On the last full day of winter Rick, Zach, and I decided to take advantage of the sunny weather forecast and go for a summit in the northern-Gore. We settled on “Northwest Corner” peak (12,663 ft), one of the highpoints along the serrated ridge extending from “East Corner” up to Meridian Peak on the north side of the Piney River Valley. Keep reading…
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…
For a few years now the Ripsaw Ridge has been high on my list of must-do routes in the Gores. This iconic ridge run collects the ranked summits of C and G, in addition to several unranked sub-peaks between them. But even more important than all of that, the Ripsaw is “one hell of a ridge run” smack dab in the middle of one of my favorite areas in the state. With a fresh coat of snow falling in the Elk Range over the weekend, Rick, Steve, and I diverted our original plans for the day to a range we knew would be dry (thanks to our Gore guru friend, Mr. Chalk). Once we made this shift, it took all of two seconds to land on the Ripsaw as our new plan. Keep reading…
The CC Rider on Peak C in the Gores had been in the back of Ben’s and my mind for a couple years now, obvious setback being the access. Earlier in the week we decided to send our old friend Elliot a quick text to see what his plans were. Oddly enough, he and his buddy “MVP” (Brian) had 2 sleds and were headed for C. Its not everyday where all you have to do is show up to a TH with 2 sleds at your disposal, so the decision was pretty simple. Read more…