With the road to the Fourth of July trailhead finally open on the first week of June, it was time to do some more hiking before the summer (crowds) arrives. Henri and I left Boulder at five and hit the trail around six. The sun was out already, at least on the mountain tops of Jasper Peak and Mt. Neva across the valley. After passing a few broken trees blocking the trail in a few places, we made a good pace, reached the treeline near the Fourth of July Mine, and passed a couple of female climbers admiring out pace. We were tempted by the Skywalker couloir for a while, but decided to pass as neither of us had crampons. Instead we traversed a lower part of the south face, crossed another couloir, and finally reached a ridge leading to the summit, 13,400ft. There was about six inches of fresh snow that drifted up deeper in places, which created a nice illusion of winter conditions.
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