Joe Mills Mountain Beta

[chicagostylehotdog]

Does anybody have beta on Joe Mills Mountain from Bear Lake TH in RMNP? Planning to hike it tomorrow morning. Following the route shown in the map here: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=953423" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Planning on skinning with my splitboard as I don't own snowshoes, though I have snowshoes if that would be a better mode of travel here. The limited info I've read point to little to no avy danger on this route (taking the mellower NE ridge to the summit).

Any input is appreciated.

[AlexeyD]

Does anybody have beta on Joe Mills Mountain from Bear Lake TH in RMNP? Planning to hike it tomorrow morning. Following the route shown in the map here: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=953423" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Planning on skinning with my splitboard as I don't own snowshoes, though I have snowshoes if that would be a better mode of travel here. The limited info I've read point to little to no avy danger on this route (taking the mellower NE ridge to the summit).

Any input is appreciated.

While I don't have any recent beta, my recollection of the trail to Fern Lake is that much of it is either rolling or flat, and hence would not make for a very good descent - especially if you have deep snow. For what it's worth, the Flattop trail offers a more consistent pitch, and is reasonably wide for the most part. The last few hundred feet below the summit are typically windblown and unskiable, but there's probably a good 500 to 1000' between treeline and the windblow areas that offer nice turns and reliable snow.

[alpha]

I hiked near to Lake Helene in the Spring of last year and had decently packed trail.
One thing is that the closer we got to Marigold Pond/Two Rivers Lake the more the winter trail diverged from the summer trail. The trail basically dropped us at the south end of Two Rivers Lake.
I suspect given where your link shows you leaving the trail that this will be a non-issue.

[chicagostylehotdog]

Just to clarify, I do not plan to take the skins off for a descent ride. Just using them as a heavy alternative to snowshoes to provide some floatation because it's gear I already have.

[cougar]

No recent info but I've done it twice with snow. The trail is usually defined most of the way to where you branch off, but is easy to lose after the second clearing. There is a bit of a drop into and across a stream then a short but steep climb up. When I last did it this was tough climbing up deep powder. It's a fairly open south slope though. Near the top is a rock slab scramble section so it would be tough to skin up that. Had to pop off snowshoes for that bit. The eastern ridge and slopes are open glades and ideal for a ski descent down and across the meadow below. You can rejoin the trail back to bear lake from across the meadow

[ChrisRoberts]

The eastern ridge and slopes are open glades and ideal for a ski descent down and across the meadow below

From what I remember from a summer ascent, dropping off the east ridge towards Round Pond sucked because of the scrubby willows and junipers. But, they were low to the ground and will probably be covered if there's enough snow up there.

[DaveLanders]

The eastern ridge and slopes are open glades and ideal for a ski descent down and across the meadow below

From what I remember from a summer ascent, dropping off the east ridge towards Round Pond sucked because of the scrubby willows and junipers. But, they were low to the ground and will probably be covered if there's enough snow up there.

Round Pond is NE of the summit; that is the easiest terrain to get to the summit of Joe Mills. The south side of Joe Mills (directly above the trail near Lk Helene) is difficult because of krummholz (ask me how I know ); it would take a lot of well consolidated snow to cover that stuff. The link that the OP posted shows a good route.

[ChrisRoberts]

The eastern ridge and slopes are open glades and ideal for a ski descent down and across the meadow below

From what I remember from a summer ascent, dropping off the east ridge towards Round Pond sucked because of the scrubby willows and junipers. But, they were low to the ground and will probably be covered if there's enough snow up there.

Round Pond is NE of the summit; that is the easiest terrain to get to the summit of Joe Mills. The south side of Joe Mills (directly above the trail near Lk Helene) is difficult because of krummholz (ask me how I know ); it would take a lot of well consolidated snow to cover that stuff. The link that the OP posted shows a good route.

East...it's kind of a relative term some days You know, over yonder way

[chicagostylehotdog]

Follow-up report: Snowpack was pretty stable as far as I could tell. All the trails were snowpacked from snowshoers/skiers. Once we diverged from the established trails, we broke trail for a bit through deep, but supportive snow. In many places, snowpack was well over 3' as my pole could not reach the ground. We expected a windscoured NE ridge, but were greeted with deep and consolidated snow all the way to the false peak (~10,950). I continued in just boots to the summit on a route full of postholing. Coming back from the summit to the false peak I found a much better route closer, but not quite on, the ridge proper. Got 10-12 good turns in on the splitboard on 20-25 deg slopes before switching back to skis and skiing out. Took about 3h up and 1h down.