Parry Peak

Route: Berthoud Pass Parking Lot
Posted On: 11/16/2024, By: awestra
Info: Summitted Parry Peak via Mt Flora and Mt Eva today. I used snowshoes up to the saddle between Colorado Mines Peak and Mt Flora. After that, the ridgeline was almost all wind-scoured. The descent off Flora headed toward Eva had a line down it that was almost free of snow (near the saddle there was a 10-20 ft wide section of wind slab that I crossed on microspikes). 

Route: From Berthoud Pass
Posted On: 6/25/2024, By: Alpine_Iris
Info: Summer conditions, lots of flowers 

Route: Via Bancroft from Loch Lomond
Posted On: 6/21/2024, By: happyallyy
Info: Hiked Bancroft and Parry on 6/19 from Loch Lomond. The upper gate is still closed (set to reopen on 7/15), but there is minimal snow on the road to Loch Lomond. Hiked in trail runners, didn't use spikes or gaiters. Once you gain the ridge, snow is avoidable other than a couple of steps to reach the summit of Parry. When heading down, we skirted around the summit of Bancroft (vs going back over the top) to go back down the ridge that we came up. Basically summery conditions and the wildflowers are going off on this route! Our Garmins tracked 7.25 miles + 3400 feet elevation gain. My friend wrote a blog post on our day, check it out: https://www.coloradomountainpack.com/post/mount-bancroft-parry-peak 

Route: SE slope From Fall River Reservoir
Posted On: 5/3/2024, By: VeraUndertow
Info: Started from around 9,800ft on CR 274 and skinned all the way up to 12,200 ft on the south east slope of Parry. This was about 4 miles distance from the start. I transitioned over to booting and made slow progress in the inconsistent and unconsolidated wind effected snow, eventually I made it toward some rocks which helped make the effort less since the snow was more consolidated on the sides of them. The higher I got the worse the wind was, not surprising, it was coming from mainly the WSW direction, but was wrapping around on the south east also so that was fun. Once I made the summit I was getting smashed in the spindrift the whole time so that ruled. The consolation prize was the skiing was actually really soft creamy wind buff down to the basin then corn/mashed potatoes for the last steep pitch and I was able to ski all the way down to the reservoir. I traversed the north side of the reservoir with minimal sidestepping up then skied down the road in about 20 minutes. All in all 9.5 miles and some pretty good turns were had. 

Route: Traverse from Mt Eva
Posted On: 1/1/2024, By: sunbleached
Info: I traversed from Berthoud Pass up Mt. Flora, Mt. Eva, Witter Peak, and Parry Peak. All three were in much better shape compared to the wind-stricken fun that occurred the week before. I went up Mt. Flora after hitting Colorado Mines Peak. From this south ridge, there are no issues, and the trail is extremely easy to follow with only minor windcrusts. Most of the snow was scoured off. The north ridge of Mt. Flora was nearly completely covered in wind-hardened snow slabs - the kind that CAIC said in their forecast is the only kind of slope you should watch out for. Yay! Anyway, I stuck left (west) and made it down with only a couple crossings of the slab. Mt. Eva was extremely easy and straightforward since so much of the snow was scoured by the wind. Parry Peak has a significant cornice on the east side of the south ridge (i.e. the one you use to traverse from Eva to Parry). It's easy to avoid though, just stay further away from it than you think (or stick to the obvious talus that's still poking out of the snow). I made it up and stood on the wind-hardened slab, then retraced my steps to Berthoud Pass. 

Route: Loch Lomond
Posted On: 8/15/2023, By: angry
Info: Bancroft > Parry > Eva Alpine start of 1pm. Out and back from Loch Lomond. Dry all the way. No summit register on the three peaks. No people either, had em all to myself. 

Route: Riflesight Notch to Berthoud Pass
Posted On: 7/16/2023, By: HikesInGeologicTime
Info: (Mostly adding on to report by daway8 about the 5-peak ridge run from James to Flora to discuss the Corona/Rollins Pass road, which is not a listed TH) Easy 2WD dirt from turn-off just north of Winter Park resort to 5-way intersection. After that, the road gets progressively rougher. It is Suburuable, at least up to Riflesight Notch 11 miles up the road, but it is slow-going with plenty of rocks, ruts, potholes, and puddles. Did not see any sedans and definitely would not want to try it with lower ground clearance. Generous pull-off across from lower end of Riflesight Notch seems the better place to park compared to the more limited options at the actual Rogers Pass TH, and a footpath starting across the road up to the top of the trestle makes for a barely noticeable addition to the hike. The hike itself: snow almost entirely avoidable except for a couple patches at the James-Bancroft saddle if you are looking to keep that portion of the route Class 2 (see update by daway8 for more info on that). Very brief, inconsequential crossing just below E side of Parry summit. Snow otherwise avoidable. Further thought: would absolutely recommend doing this route N to S, as it allows the slightly trickier/at least semi-scrambly James-Bancroft saddle to be done earlier in the day when legs are fresher and storms less likely. The final uphill push from the Flora-Eva saddle up to Flora is a pill but is straightforward with little in the way of routefinding or other challenges as long as the weather holds. 

