Normally by January Colorado’s snowpack has reached respectable totals, enough to make inbounds skiing a priority. This year has been different. Inbounds skiing has been a bust, and even backcountry prospects are few and far between and marginal in quality. Rather than sit around and whine about it, a few friends and I decided to go ahead and take what Colorado seems to be granting this year; a solid window for winter hiking. Continue reading…
This snow year, while extremely plump everywhere else in the state, has been less than stellar for these poor peaks, so needless to say I’m happy to have gotten down there for one. I’m also happy to have gotten out with two new partners, Scott Borger and Brennan Metzler, with whom I had exchanged emails but never actually met prior to this trip. The six of us set off at 6:30 or so, initially booting up dry road with a few intermittent snow drifts. Overall we were content though as we were able to park within a half mile of the Lily Lakes TH. Keep reading…
One of the more solidified goals Carl and I had for this spring was to wrap up the Blanca Group on skis. The first weekend in May had been the plan for awhile, and as a bonus the days leading up to the trip saw some new snow in the Southern Sangres. Mike, Marc, Carl, and I motored to Alamosa Friday evening after work and pulled onto the Lake Como road around 9pm. Keep reading…
Originally Matt and I planned on hitting Kit Carson and Challenger on Thursday, a long but doable day which would have included two classic ski lines on two spectacular peaks. Needless to say Matt and I were pretty stoked, then an email came in from Brittany on Tuesday which was enough to convince me the South Face of Kit wasn`t skiable. Matt and I began looking at other plans and remembered Little Bear was in. Keep reading…