The north face of “Drift” had been on my radar for years, even since before Brian included it in our guidebook. The route is wind-prone and can be finicky to get in good condition. But when it’s in, it’s tough to find a better bang-for-your-buck line in the entire state. Paved road access, a short approach, and a straightforward climb all lead to an aesthetic summit and over 2,300 ft of skiing right off the top. Read more…
Making an attempt to keep the streak of long, but iconic Gore slogs going, sights were set on the elusive Straight Arrow Couloir off Peak H. Sadly enough, the easiest way to approach and ski this line is from the Booth Falls TH in Central Vail, since Piney is snow covered late in to the summer and Black Creek is, well, no explanation really necessary there. Nonetheless, we were salivating for another Bone Tomahawking cause Peak N a few weekends earlier wasn’t painful enough. Keep reading…
With a solid weather forecast and good information from our friend Elliott that Ervin was skiing well, Rick, Brian and I decided to head up there Tuesday and check it off the wishlist. Once in a blue moon the three of us manage to finagle the same day off work. Well the moon wasn’t blue this time around but it was certainly full. Keep reading…
This past Saturday Brian, Bloomy, and I made the short drive to Summit County with a pair of Gore Range ski lines in our crosshairs. We had a hunch that north and northeast aspects were going to deliver, so we decided to check out two inset couloirs with eastern access points – the Silver Sneak (aka “Elvis Crotch”) on 12er Buffalo Mountain, and a rarely skied line off 13er “Peak N” from Brush Creek. The Sneak wound up being a great warm up for the more challenging day on Sunday, which I’ll get into later. Keep reading…