Route: Southeast Face
Posted On: 6/5/2023, By: hberry
Info: Essentially continuous snow from the summit back down to Fall River Res. Visibility was terrible on Saturday so unable to give beta on surrounding peaks. Ascending through the NW woods means taking your skis off a few times to cross rocks and downed trees. It may be easier to go around the Res and then up but this is quite steep snow and not getting a full freeze overnight. Skiing should still be good for weeks to come. 

Route: St Mary’s > Loch Lommond
Posted On: 10/13/2022, By: the_hare
Info: Summited Bancroft and Parry from Bancroft's SE ridge. Windy day!! Mountain Forecast had the wind at 25-30 mph towards the SE, felt stronger gusts from the parking lot to the summit in various directions. I guess the winds really funnel thru the valleys from the Berthoud pass side and the gusts wrap around the ridge. Reminded me of Humboldt E ridge in that sense. The low points along the Parry-Bancroft ridge were by far the strongest, had to lean way into the wind just to keep upright! No snow on the route up, some patches at the summit. Bancroft E ridge is a mix of talus hopping and tundra. Some really neat geology stuff going on, lots of cool quartz to see. I swear I saw a Native artifact coming down off Bancroft's E face in the talus but I was too winded-out and in the “don't break leg” mindset to stop and check -_- looked something like a large arrowhead. Stars looked amazing from the flat tundra plains area above the glacier! 

Route: Berthoud Pass to Loch Lomond
Posted On: 5/28/2022, By: Carl_Healy
Info: Shuttle hiked across the Continental Divide from Berthoud Pass (Colorado Mines Peak) to Loch Lomond (Mt. Bancroft). For conditions between the other peaks see those respective updates. A note for all legs is that we carried spikes, snowshoes, crampons, and ice axes the whole way but never *really* needed them. Also gnarly cornices everywhere, and weather was surprisingly nice: temps in the 40s and winds often below 10 MPH until at least Parry Peak. Hiking Eva to Parry Peak A started to present a bit more snow than we had seen elsewhere on the ridge from Colorado Mines, at least near the summit, but it was still not too much of a problem (pretty firm). 

Route: Bear Claw
Posted On: 5/4/2022, By: pcj127
Info: Departed from the 40 ascending Parry Creek route. Alternate approach along the continental divide from the pass would not be a fun option, all windblown out up there. The ascent wasn't as bad as expected, fairly straightforward routefinding but it was convenient to have a GPX track to check position. Was able to skin up continuously to about 12500 along the north ridge. The remainder is now a bootpack to the summit (which we skipped). Traversed over into lookers left couloirs 1 and 2. Snow was a bit on the heavy side but still a lot of fun! Nice descent all the way to the road. 

Route: from Mount Eva
Posted On: 4/16/2022, By: csf-lhiver
Info: Ridge is pretty bare. Easily identifiable cornices can be avoided all the way up to Parry. 

Route: Bear Claw/Catcher's Mitt
Posted On: 4/26/2021, By: ClimberSkierDave64
Info: We skied the Bear Claw on Saturday and put a skin track in all the way through the forest up Parry Creek and partway up the face. We climbed and skied the lookers left most gully. On the way up it was knee deep booting, but it wasn't wind loaded. The gully to the right of that had avalanched during the storms last week. But, when we skied it, the snow was very stable and the fresh powder had bonded very well to the old snow underneath. The left most gully was skiable from about 150 feet below the summit and it was great powder skiing all the way down from there! The bushwacking and skiing through forest is annoying in both directions and the snow is melting fast down low, so I would ski it while the snow bridges are still holding up on the numerous creek crossings. Route finding was fairly simple, just follow Parry Creek and there is some pink flagging on the trees along the way as well. 

Route: via Berthoud Pass
Posted On: 6/14/2020, By: LetsGoMets
Info: Linked Flora, Eva, and Parry from Berthoud Pass. Eva to Parry clear of snow, summer conditions. 

Route: from Mt Bancroft
Posted On: 6/15/2020, By: nedryarson
Info: Traversed over to Parry and back from Mt Bancroft. Snow is all avoidable except the final 25 yards to the summit. Cool summit directly above Winter Park ski area.