The Indian Peaks Wilderness is home to many of the best hiking and climbing routes in the Front Range. The Indian Peak Wilderness rests just south of Rocky Mountain National Park; it's basically an extension south of its neighboring national park. As Gerry Roach notes in his popular book "It's smaller than Rocky Mountain National Park but no less spectacular."

From easy class 2 walk-ups to technical climbing this mountaineering playground has something for everybody. Only 2 hours from Denver Colorado this area is a popular destination for the day hiker; but experiencing solitude can be had for those willing to look for it.

Having experienced many of our big fourteeners and high thirteeners, I believe these peaks to be every bit rewarding. Thus, I submit Mount Jasper(12,923 ft.) to my fellow summitpost friends.

Mount Jasper is frequently viewed from the popular Arapaho Pass Trail but seldom visited. The popularity of this trail is for good reason; it escorts you to the mighty Arapaho Peaks and the views of Jasper and its east ridge are excellent. Jasper Peak's classic pyramid shape is sometimes confused with point 12,307 on its east ridge; it appears higher from the Arapaho Pass Trail because it's much closer.

Jasper offers a variety of routes. None are considered a standard route and all are class 3. The northeast ridge and the northeast face are the shortest distance-wise, but most summit Jasper from the class 2+ connecting ridge from Mt. Neva. Jasper's tiny northeast basin is one of the more intimate locations I have been in this wilderness, complete with an emerald green lake. This basin is protected by sweeping east and northeast ridges, providing a cirque-like atmosphere. The approach to this basin includes the following; off-trail bushwhacking, frustrating scree, and steep scrambling on boulders the size of small cars. The round trip is a short 7 miles, but 5 of them you will be on your own for there is no trail. Overall vertical gain is around 2,900 ft. to 3,000 ft. There are a few variations of my submitted route description and the overall difficulty depends on current conditions. My summit of Jasper Peak on October 9th was quite challenging mostly because of conditions, two ft. of new snow from 11,300 ft. and above and gusty winds of 35 to 40 mph.

Forth of July TH-

Go north or south on Colorado 119 to the neat little town of Nederland. Traveling north on 119, turn left at the Eldora turnoff. Coming from the north, turn right at the Eldora turn-off. Go 1 mile west past the Eldora ski resort and continue 2 miles to the town of Eldora. The road turns to dirt after the town of Eldora. The road is grated in early June of every year. This road is passable for most passenger cars but I wouldn?t try it in my Toyota Camry. Continue on the road for 1.5 miles to a signed junction, turn right and continue 4.5 miles to the trailhead. The trail starts in the upper parking lot right after the Buckingham Campground. There is plenty of free parking.

Forecast for the Arapaho Peaks & Jasper Peak area

Red Tape

Here is a summery of the Indian Peak Wilderness Rules and Regulations.

Motorized vehicles are not permitted, including bicycles.

A permit is required for camping in the wilderness area between June 1 and Sept. 15. Permits are issued for 19 travel zones within the Indian Peak boundaries. Permits are $5.00 at the following offices. For information or to apply for a use permit, contact the U.S. Forest Service, Boulder Ranger District, 2140 Yarmouth Ave., 303-541-2500, or the Sulphur Ranger District, 9 Ten Mile Drive, P.O. Box 10, Granby, CO 80446, 1-970-887-4100. For recorded information, call the Indian Peaks Wilderness Information Line at 303-541-2519.

Only a certain number of groups are allowed in each travel zone for overnight camping. Camping is limited to two weeks in any four-week period; the two weeks can be in any travel zone.

Organized groups (maximum size of 12) must have permit for camping or hiking at all times.

Campsites must be at least 100 yards from lakes and streams.

Fires are prohibited east of the Continental Divide. Fires are allowed in certain areas west of the divide.

Dogs must be leashed.

