Basic Alpine Climb (NW Parry Peak-Pt 12090 via Jim Creek)

   We parked at the Jim Creek TH which accommodates 6-8 vehicles. One mile up Jim Creek Trl we started off-trail to the south, navigating around the steepest pitches before the terrain leveled out some and allowed for us to use snowshoes the remaining way up to the ridge. At 2.7 miles and 2200’ we decided lunch was very necessary. At 11,600 on the ridge, the views of Winter Park to the west and the entire Jim Creek Cirque (James, Bancroft, Parry) on the other side made for a splendid picnic. That is until the 50 mph winds, quarter size graupel (largest I’ve ever seen) and the persistent booming of snow thunder (most I’ve ever heard) cut our break short and chased us off the ridge. Fortunately, it was a short wave (of a few) that blew over and past us as the sun came back out and we re-gained the ridge. 
   During a short pause on our first summit (Peak 11780) we removed snowshoes and then did a short test-glissade off the top and down to the saddle. From there it was smooth sailing up to our prime objective, NW Parry Peak (Peak 12090). At this point our flexibility, common sense, alpine experience, and mettle were all tested as a huge cornice wall revealed itself along the entire ridge up to the upper slopes of Parry Peak.
   The original plan was to glissade directly off the summit, which was clearly not possible, with Plan B to glissade off the south saddle. Unfortunately, we could not clearly see if the cornice pinched off at the saddle or how high the cornice wall may be from our vantage point at the summit. We would have to proceed up the ridge on the other side first to get a look back at it. In the meantime we reconnoitered our Plan C: continue up the ridge to a point where we could traverse a hundred yards or so thereby clearing the cornice ridge and either glissade or down-climb the north face of Parry Peak. 
   After a couple hundred feet up the ridge it still wasn’t definitive as to how doable descending from the saddle would be so we prudently decided that Plan C was our course. We traversed the steep slopes on good snow well enough to clear the cornice and picked a safe and aesthetic line to glissade down the slope to the bowl below. The snow proved to be deeper and softer than expected and the glissade, although quite enjoyable, was not as long or as fast as we had hoped.
   We were able to glissade once more into the bowl and then several more short ones as we made our way down the drainage eventually meeting back up to the terminus of the Jim Creek Trl. 
Day totals: 9mi/3170’/10hrs