It’s no secret this season has been less than stellar for the Colorado snow enthusiast. Many have decided to hang up their boards in pursuit of other hobbies, as the thin snowpack continues to dwindle in the face of relentless sun and heat. Though good skiing has indeed been difficult to find this year, there is still some to be found if one searches in the right place. Keep reading…
Rick, Brian, and I set out in an attempt to ski the South Couloir on Clinton, also known as Monica’s Descent or “The Lewinski Slot”. After taking a look at the chute from above we realized what we were really searching for was decent snow, something that seems to be in short supply these days. An early start from Montgomery Reservoir had us to the base of Clinton’s East Face in less than two hours. From there it was a mellow snow climb to Clinton’s summit ridge, with some short sections of talus booting. Keep Reading…
The thought of skiing a high peak has been nothing more than a distant memory to me for the past few months as our snowpack has gone from being nonexistent in November/December to thin and unstable in January/February. With late winter bringing a decent dose of snow and some warm temps to go with it, Brian and I finally decided to come out of our shells and give an east facing, low-angle line a crack. 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…