Test

ID: 1569 Author: Hakan Bergstrand Start Date: 8/14/04 End Date:
Report: 2004/08/14 � Capitol Peak - SW Ridge - New Route

Climbing Snowmass with Michelle a few weeks ago gave us a nice close-up view of Capitol...see the attached picture. The standard East ridge route is laid out in profile on the right, and does not look too bad from this viewpoint. However, the ridge leading up to the summit from the left...the SW ridge...looked like an interesting, and not necessarily more difficult, alternative. If possible, I usually prefer the less traveled routes on the 14ers, e.g., the SW ridge on Little Bear.

Researching guide books (old and new) and asking around, I was not able to find any info on this route, but after studying maps and pictures in detail, it looked like a possibility worth a try. I figured that I should at least be able to get to the "flat and wide" part of the ridge at around 13,800ft. However, overcoming the 300ft summit cliffs from there remained a big question mark.

The route starts in Lead King Basin and uses the same approach as for the west side of Snowmass. It continues past Siberia Lake and climbs the 12,800ft saddle between Snowmass and "Siberia Peak". Capitol�s SW ridge is picked up after descending into and crossing the upper part of Avalanche Creek (that comes out by Redstone). The ridge is followed to the dramatic 300ft summit cliffs, which "miraculously" is overcome by a chimney.

It is certainly a doable one-day alternative, but it has a long arduous approach, sustained class 4 climbing (with route finding!), long catwalks and knife edges, tremendous sustained exposure, and dangerously loose rock.

The details...
Set up camp at the Crystal 4WD TH on Friday night. Set the alarm for 4:30, but true to form, I woke up at 5:50, wondering what happened. I must be lacking some key mountaineering skill...or the "alpine start" gene. Quickly ate some breakfast and started hiking up the trail to Geneva Lake at about 6:20. The trail ends at Siberia Lake and I started up grassy slopes, boulders and talus to reach the 12,800ft Snowmass-Siberia saddle at about 8:20. Here I got a good view of the task ahead for the first time. See picture attached later in the thread. Even the lower part looked daunting, so I had to question my previous assertion to reach 13,800ft. I decided to try the prominent couloir on the left and then possibly catch the ridge higher up. From here, I also had a better view of the summit cliffs, and there seemed to be some shadows indicating narrow couloirs or chimneys leading up to the summit ridge.

Making it across upper Avalanche Creek was very arduous...it�s one big boulder/talus field with no relief. The wide couloir was also very loose, so the class 4 climb up solid steep rock to the ridge was welcome. Once on the ridge, it was straight forward class 2/3 climbing to the shoulder...the beginning of the "flat and wide" part. According to the USGS quad, this flat part is supposed to have a fairly rounded crest, but I was in for a surprise. Ahead of me lay 200 yards of knife edges, towers and notches with 500ft vertical exposure on the right and a very steep, occasionally vertical, slope on the left. See pictures later in the thread. The easy "flat and wide" part had turned into THE crux. At this point, facing a seemingly overwhelming task, I considered turning around. However, focusing on one problem at a time, and only doing moves that I could reverse, I managed to make it across. But it was time consuming and the exposure was freakish. Now "only" a 300ft cliff was between me and the summit. Doing an ascending traverse to the right (east), I approached the "shadowy" parts I had seen from the saddle earlier. The first was a near vertical chimney and not an option, but the second, around a little buttress, looked doable. After maybe 50ft of class 4 climbing, I popped up on the summit ridge, surprising some fellow climbers on the summit just 200ft away. This was the first time I was sure to make it.

I topped out at 11:40...about 5:20 from the TH...tired, but happy to have been successful. Had something to eat and enjoyed the views and the company, before starting to head down at noon. I was a bit nervous about down-climbing the cruxes and exposed parts, but with my last reserves of focus, it all went fine. Reached the saddle at about 2:20 and could finally relax somewhat. Now it was all downhill...most of it on a nice trail. And no more cutting my legs on loose rock...by now they were a bloody mess. I finally reached the car at 4:10 for a 10 hour roundtrip. Another good day in the mountains!

Images



[ View Gallery - 23 More Images ]