Red Peak Ski: The Big Bad Wolf

Dropping into The Big Bad Wolf couloir off Red Peak. Click photos to enlarge.

Last Saturday several of us headed over to Summit County to ski the northeast line off Red Peak B (13,189′) in the southern Gore Range, known colloquially as “The Big Bad Wolf”. The route is one of several dropping off Red and its eastern sub-summit (most of which sport Little Red Riding Hood themed names), and offers up roughly 1,800′ of steep skiing down to Willow Lake just south of Mt. Silverthorne.

Because the Willow Creek drainage can make for a rather time-consuming approach, we decided to switch it up a bit by climbing the peak’s southern route from the Ryan Gulch TH before skiing out to the Willowbrook TH. The day made for a nice multi-drainage tour of Red Peak.

Heading through the Buffalo Mountain Fire burn area to start off the day. Photo by Jeff.

The remnants of a big avalanche in South Willow Creek which likely slid during the “Black Thursday” cycle in March. Photo by Jeff.

After rounding the base of Buffalo Mountain and skinning up through the trees we arrived at the bottom of Red Peak’s broad south face. The sun was out and temperatures were starting to soar. This was one of the first days that truly felt like spring up there, to me at least.

The ascent of Red’s south face was straightforward – just a few thousand feet of undulating terrain and steep skinning from the valley floor up to the summit, which remains visible the entire time. It was nice to finally return to this area and take a look around after Brian and I skied Red via this south slope in a complete whiteout in 2011.

Dylan leading the charge. That’s the summit up and to the left with some neat cliffs falling away to the right.

Rick, Jeff, and Alex with Buffalo Mountain and most of our approach route in back.

We hit the summit and lounged around for awhile, enjoying the 360 views of snow-capped peaks as far as the eye could see. Red’s summit really is a nice one, especially on a day like this.

Mt. Silverthorne and “East Thorne” to the north.

Summit shot (L to R: Jeff, Dylan, Alex, Rick, and myself).

Then it was time to get the second part of the day underway. We took turns scooting down the ridge to the entrance of the line. And what a line it is…

Rick took firsts.

Alex enjoying chalk pow right off the top.

Dylan lower down with Red’s east sub-summit in back.

Conditions were better than expected from top to bottom – a mix of chalk and powder with a few corn turns thrown in for good measure.

A nice one Jeff got of me. Note the old booter and tracks.

…and Jeff finishing things off lower down.

A look back at the line and our tracks.

Thankfully the ski out Willow Creek stayed supportive with just barely good enough coverage to ski all the way back to the Willowbrook TH. I wouldn’t be surprised if things lower down have started to melt out even in the few days since we skied through there.

This was a great line and a great way link a couple drainages together. The Gores rarely disappoint and this day was no different. Rick, Alex, Jeff, Dylan, that was fun. Let’s get in a few more before it’s all over 🙂