TR: Shralping the..... pretty flowery meadows

[Lone Star]

SummitCo1776 and I set out this morning to ski the face of Parry Peak, the prominent peak facing the Winter Park ski area. Because hiking from the highway would put us through thick timber and be nearly 4000 vert ft. of hiking, we opted to drive to the Jim Creek trailhead and approach the summit up the drainage which originates on Parry's northeast slopes- Jim Creek.

Parry Peak from Mary Jane


We'd hoped to follow the trail up the creek drainage and then decide from there which route looked best to attain the summit of Parry Peak. Unfortunately, we hit snow a whole heck of a lot quicker than we anticipated. After about two miles, we hit snow on the NE facing timbered hillside. I had hiked the ski area the day before, and had thought we'd be out of the snow, even in the trees on north aspects, until 10,500 or even 11,000 ft. We were looking at some serious postholing beginning right around 10,000.

We slogged through knee deep mush, our legs rejoicing every fifth step when the crust actually held our weight.

Hoping to walk on slopes that had received more sun, we crossed the creek on a fallen tree. Doing that in ski boots was quite a rush. I chickened out and straddled the damn thing halfway across.

At this point, we revised our plans and decided to head up the ridgeline on the north side of the creek in hopes we could find a skiable line we'd be able to safely get to the top of TODAY. Much lamentation about not bringing camping gear and making base camp somewhere.

We never got out of the timber. It was past noon and we were at least an hour away from being able to ski even the nearest good line. At this point, we chalked one up to experience and gave up the idea of skiing anything worth mentioning. We decided to contour until we met the river again and wandered into a beautiful little meadow.


About half of the meadow was wet and soggy. No good for walking or laying in but great for flowers like globeflowers and marsh marigolds.


We found some nice rocks to sit on and soak up some rays. It was pretty warm.


Spent some time taking pictures and chilling out on the sand next to the creek. After enjoying some R&R by the river and taking in the sights, sounds, and smells, we crossed the creek and began the descent to the trailhead.

Upstream of the meadow


SummitCo1776 did some exploring on the other side of the creek, then came back for his gear.


This time, with gear.


Our goal on the way down was to keep our skis on as long as possible and connect the snow patches until we hit the dry trail a mile or two downstream.

SummitCo1776 navigating through the whortleberry and downfall as he connects patches


We did find one line where we could link a turn, maybe two. Summit giving it a go:


After I photoslutted jumping off a tiny rock next to the river and a waterfall, Summit took a few turns riding into a shallow, muddy creek.



His skis as they dive into the water


The snow began to thin out and our skis' bases cried out to us to hike them the rest of the way out. We complied, and found ourselves at the trailhead about an hour later.


I had really hoped to ski Parry Peak today. Every day I was at the Jane this winter, I looked longingly at that peak and hoped to ski it someday. We chose the wrong route for the conditions-- attaining the ridgeline from Berthoud Pass would have been the wise way to go. Still, I had a great time in some pretty nasty hiking/skiing conditions. The spring flowers were in bloom, the wind whispered warm air up the valley all day, and the company was good.

[summit]

Nice writeup, kickin pix.

Yea... what a slogger... I think we hit the snow problems well before 2 miles... perhaps only a mile in.

Momma nature threw at us the lovely terrain of: 10 foot stretch of thigh deep postholy snow bank, 10 foot stretch of fallen logs/rocks/swamp/bog, repeat... dense trees... the trail held onto us and didn't let go. skins needn't have been bothered , perhaps a flamethrower would have.

i've never worked so hard to move so slow... 8-9 miles in 7.5 hours... yeesh! also doing it on zero sleep was a bitch, but it was so beautiful there... unusual terrain. we made our own fun.

i'll put up a few more pix when i stop having hallucinations from sleep deprivaiton.

[Hicks]

Looks like you had fun.

[Mulletizer]

Mellowing in the middle of nowhere, sitting by a stream or in a meadow in the summer is one of life's great pleasures. Too bad you didn't ski much. Nice writeup though.

[Red Baron]

All I can think of is this:

[Stoysluttie1]

Skiing the rapids...so nice.

