Background

I came to Colorado with a few different goals but claiming my first 14ers was chief among them. Coming from the Midwest, I knew that while I was a strong hiker altitude sickness could prevent me from getting a 14er peak first-try. I also had almost no experience with mountains that had proper exposure to storms. I'd only been on a single mountain with a treeline (Avalanche mountain in Yellowstone, cool hike!) With all that in mind, I wanted to test my self on a 13er to make sure I was cut out for Colorado peaks.

Why James Peak?

James peak was not my first choice. I was recommended Grizzly peak (front range) by some lovely older outdoorsy folk at the top of the 2nd flatiron. Immediately after I got back to my car I found that the trailhead was inaccessible due to the Loveland Pass landslide. James peak then emerged as my top pick for a few reasons:

1. Altitude: This mountain has a nice medium altitude for a 13er, only coming to about 13200ft.
2. Snow: The weather reports I saw painted a nice picture - some snow, which I wanted, but not too much.
3. Location: James Peak is only an hour from Denver! Therefore, coming in from the east, it only made sense to hit this one on the way in. Location was ultimately the main reason I picked James over the other 13ers I was looking at.
4. Narcissism: My name is also James...

Part 1: Saint Mary's Glacier

Upon arrival at 7:00 AM, I parked at the $10 lots a little past the trailhead. To future hikers, I'd recommend the same! The distance is not that great from the trailhead and it's all flat. Definitely worth the $10 difference. The first part of this hike was a bit strenuous for me as I adjusted to the altitude having come in from Denver. The skies during my drive had seemed somewhat threatening, so I waited to commit mentally to the hike until I reached the glacier. At this point, the skies cleared up and I felt confident despite how late I started the summit attempt.

I immediately ran into the first major hurdle and potentially the worst part of the whole trail: the first snow patch. This is definitely the steepest snow patch as of June conditions and the longest. As far as I was able to see, it may be possible to just scramble up to the right of the snow patch to the ridge, but where is the fun in that? This is the part of the trail which I would definitely recommend having micro-spikes for.

Part 2: Alpine Meadow

I knew I picked the right peak when I finished climbing the first snow patch, and was greeted to this sight:

The lingering fog in conjunction with the presence of so many black flies made me even more confident in the weather holding. This part of the hike is very flat and truly beautiful. The weather got even better shortly after I took this photo and offered near-panoramic views of the surrounding mountains, all under a bright blue sky. I took some time to gaze over in the direction of Grays/Torreys and Bierstadt, though to be honest I had no clue what mountains I was really looking at. Still beautiful! The trail here is well trodden and well marked with cairns at all the junctions. The weather was great, better than I could have ever possibly predicted coming from a rainy and bleak Denver. At the trailhead I decided to wear a fairly warm mid layer for the hike (pictured later) which turned out to be a little too warm for almost all of the hike. I would say you could probably get away with a t-shirt, but my hike was on a day with almost no wind. A long sleeve base layer with an insulating jacket in case conditions turn worse may be your best bet, paired with waterproof pants and boots.

Part 3: James Peak

All good things must come to an end, including flat and snow-free trails. The trail here is also well-marked and only has a few mandatory snow patches - most can be quickly circumnavigated, and those that can't are either flat or short. After starting the remaining incline (probably around 11900-12000ft at this point), I got to see my first alpine marmot! These suckers are active on the trail, there's at least two or three groups of them on the mountain. While climbing the intermittent snow patches, I took a nice snack break with a great view.

The weather was truly spectacular! There was a perfect break over James Peak Wilderness in the heapy cumulus clouds which covered most of the Front Range and surrounding area. This fair weather held for the whole climb. I arrived at the summit at almost exactly 10:00 am, giving me a three hour ascent time.

While there was a little bit of postholing on all of the snow patches, the snow pack on the top is real bad. I was hip deep in snow at one point. Be careful up there!

Things had gone great so far... but I was about to pay for my start time. I felt the weather change rapidly. It seemed that the low altitude winds started to blow towards me from the East while the higher altitude winds blew from the West, and the wind picked up. Fog rolled in, and dark clouds began to brew right over top James Peak.

Part 4: Mad Descent or Descent into Madness

I picked up my bag after taking some influencer-style selfies and started to sprint down the mountain, genuinely running at some points. The descent went by quickly as I got down to roughly 12500 feet before I was startled by a noise ahead on the trail. The fog was thick, but then I saw the source of the clamor - more hikers coming up! Six or seven of them! A lovely group of hikers were pushing toward the summit but I warned them of what I saw from the top. Nonetheless, they pushed on...

By this point, the weather seemed to be telling me: get off this mountain.

Low and high clouds were all quite dark and over the course of the next mile or so I felt a handful of raindrops. After I felt the first one I really picked up the pace and began to worry more for my fellow hikers who had passed me on their way to summit. After reaching the beginning of the flatter meadows, I took a look back. Much to my relief, I saw this sight:

Oh also while I was sprinting down I found a particularly social marmot:

Chill guy!

I was absolutely exhausted from my rapid descent (and probably getting a bit of altitude sickness - my head was pounding). I got to the top of the snow patch by the glacier and took a thirty minute nap, seeing that the bad weather was seemingly behind me. I woke to find the dark brooding clouds had caught up, but I was able to get back to my car without any further incident. I was back down by 12:40 pm, but I took plenty of breaks on the way down. Most could manage the whole hike in five hours if I had to guess.

Epilogue: Lessons Learned the Easy Way

Let me just say this: pretty happy I wasn't struck by lightning or caught in heavy rain. The biggest takeaway here is that you Fourteener Fanatics really weren't lying about starting early. It gets spooky in the afternoon on the mountains in summer. I'll definitely wake up earlier for my next peaks.

To future hikers: I think this peak is awesome! I would recommend it as a 'training' peak for 14ers, it has a lot of elevation gain which is split into two main sections, with the first ~1000 feet coming before the meadows and the remaining ~2000 afterwards. If you're hiking this in the next couple weeks I would recommend micro spikes (and boots & waterproof pants) for the first main snow patch but otherwise you should be fine. I did not partake in any glissading but this seems like a good mountain for it, lots of patches of snow which seem to be at a good angle for some glissading.

Time to go to Bierstadt!