TR: Neva Mountain, Indian Peak Wilderness, 06/03/07

[BurnHard]

Finally, my first TR since I've moved to Boulder. I've been wanting to hit something in the Indian Peak Wilderness for a while now, and yesterday it finally happened. I searched for Indian Peaks in the forum and got IRidePow's S. Arapaho Peak TR and figured it would be a great first line to hit.

The plan was to follow iRidePow's TR step by step (thanks for your help btw!) and ski the exact same line. I am just starting to explore the area and thought this would be the easiest way to get started.

Left Boulder at 4.30 a.m. and arrived at the 4th of July Trailhead in a recordtime of 50 minutes, and we (Devin, don't remember his TGR handle, and I) started hiking at 5.30.

To make a short story shorter - we reached the bottom of S. Arapaho, decided the coverage didn't look any good but something out to the south-west caught our interest. Neva Mountain, 12,800 feet, looked very well covered and not too far out of the way. An hour later we're in the bowl ready to get some turns!

... to sumarrize - Neva Mountain ROCKS! Total playground, awesome bowl, awesome colouirs EVERYWHERE. Coverage was still really really good and we got some awesome turns in.

Enjoy the pics, i'm too lazy to label each pic now. Maybe later!
Cya

[sledneckripper]

Sweet line and trip report dude.

Who's the fucking tool in the background with the expedition climbing gear, pickets, 60m rope, etc.? Geezus, looks like the dude is climbing Everest! It's Neva, not K2 dude.

[reidhresko]

Who's the fucking tool in the background with the expedition climbing gear, pickets, 60m rope, etc.? Geezus, looks like the dude is climbing Everest! It's Neva, not K2 dude.

wondering the same...

[SafteySquad]

Sweet line and trip report dude.

Who's the fucking tool in the background with the expedition climbing gear, pickets, 60m rope, etc.? Geezus, looks like the dude is climbing Everest! It's Neva, not K2 dude.

ya, nobody needs to practice snow climbing on less technical routes... a tool indeed

[summit]

i'm sure he was doing some sort of class... right?

[BurnHard]

lol yes it was a class. Didn't change the fact that they were very uptight about it, and the guy in the background looked funny at me when I headed for the colouir without crampons nor axe.

[sledneckripper]

ya, nobody needs to practice snow climbing on less technical routes... a tool indeed

Obviously it is good to practice, but the best practice is to actually get on a technical route, not dink around on some 35 degree pitched snow.

How are you going to learn or get better when you don't practice on technical terrain?

I was just commenting on how the dude looks like a tool. Carry on.



If I'm training for a skilled technique or trick on my sled, I actually do it. I don't train for it by riding some sissy hill or hitting a sissy jump.



back to the stoke.....

[SafteySquad]

Obviously it is good to practice, but the best practice is to actually get on a technical route, not dink around on some 35 degree pitched snow.

How are you going to learn or get better when you don't practice on technical terrain?

I was just commenting on how the dude looks like a tool. Carry on.



If I'm training for a skilled technique or trick on my sled, I actually do it. I don't train for it by riding some sissy hill or hitting a sissy jump.



back to the stoke.....

Fair enough.

I was just thinking that someone who has no snow climbing experience and no experience placing the different type of pro (assuming that these people are inexperienced) might want to practice in a situation where consequences are low.

I definiltey agree that if you are training for something specific you are probably gonna want to have practiced at the same difficulty level prior to attempting your goal. But in all fairness people do have to start somewhere...

And thanks for the pics Bernardo. I was thinking of going for a hike/ski next weekend and this might be a good option for my BC Jong self...

[sledneckripper]

Fair enough.

I was just thinking that someone who has no snow climbing experience and no experience placing the different type of pro (assuming that these people are inexperienced) might want to practice in a situation where consequences are low.

I definiltey agree that if you are training for something specific you are probably gonna want to have practiced at the same difficulty level prior to attempting your goal. But in all fairness people do have to start somewhere...

And thanks for the pics Bernardo. I was thinking of going for a hike/ski next weekend and this might be a good option for my BC Jong self...

Good points and I agree. There are those who prefer to practice on lower risk terrain, especially those who are beginners.



Yeah Bernardo, sick photos man. Keep that shit coming.

[Alpine Dreams]

Good TR. Glad your getting out in your neighborhood

[IridePow]

Good to see you got out Bernardo.
Neva has some great lines!

The line on S. Arapaho is quite hidden and we were also a little discouraged when we looked up that couli and just saw rocks everywhere.
With a little rock scrambling you probably still could have done it, but it probably was wiser to search for something else.
Because if you slide down that line (without crampons/ice axe) you are pretty much certain to hit some rocks on the way.

[Devin]

my bad Bernardo- I'm 'Devin' not 'Devo'...I mainly lurk around here, but I'll try and add some pics from the day later tonight.

Hell of a day- got in two runs before noon, with a good n' healthy batch of sunburn to boot.

For those interested:

4th of July trail is very well maintained, and well traveled. We hiked in sneakers all the way to the bowl, and postholed only a bit on the way down due to the warmer temps.
The whole bowl gets lots of sun right from sunup. It was elmers glue mashed potatoes by 11 making it tough to hold an edge, especially on the steeper sections at the top of the 'center' couloir, just lookers left of the cornice. Good skiing though- very smooth, not much hidden rock. btw- anyone have the names of these runs?
and yea- those guys with full gear. Nice folks, but rope and axe truly wasn't necessary. Maybe crampons if you're climbing early before it softens up. There was also a group of CMC guys enjoying the bowl- a true glissading/skiing playground. Reminded me a lot of tucks, with a nice bowl for lunch and to stash the extra gear, and easy, moderate, and rather expert runs surrounding you. Also, there is a desgnated(?) camp spot right below skywalker on S. Arapahoe, for those against the early start.

hope this helps..get out there! Plenty of June skiing to be had

Cheers,

Devin

[HikeforTurns]

at the top of the 'center' couloir, just lookers left of the cornice. Good skiing though- very smooth, not much hidden rock. btw- anyone have the names of these runs?

Devin

The one with the cornice is Desdemona. The prominent line to lookers left of that, hour glass shape is Juliet. I dont know any other names.....

Nice looking day out. Keep the trs coming.

[BurnHard]

Thanks for the input folks!
Devin, post some of your pics if you want, I remember you had some really good ones.

SafteySquad - let me know if you wanna go out next weekend. I would like to go up to the same area again, maybe camp there Friday night and try out lines all of Saturday and Sunday. Or maybe we can head to RMNP.

Iridepow - thanks again for the input. I eventually figured which colouir you meant, but realized the snow must be pretty hard in there the way it's oriented.

EDIT: OHHH and I wanna thank the owner of the pick-up truck parked next to me at the 4th of July trailhead. My-stupid-self left my softshell WITH camera inside leaning on his/her truck-bed and didn't realize it until back in Boulder. Fortunately found the jacket WITH camera hanging from the trailmap. THANKS!!!!