Via Neva's northwest ridge, to Jasper Peak, down "Gaiteraid" snowfield, return via Diamond Lake trail
| A loop climb of Mount Neva and Mount Jasper was a hike that I'd been
wanting to do for a long time. The hike I'd planned started at the 4th of July
trailhead in the southern Indian Peaks and headed up to Arapaho Pass, about 3-4 miles from
the trailhead. From Arapaho Pass, start climbing the 4th class ridge
northwest of Mount
Neva and ascend it to the summit. From Mount Neva, hike along an easy ridge to
Jasper Peak. Glissade down Jasper Peak and hike down to Diamond Lake and back to the
4th of July Trailhead using the Diamond Lake trail. Ken and I set out from the 4th of July Trailhead around 6am and headed for Arapaho Pass. This was the second week in a row that we'd hiked this section of trail. The week before we climbed both South and North Arapaho Peaks. We arrived at Arapaho Pass under royal blue skies and timorously eyed the ridge; it looked really hard from where we stood. |
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The ridge had a 3 deep notches we had to climb over. From where we were the ridge looked really thin, but often your perception of a mountain is not accurate. We started up the grassy alpine slopes and the grass eventually yielded to rocks and ridge. The first part of the ridge was fairly thin but was nice and even and a pleasure to walk along. We encountered nothing harder than 3rd class scrambling on the first notch, the one that appeared the steepest. There was a little elusive route to the left of the ridge that bypassed most of the notch. We had to do a little bit of scouting on the second notch and noticed again that the easiest and most practical route was a line that dropped to the left of the notch. |
| The crux of the climb was the large slab buttress about 3/4ths the way along the ridge. I picked out two possible routes to take. The first went right over the buttress along a thin ramp. This route didn't look hard really at all but it was very exposed. So, we opted for the second route which was a direct climb up the wide face of the ridge. This is the 4th class section (right) but I found that it was very easy because there were so many small ramps, benches, footholds, and handholds. It was steep, but without a fear of heights, it's not a problem at all. After climbing up this 100 foot section, we were faced with a few more airy ridge points. It was nothing too difficult but it was lots of fun. After the ridge relented, we had gentle slopes that led us to the small summit. We hung out here for a while, took some pictures, and ate an early lunch. Then we headed off to Jasper Peak. |
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The hike to Jasper Peak was really easy and enjoyable. This is a very solitary hike as well. We had only encountered one other small party on the summit of Neva that had climbed the "Juliet" couloir. After leaving Neva, we saw no one. Jasper Peak is another fun summit with great views. The view of Mount Neva is really neat from this angle too. We began checking out the snow climbs on Mount Jasper and they looked really steep from where we were, even though they're generally not quite as hard as some of the others that we had done in the Indian Peaks. Both "Snow Lion" and "Snow Leopard" looked really steep. We were planning to glissade down Jasper Peak but I personally wasn't about to go sliding down these snow chutes. "Gaiteraid" snowfield on the other hand looked perfect so that's what we did. The top of the snowfield is bordered by a small, safe cornice so we just planted our ice axes in the top, scooted over the top, pulled our axes out, and zoomed down. The glissade was awesome although a bit shorter than some of the huge ones that we had already done this year. Still, it was great. We arrived quickly at upper Diamond Lake where we had great views of the east face of Jasper Peak (left). |
| The hike from Japser Peak to Diamond Lake really made the hike for me. There was no trail, no people, and it felt totally wild and isolated. It was exceptionally beautiful too, even for the Indian Peaks. We eventually arrived at Diamond Lake and encountered some other hikers and some fishermen. The hike from the Lake back to the 4th of July trailhead heads back due west for over a mile so it's kind of confusing if you have a sense of direction. At the base of the valley, the trail crosses a creek at a beautiful cataract and heads back east and eventually hooks up with the Arapaho Pass trail. Because of the mixed nature of this climb (the 4th class ridge, the isolation of Jasper, the great glissade, and the rugged beauty of the upper Diamond Lake valley), this was no doubt one of my all-time favorites. |  |
