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…
Is it ski season yet? Although for some the answer to this question may be “yes”, what realistically awaits the Colorado skier at this stage of the game is either rocks and core shots in the BC, or low-angle, man-made ice ribbons at the resort. As much as I wanted to try to ski somewhere on Saturday I just couldn’t quite bring myself to do it. Last year I was the first one on the lift at A Basin (on October 10th I believe it was), and I remember getting a few marginal turns and then having to wait a legitimate five weeks before finding anything worthwhile. Keep reading…
Rocky Mountain National Park is a region of contrasts. Its boundary is home to many ridge runs, including, but not limited to, the Mummy Mania, Cloud Traverse in the Never Summers, the frighteningly loose Mahler to Nokhu Crags, a 12er fest along the Continental Divide from Ida to Terrah Tomah, Elk Tooth to Ogallala and the Grand Slam around the Longs Massif. Each of these have their own unique characteristic and they all make life feasible for those insatiable peak baggers who find solace on narrow knife edges, deep in the heart of the range. Keep reading…
The Wham Ridge on Vestal was always the prize of this trip, and Arrow was undoubtedly priority number two. Having no idea how smoothly these two peaks would go for us, we made sure to keep our expectations in check regarding the Trinity Traverse. Well as fortune would have it, an unexpected turn in the weather allowed us to get Vestal and Arrow on the first day, leaving us free to go after some day two extra credit on the Trinity Peaks. It’s always nice when things go according to plan on a relatively committing trip like this one. Continue reading…