We wanted to ski these peaks over Memorial Day Weekend last year but thanks to the nasty dust storms the San Juans received, we decided to hold off a year in hopes of better snow conditions. Well this year rolled around and guess what? More dust. Instead of pushing the trip back again we decided to just say, screw it, let`s head down and see how things look. Keep reading…
Almost anyone who`s been going after 14ers on skis for awhile knows through trial and error what a “perfect” day skiing a 14er would look like. We know well what a “perfect” day out would entail because we generally don`t experience perfection, and we know precisely what we would change if we had the ability to “draw it up” ourselves. This is why when a truly perfect day comes along, it really stands out as the rare gift that it is. Continue reading…
Carl, Marc, Derek, and I met up at the Maroon Lake TH in the predawn hours of May 23rd, 2010. Our goal: the uber-classic North Face of North Maroon Peak on skis. None of us had ever climbed or skied this face before, and given the notoriety of this face and it’s history, we knew we were in for a fun one. We started from Maroon Lake at 3am under starry skies. With most of the approach melted out, we were able to stay in boots and keep skis on our backs all the way to Crater Lake. Keep reading…
This day held some hefty goals for our group: climb and ski two more peaks, break down and pack up camp, and slog it 6.5 miles back to Needleton in time to catch the 3pm train. Though the day seemed daunting, I was fairly confident our group would be able to pull it off. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Keep reading…