[bdog]

good write up. A fine bushwack adventure. sometimes those re even better than what was planned, particularly when viewd with hindesight and mas cervesa.

[Villiage Idiot]

You call this a Trip Report?? More like a story about 2 lovers frolicking in flowers and high alpine meadows. Thanks for leaving the XXX stuff out.

[ShadowBoxer]

Looks like he uses the same style to cross streams as he does to huck cliffs. Judging from all the camo, are you sure this pic wasn't shot in Afghanistan?

[iceman]

You two guys are negative as shit. Just so you know.

[ShadowBoxer]

They post a TR, and than you call them negative....that ain't cool dude.

[summit]

Here is my pictoral donation:

Looks like clear sailing from near the start of the trail:


Constant breaks and thick forest made for slow going:



Snowy Jim Creek

Fallen trees and lots of postholerific snow:


We crossed the creek on a log to avoid the snow:


The snow was still there and we were impeded by swampy, steep terrain littered with fallen trees.

But it was pretty:

Flowers by the Creek

Nothing compares with sitting on a rock in a wet green field of flowers sorrounded by whitewater and snowcapped mountains, the sun warming your skin and wind blowing ever so slightly so that the sensation of it rolling over your face is barely there but you can still hear it along with subdued sound of the roaring creek. Occaisionally a butterfly flutters past.


Meadow Below James Peak

Brent didn't want to jump across the river:



Straightline This?

We definately made our own fun.


Find Fun Every Air

[ShadowBoxer]

This should get pic of the day! Sweet shot!

[bdog]

Originally posted by ShadowBoxer
This should get pic of the day! Sweet shot!

I knew they were capable of being positive. Summit, THAT is a fucking killer photo. Outstanding!

[ShadowBoxer]

Guess your shot wasn't as good as this one which DID get pic of the day.......What in the hell is the pic of the day picking procedure??

[13]

I'm pretty sure Biglines picks PotD randomly from their archives.

Don't quote me on that though.

[summit]

I would be curious to know how the hell they choose PoTD

[iceman]

Originally posted by 13
I'm pretty sure Biglines picks PotD randomly from their archives.

Don't quote me on that though.

[ShadowBoxer]

Originally posted by 13
I'm pretty sure Biglines picks PotD randomly from their archives.

Don't quote me on that though.

[G]

Originally posted by 13
I'm pretty sure Biglines picks PotD randomly from their archives.

Don't quote me on that though.

G.I. snow: A real america hero.

[homerjay]

I'd think that ridge walking from Berthoud would be the easiest access to that peak.

[summit]

Originally posted by homerjay
I'd think that ridge walking from Berthoud would be the easiest access to that peak.

Hehehehe.... yea... you are right... and we kinda realized it as we were postholing and mucking it up... if the snow were melted off in that treed valley to about 11K it would have been fine. We wanted to go up nearly the same route we'd come down. Lone Star's recon the previous day showed that ridge routes out of that valley were completely clean and that other areas in the main valley were free of most snow to 11K, but he made a wrong turn and didn't realize the jeep road was a trail nor could he see a mile up the treed valley. He said it looked clean so we went. We learned a lesson. We still had a ton of fun, probably even more than we would have had with an extra 3000vFt of hiking to ski 1000vFt of 30deg corn. I am not dissapointed and neither was he! That day was exhausting, but a blast.

edited to fix stupid numbers

[Lone Star]

Originally posted by SummitCo 1776
probably even more than we would have had with an extra 3000KFt of hiking to ski 1000KFt of 30deg corn. I am not dissapointed and neither was he! That day was exhausting, but a blast.

I'm not disappointed either; we had a great time. I had done the ridgeline route on Parry before but I didn't like the idea of walking through scree in ski boots, so I figured taking a trail to the base of Parry's steeper northeast face and then going straight up would be the way to go.

I don't know if there was quite 1 million feet of vertical as you indicated, Summit, but I two thousand or so was definitely not out of the question.

[GT40]

I love the pics and the TR!!

Sounds like a great crazy adventure you'll remember all your life.

[summit]

^summer bump