow just below (and east of) Parry Peak's summit Mt. Eva (left) and Mt. Flora (center) from the summit of Parry Peak Looking south at Mt. Eva A rocky section below the summit of Mt. Eva Parry Peak (left), James Peak right of center), and Mt. Bancroft (right) from the summit of Mt. Eva Mt. Flora from the summit of Mt. Eva Looking south from the summit of Mt. Eva A radio tower on the summit of Mt. Eva that was destroyed by high winds The tower included a windmill A closer look Looking back at Mt Eva from the Flora - Eva saddle Approaching Mt. Flora Gentle terrain on the approach to Mt. Flora Lots of people are visible on Mt. Flora Looking back north from the summit of Mt. Flora The summit of Mt. Flora; the closer we got to Berthoud Pass, the more people we saw The east ridge of Mt. Flora takes us to Colorado Mines Peak and Berthoud Pass Today's final mountain: Colorado Mines Peak The radio towers on Colorado Mines Peak became more visible as we ascended A closer look at the radio towers on Colorado Mines Peak Don't touch it! Don't even look at it! It looks like the design of this structure is meant to allow the wind to pass through easily After exploring the equipment on Colorado Mines Peak, we headed directly to Berthoud Pass, mostly avoiding the longer route down the road. Once we got to Berthoud Pass, we drove back to the Rogers Pass trailhead and retrieved Randy's 4Runner. Our ridge run had gone as well as could be expected (except for the inadvertent early alarm). I love it when a plan comes together and highly recommend this ridge run if you have two vehicles available for a vehicle shuttle. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

Tuesday, July 6, 2021. In late June, Randy and I wanted to do a ridge run from the Rogers Pass trailhead over James Peak and five other summits on the way to Berthoud Pass, but a poor weather forecast caused us to cancel that trip and climb Medano Peak and Mt. Herard instead. With rain chances forecast to be only 15% tomorrow, we jumped at the opportunity to reschedule the ridge run.

21154_01 — The Riflesight Notch railroad trestle at the Rogers Pass trailhead on Forest Road 149, about 10.8 miles west of U.S. 40 near Winter Park (All photos by Randy Mack)

After leaving my 4Runner at Berthoud Pass, I rode with Randy in his 4Runner to the Rogers Pass trailhead.

21154_02 — A closer look at the railroad trestle

21154_03 — Camping options were limited at the trailhead, but we found a (mostly) level area to set up our tent. The Rogers Pass trail heads into the trees south (right) of the tent

21154_04 — Looking west toward Winter Park from the Rogers Pass trailhead; FR 149 (center) is Subaruable, though the last 1/2 mile to the trailhead is a bit rough

Wednesday, July 7, 2021. With a good weather forecast, Randy and I didn't need a super-early start and intended to start hiking about a half hour before first daylight. When the alarm went off, I commented that the night seemed to go by quickly.

We broke camp and, while eating breakfast, realized why we didn't feel like we'd gotten eight hours of sleep: my watch has three separate alarms, and two of them were still set to go off at midnight from Randy's Cielo Vista Ranch trip the previous weekend.

Randy and I considered our options and decided we didn't feel like setting up the tent again but didn't want to start hiking at 12:30 AM either. We put our sleeping bags and thermarests on the tent's footprint and slept under the stars for four hours. That was the right call.

When the alarm went off at the correct time, we threw our gear into Randy's 4Runner, grabbed our daypacks, and within five minutes were hiking south along the pleasant Rogers Pass trail.

