Preparation

James Peak, Colorado  21st May 05.

James Peak is an often skied mountain. From its 13,200ft summit it offers 2,500ft of decent at around 30`. Unknown to many of those who climb its popular south face is that its east side hides a number of quality snow gullies. On this trip we set off to combine the two

As the prior week had been very warm even at these altitudes we decided on an early start to make the most of any potential overnight freeze. We awoke at 3am (141mgdl, took 10units Lantus) , cooked a quick breakfast and headed up the trail a little after four(154mgdl). We had ascended over 1000ft before the sun began to peek over the horizon giving us a clear view of our destination (5:15am 55mgdl, snack time). At close to 7:10am (95mgdl, snack) we left our skis at the top of the first gully and soon began to descend, this gully with a headwall close to 60` descended for 600ft to the main amphitheater from where we were able to view potential ascent routes.

With the warm weather many of the cornices and steeper snowfields and fallen and a number of fresh avalanche trails were clearly visible. Unfortunately large cornices still guarded the exit from the more challenging gullies and with the day being above freezing with little overnight freeze we decided to ascend a more protected route (8.11am 225mgdl). With their east facing base this proved to be hard work as we broke through the thin crust with each step. when the gully finally turned to a more northerly aspect the going improved, though at the same time as the gradient increased. We pulled over the top (12900ft) after an exausting 800ft climb (10:10am, 62mgdl) and had lunch whilst enjoying the view. hiking back down to our skis and then on to enjoy over 2000ft of skiing arriving back at the trailhead by 12:00 (160mgdl).

Doug Bursnall

Descending down Starlight Gully

Climbing up Sky Pilot

Skiing back down the 2000ft S.face.