Spider Face Attempt 5.23.10

The Spider Face, photo taken on 5.9.09:

Pete Sowar has a photo of this face in his house, and it’s been on my list ever since. Pete and John Jasper were able to ski it after a number of attempts just a couple of weeks ago, so Brittany and I thought we’d give it a shot as well. We knew there was some ice on the route, but we were told it wasn’t too bad and we wouldn’t need a rope.

We headed up to the base of the route and quickly booted up to the first ice pitch. Brittany:

Frank:

We then climbed a short snowfield to get to the bottom of the 2nd ice pitch, which was quite a bit steeper than the first, as well as a bit longer:

We both felt confident enough to ascend it, but what worried us was that we would have to downclimb it as well. As those of you who have done much climbing know, downclimbing is quite a bit harder than ascending, so we had some real concerns. After some discussion, we decided that neither of us were in the mood to get quite that rowdy, so we climbed back down below the first ice pitch and skied from there. Another shot of the line, the ice is somewhat visible:

We had a nice view of El Nacho, which Jarrett and Brittany had skied a couple of days before.

We decided to salvage a few more turns by climbing up to the morraines in what we’ve started calling “mini-Queen” basin. We found some good corn. Brittany:

Frank:

That was about it, other than some technical ski stream crossings:

• About
• Latest Posts

Frank Konsella

Frank loves snow more than anything... except his wife.  He ensures his food is digested properly by chewing it 32 times before swallowing.He is a full-time real estate agent serving Crested Butte and Gunnison and would be honored to send you his monthly newsletter.

Latest posts by Frank Konsella (see all)

• Bluebird Backcountry Ski Area - February 14, 2020
• Gear Review: Smith 4D MAG Goggles - January 6, 2020
• Gear Review: LEKI Tour Stick Vario Carbon Ski Poles - December 9, 2019