21154_05 — James Peak in the early morning light

21154_06 — The Ute Trail goes left here. Stay right to continue toward James Peak

21154_07 — Looking back (north) toward the Rogers Pass trailhead from the same location as the previous photo; you can see how gentle the trail is

21154_09 — Early morning sky from the Rogers Pass trail

21154_10 — The trail bypasses a ridge bump on its way toward James Peak (the high point in the distance)

21154_11 — A little bit of snow on the high plateau

21154_12 — James Peak as seen from the north

21154_13 — The trail continues up the gentle tundra/rock toward the summit of James Peak

21154_15 — Mt. Bancroft (left) and Parry Peak from the summit of James Peak

21154_16 — The initial part of the descent toward Mt. Bancroft was gentle

21154_17 — Looking down on the well-named Ice Lake from the James Peak - Mt. Bancroft ridge

We'd heard that the traverse from James Peak to Mt. Bancroft was the hardest part of the ridge run, which it was. We'd also heard that the traverse was a bit sketchy and might even have a class 4 section. However, Randy and I had no trouble finding a route that was no more than class 2+, and our route choices were frequently reinforced by the presence of cairns. I suspect the route is more obvious going from James to Bancroft rather than from Bancroft to James (which is the direction most people go).

21154_18 — We bypassed the snow in the lower left of the photo on our descent to the James - Bancroft saddle

21154_19 — Near the James - Bancroft saddle

21154_20 — Ascending Mt. Bancroft, with the south side of James Peak visible behind

21154_22 — The north side of Mt. Bancroft was mostly grass with some rocks thrown in for good measure

21154_24 — Mt. Bancroft (left) and Parry Peak from about 13,000' on Mt. Bancroft

21154_25 — James Peak from the summit of Mt. Bancroft

21154_26 — Looking west toward Parry Peak from the summit of Mt. Bancroft

21154_27 — Parry Peak from near the Mt. Bancroft - Parry Peak saddle

21154_28 — Nearing snow just below (and east of) Parry Peak's summit

21154_30 — Mt. Eva (left) and Mt. Flora (center) from the summit of Parry Peak

21154_32 — A rocky section below the summit of Mt. Eva

21154_33 — Parry Peak (left), James Peak right of center), and Mt. Bancroft (right) from the summit of Mt. Eva

21154_34 — Mt. Flora from the summit of Mt. Eva

21154_35 — Looking south from the summit of Mt. Eva

21154_36 — A radio tower on the summit of Mt. Eva that was destroyed by high winds

21154_38 — The tower included a windmill

21154_40 — Looking back at Mt Eva from the Flora - Eva saddle

21154_44 — Gentle terrain on the approach to Mt. Flora

21154_45 — Lots of people are visible on Mt. Flora

21154_46 — Looking back north from the summit of Mt. Flora

21154_47 — The summit of Mt. Flora; the closer we got to Berthoud Pass, the more people we saw

21154_50 — The east ridge of Mt. Flora takes us to Colorado Mines Peak and Berthoud Pass

21154_51 — Today's final mountain: Colorado Mines Peak

21154_52 — The radio towers on Colorado Mines Peak became more visible as we ascended

21154_53 — A closer look at the radio towers on Colorado Mines Peak

21154_54 — Don't touch it! Don't even look at it!

21154_55 — It looks like the design of this structure is meant to allow the wind to pass through easily

After exploring the equipment on Colorado Mines Peak, we headed directly to Berthoud Pass, mostly avoiding the longer route down the road. Once we got to Berthoud Pass, we drove back to the Rogers Pass trailhead and retrieved Randy's 4Runner. Our ridge run had gone as well as could be expected (except for the inadvertent early alarm). I love it when a plan comes together and highly recommend this ridge run if you have two vehicles available for a vehicle shuttle.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

RandyMack	Oops! 7/12/2021 10:51am Yeah, from now on I'll be making it a point to check the time before I get up in the morning (and take down the tent), even if I wake up to an alarm. Luckily it was a great day apart from that little glitch!
ltlFish99	cool memories 7/12/2021 5:43pm That radio tower on the summit of mt. Eva was still standing IIRC in the summer of 1987 when we hiked it on a CMC trip. Every time I have skied at winter park, I always thought about how much fun it would be to hike those peaks. Looks like you had a great time in a wonderful place.

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