The weekend before last Rick, Brian and I made the short drive up to Berthoud Pass after a series of spring storms dumped 20+ inches in the Front Range with minimal wind complications. What we found was some of the best skiing any of us had enjoyed all season – light, fluffy, non-wind affected spring pow.
Brian and Richard on the initial skin from the parking lot up the ridge towards North Chute.
We began the day by heading west from the top of the pass up the ridge to the top of North Chute. Slopes that had been bone dry all winter were finally plastered with snow, making for an efficient skin up towards the top of our first run of the day.
Kicking things off just west of North Chute proper.
Richard making turns.
From the bottom of North Chute, we booted up the slope and traversed over to the top of the XYZ Chutes, which looked to be just as good and also untracked.
Rick taking firsts down the easternmost of the XYZ Chutes…
…grabbing a shot of me from the middle…
…and then bringing up the rear behind Brian and i.
With the skins back on, we climbed back to the top of XYZ and hit the next chute west of the one we had just skied.
The snow in there was also good.
Brian coming around the corner.
After two great runs in the XYZ area we skied down through the trees, crossed Current Creek, and headed up the 110s towards the top of Postage Stamp. Some weather rolled through and kept things cool for the skin.
A long skin up Current Creek then took us to the top of Corner Pocket, where we dropped in to the north down into Second Creek.
More north-facing softness in Corner Pocket.
The Broom Hut.
We took a brief respite in the Broom Hut and enjoyed a cinnamon roll courtesy of some generous hosts.
…then it was down to cliff jumping in First Creek.
The Eagle has landed, somewhat gracefully.
A fun run down into First Creek had us looking up at another nice slope, so we decided one last skin was in the cards for the day.
Skinning back up to the top of First Creek for one final set of turns…
…which, as we had come to expect by this point, were great.
Brian finishing things off.
An entertaining ski out of First Creek had us back to the road, where we promptly hitched a ride back up to the top of the pass and our vehicle. The most unbelievable part of the day – the lady who randomly picked us up happened to be Rick’s blind date he had set up for later that night. It’s a small world sometimes.
A fun day out there guys. Looking forward to whatever’s next…
Yeah baby! Silky smooth turns, fellas! So awesome. Well done, boys. Looks about as good a turns as one can have.
Hey Brando, it was a solid day up there for sure. Have a great time on your hut traverse man! Here’s hoping you find some similar snow 🙂
What fun! Glad that fallen eagle was able to rebound.