While this spring has been one for the books in terms 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, 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. Read more…
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. Read more…
The backcountry skiing around Vail has been good lately. Really good. The snowpack finally settled down enough to green light steeper lines, and coverage in the Gores and Holy Cross Wilderness is about as good as it ever gets. After a fun ski of Bald Mountain’s northeast face this past Saturday, Rick and I pored over ideas of what to hit next and ultimately landed on Mt. Powell, the highest peak in the Gore Range. Read more…
In the wake of huge March snow totals and one of the crazier avalanche cycles Colorado has ever seen, a pocket of sustained high-pressure finally wiggled its way over the state this past week. Eager to get the spring ski season kicked off, Brian and I were looking to take advantage of the good weather and settling snowpack. Open to ideas we landed on “Grand Traverse Peak” after learning a friend of ours, Dave Bourassa, had skied it a few days prior. Read more…