North Ridge

Follow the well-marked and well-travelled trail out of the parking lot for approximately 3 miles to Arapahoe Pass. Along the way you'll pass some old mining equipment, and the trail for the Arapahoe Glacier Trail. Continue east until you begin to pass Lake Dorothy on your left. There are great views of North and South Arapaho Peaks to the northwest, and Caribou Lake is visible to the north. Follow a very faint trail across the grass to the base of North Ridge, where the trail becomes slightly more pronounced.

Pick your way south along the ridge. We dropped slightly below the ridgeline to the east several times to avoid what looked to be harder-than-fourth-class moves. The crux is navigating a steep notch between Point 12,536 and Point 12,700 (two intermediate peaks on the ridge). The view of the notch while approaching was initially a little intimidating, but our concerns proved to be unfounded the closer we got. We approached the notch from the east side of the ridge, heading up grassy slopes. Once in the notch, the 20-30 foot crux wall presents itself, and is quickly overcome. Above the wall, we picked our way (along a faint trail) just below and west of the ridge proper for a few hundred feet. The remainder of the ridge to Neva is a pleasant grassy hike.

Descent: From the summit, it's probably easiest to simply reverse course and follow the ridge north back to the trail.

It might be possible to continue on to Jasper Peak, and back to the trailhead via its Northeast Ridge.

(We were concerned about the weather, and came down from the saddle between Neva and Jasper, to the two lakes visible from Neva's summit, and picked our way back north and east to the trail. This descent allows you to lose elevation quickly and get off the ridge, but is certainly more time consuming than simply following the North Ridge back.)

Perhaps some nuts or small/mid cams for the crux, if you decide to take a rope and gear.