Spring and Summer 2022

Crooked Couloir on Mount Audubon, May 3

Levi and I skied the Crooked Couloir on the southern aspect of Mount Audubon in Colorado's Indian Peaks. There had been some recent snow, but the day was forecasted to be pretty warm. We left from the winter trailhead for Brainard Lake early, making quick work of the road. A good freeze meant the trail up to Blue lake went fairly quickly as well.

Still feeling good we took a quick break for a snack and then start booting up the couloir. This had me absolutely gassed. But we got up in fairly good time, and got some fabulous turns on the way down as the soft snow was just beginning to get a bit heavy from the sun.

It was one of the harder backcountry lines I have skied so far, but the turns were all cruiserand it was a lot of fun. Warm temps meant gettting back to trailhead was tough though, since now the snow was very sun affected below Blue Lake. All in all took about 8.5 hours.

Roadside Distraction on Mount Machebeuf, May 5

Still a little bit gassed from a long day on Audubon, and Levi being a bit busy, we got on Roadside Distraction on Mount Machebeuf, which as the name implies is incredibly accesible from I-70. There was about 4" of new snow on top of the melt-freeze layer, and incredible wind on the summit. The line skied very nicely, although not all the way back to parking lot, so we had to hike a bit to get out.

North Couloir on Sqaure Top, May 16

I was out of the game for a little while being sick, which was tough since May is such a great backcountry skiing month. Probably the best month for Colorado. But, Levi and I were able to get out for a good time in the Geneva Basin area to ski the North Couloir on Square Top. A fun line, but we probably let things get a little too heated. Getting back to the car from the line was tough as it always seems to be this time of year.

East Couloir on Hallett Peak, May 17

Still being a bit baked from the day before, Levi and I oppted for the area accessed from Bear Lake in RMNP. Tempetures were pretty warm overnight as well, so we opted for the North Facing East Couloir on Hallett Peak. Things were tough top time though, since much of the line remained in the shade while other parts of the line were getting baked by the sun. So we ended up making some fairly steep turns on refrozen crud. Some spectators at Emerald Lake got a good show at least. We had multiple people come up to us after telling us how crazy it looked. A wife and husband told us they had gotten a video andw they would send it to us. I gave them my number, but never got the video. Perhaps they wanted to save me the embarrasment of having to see the desperate turns I was making.

Pow Days in the Banana Bowls, 20-21 May

Huge forecast for the Front Range. Everyone was amped. Places were supposed to get maybe 2' feet of snow over 48 hours this late in May, you can bet most skiers were making careful plans. RMNP looked like it had the best forecast.

Low winds meant one of my favorite touring spots might be a go. Levi and I decided we would get out in the evening of the 20th to get some early turns before the whole storm dumped. Then I planned to get out with Sierra in the morning. Evening turns were great but the big show would be in the morning.

Unfortunately, our dog Plato hurt her back leg a bit, so Sierra wanted to stay home with her. Luckily I feel Banana Bowls is mellow enough for me to ski alone for the most part (this is not advice, and you should make up your on mind on these sorts of things), so I got out for turns early alone. There were a few other early risers too, which turned out to be a blessing since breaking trail on this particular day in over a foot of new snow was tough going.

I was still able to get the absolute best pow turns of my life in though. The banana bowls has a good pitch to it, that comes within a hair of being avalanche terrain. This meant I could really get the speed up to hit perfect, bottomless fun pow turns.

Made a few laps, but was really feeling gassed, and ended up heading home around noon. The zoo was out in force that day though. Everybody had ended up at Banana Bowls. It was the right choice, but by midday it was way too crowded, so I was content with the early morning turns I had gotten in.

Mines Peak, 24 May

It's rare to be able to ski from the top of Mines Peak. The top is usually too wind scoured and just grass and small rocks most of the winter. But the big, heavy and mostly windless storms of late spring meant that it was ready to go this day. The snowpack was still a little shallow, but I made it happen with out any bad core shots to the skis or anything. For some reason I felt super tired this day, maybe still getting over being sick and trying to ski too much too soon, so i hit one lap and then headed home.

South Slopes of James Peak, 28 May

What a great day. So happy to get out on a sweet peak with Sierra. The south slopes of James Peak are chill but a pretty big day. We started from the Saint Mary's Glacier Trailhead early, and made good time of things. WE had a bit of cloud cover in the morning, so we took long breaks to snack and talk. Those were really nice. We summited in perfect timing. The sun had come out for a bit and softened up the snow perfectly, but darker clouds looked like they were about to roll in. SO, we snapped some photos at the top and then dropped in on some perfect corn turns. James skied very nicely. and we were able to ski out easily back to Saint Mary's Glacier. By this time Saint Mary's glacier had gotten way to soft though, and was actually kind of hard to ski and I embarrasingly took a small fall in front of a LOT of people. Oh well. It was still a perfect day.

Southeast Face of Hagar Mountain, 31 May

Levi and I got out on Hagar Mountain which somehow still had some soft snow on it. Maybe 5" of nice snow. Dry Gulch is pretty tough to get up, but Hagar was a fairly short climb actually, and skied very nicely.

Rough day on Rosalie Peak, 1 June

It was a wild day on Rosalie Peak. Up to 18" in the forecast, and it showed up. We got to a trailhead with a fresh blanket of over a foot of snow. It was supposed to be a bit cloudy all day, so we figured there wouldn't be too much harm in starting late.

But things started to heat up quickly. The new snow got incredibly gloppy, and skinnning was a challange. Summited ended up taking 6 hours with both of considering bailing on our objective at different points.

The skiing was terrible (for me at least, Levi seemed to manage it well). The new snow had gotten completely water logged and was nothing like skiing fresh pow.

All in all the day took us 9 hours. Since I thought it was going to be cloudy, I didn't take sunscreen and ended up with sunburn blisters on my face the next day. I have a small stick of sunscreen permenantly in my bag now...

Bastille Crack, 7 June

Sierra and I have gotten back into the swing of it for climbing season, and I have big plans for this year. Started of with some Turkey Rocks climbing a few days ago, and then we got out for a nice romp up Bastille Crack today. Did it in 3 pitches and it took us about 3 hours. Started at around 3:45 after she got of work and finished up to have normally scheduled dinner.

Vedauwoo Trip, 16-18 June

Sierra and I spent two nights camping and climbing in Vedauwoo. We got there the night of the 16th and set up camp in a sweet spot right near the Nautilus, which is a very popular climbing area. We got right on with it and I lead 'Mother 1', a 5.7 offwidth, that night. I actually felt very solid in Mother, which is a notoriously difficult climb for 5.7, though it was still very physically demanding as offwidth always is.

The next morning, we climbed 'Edward's Crack', a 5.7 handrack. I knocked it out in one pitch, and it felt super cruiser. The chimney at the end was a bit difficult but nothing crazy.

That night, we went way out to 'Plumb Line Crag' to give 'Plumb Line,' a 5.9+ handcrack, a go. I made solid work of it up to the lip. The jams all felt great and I was in control. I have just not done that pumpy of handjamming ever though, and by the time I got to the lip my jammings were getting less and less solid due to fatigue. I ended up taking my first lead fall onto a #3 cam. Not able to finish the route due to crazy pump, we got on an easy route nexty to plumb line (Corn 5.5) to get up to the anchors for Plumb Line and finish cleaning the gear I had left in it.