Carl was up for another ski on Memorial Day as we begin the final push towards getting descents in before the end of the spring season. Wes from (skier25 from 14ers.com) would end up joining us, we met at the Lookout Mountain exit off I-70 and motored to Leadville. Already the weather was promising clouds, which we could live with as long as the visibility was better than what we‘d experienced two days earlier on Evans. Keep reading…
My buddy Jon Osterbrock, along with myself and our wives were called on for a little house sitting over Memorial Day weekend, so at first it seemed skiing was out for the weekend. The house however happens to be on Lookout Mountain and since Carl and Marc live nearby, the idea of a short jaunt up Evans was born and easily negotiated. Brian was quick to join in and generously supplied a grill, brats, and of course beer for an apres ski party. We all met at the recently opened Summit Lake TH and found the entire mountain to be completely socked in. Despite the visibility being less than ideal, we all knew the route pretty well and were skinning towards the north face couloirs around 7:00am. Keep reading…
For a few weeks now Carl and I have been discussing a ski of Longs‘ infamous Keplinger‘s Couloir, the original ascent route used on Longs by John Wesley Powell in 1868. One of the most solidified goals I maintained throughout the spring was a summit ski of this great peak, well we got it on Saturday. Initially, conditions hunting was frustrating. Posts at 14ers.com and over at TGR yielded little helpful information and, as Carl found out in March, Longs is not a peak to carry skis to the top of without a just payoff. Keep reading…
I managed to finagle a half day at work on Friday for the purpose of hitting up an afternoon Bierstadt ski with Sam and Carl. I was eager to get back at this one after carrying skis to 13,900‘ in March and being aced by too little snow cover. I left at 11:00am and met Carl at the T-Rex lot 25 minutes after a short stop at Good Times for a Bleu Cheese Bacon Burger duo (5 bucks for 2 right now). Carl and I hightailed it up to Guanella Pass where we were hoping to beat the work crews on their afternoon construction closure, turns out we had to wait for 30 minutes but it was time well spent on gearing up. Sam met us at the upper closure and we were skinning up the road at 1:30pm. Continue reading…