Nearing the summit of “Peak G” in the northern-Gore Range on May 6th. Click photos to enlarge.
While this spring has been one for the books in terms of Colorado’s snowpack, finding decent weather windows for skiing has been a tad challenging at times. Despite a few failed outings which didn’t go as planned (like this one and this one), mostly due to unforeseen weather and funky avalanche conditions, the stars did align for several fun days in May on a handful of local Vail/Summit County peaks.
Quandary Peak – Quandary Couloir
Partners: Carl Dowdy, Marc Barella, Keith Spargo, Caroline Kurio
May 4th
To kick off the month of May, a few of us headed up the all-too-familiar standard east ridge route on Quandary and skied it’s main northern route, the Quandary Couloir. This one has a reputation of being a tad elusive in that it needs a decent snow year to be filled in, particularly up top. Seemed obvious that this was the year then.
Taking the steep entrance into the line after we skied a few hundred feet down the east face route.
Lower down, we had good chalk powder and a little taste of corn. Photo by Carl.
The line in its entirety seen from McCullough Gulch. Nearly 2,000 ft of moderately steep skiing makes this one an instant classic… when it’s in.
Thanks to the incredible snow totals in the area, we had the luxury of skiing all the way back to the car at the Quandary TH. East ridge up, north couloir down… my favorite experience on Quandary out of all of them by far.
“Peak G” and “Peak H”– Southeast and West Faces
Partner: Dave Bourassa
May 6th
Next up was a bit of an exploratory day skiing two rare lines in the Gores with Dave Bourassa. After a long sled tow up the Piney Road into the Lost Lake area, we skied down into upper-Piney and climbed the west face of “Peak G” to it’s summit. From there we skied a short but sweet line down into Black Basin, climbed the Straight Arrow up “Peak H”, skied down its west face, and skinned back up to the sled on the other side of the valley.
Climbing the west face of “Peak G” with upper-Piney down below.
The Spider, a line which will seemingly have to wait until next year… again.
Dave making turns off G down into Black Creek. That’s “Peak L” in back.
Skiing out the lower part of the line. The day was hot and the roller balls were out in full-force.
Later, the clouds rolled in for long enough to allow for a safe climb up the Straight Arrow on “Peak H”.
The west line we skied off H back into upper-Piney provided nearly 3,000 ft of great turns. Though not incredibly defined or aesthetic when viewed from afar, it was a neat ski and one I’d recommend checking out if you happen to be in the area.
Mt. Helen – South Face
Partners: Carl Dowdy, Dan Nelson, J Weingast
May 14th
Next up was a quick morning checking off another line that had long been on the list – the south face of Mt. Helen. While Helen is best-known for it’s docile east face and tree skiing down low, every few years its south face comes into condition and makes for a fun, steep ski.
The guys on Helen’s summit hiking over to the drop-in point. That’s Quandary’s north face in back.
Corn turns off the summit.
Already the exit at the bottom was nearly melted out, a testament to how short this line’s life cycle is even on a huge year.
Some GoPro footage I filmed on descent:
From the bottom of the face we wrapped around to the east and skied all the way back to the Wheeler Trail junction, then down the road back to the car. The entire outing took ~2.5 hours.
Uneva Peak – Southwest Face
Partners: Anna-Lisa Conners, Kristine Chalk, Jax Dog
May 26th
To cap off the month, Anna-Lisa, Kristine and I headed up to Vail Pass to ski Uneva Peak on Memorial Day. The gals had a fun time, and Jax was in doggie heaven out there as per usual. I was happy to finally ski Uneva off the true summit, which wasn’t an option the last time I was up there.
Anna-Lisa on the ascent with Mt. of the Holy Cross visible in back.
The three of us just below the summit.
…and a nice one of Jax.
A few days later I headed up to Blackhawk for my 3rd go at the Dirty 30, and now with the San Juan Solstice race officially cancelled, I’m hoping to get in a few more descents before it’s all over. Given the crazy amount of snow still hanging around in the high country, that shouldn’t be a problem at all.
Cheers!
Happy June 🙂