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:
Jarrett Luttrell, Capitol Peak:
Brittany and I first met Jarrett Luttrell on a trip to Chicago Basin, when we successfully skied and boarded Sunlight, Windom, and Eolus. Jordan and Brittany quickly headed back to the Front Range after we departed the train, while Jarrett and I headed to a Mexican joint to get some food and a well-deserved margarita. With only Harvard left before my fourteener quest would be complete, I suppose I was already contemplating what it would mean for me once that goal was complete. Naturally, our conversation turned towards Jarrett’s goal to snowboard all the fourteeners, and what that would mean to him.
What struck me most about that conversation was Jarrett’s genuine desire not just to be the first to ride the fourteeners, but to also “do it right”. “Doing it right” meant a lot of things for Jarrett, but certainly included sticking to the same standards as the skiers. I think he even said something to the effect of “I hope whoever snowboards them all first doesn’t cut any corners, and make snowboarders look bad.” Don’t worry Jarrett, your accomplishment stands tall, snowboarders and Crested Buttians are all proud of you. Congrats!
The following are some questions 14erskiers asked Jarrett after his final descent, Long’s Peak, on 5-16-10.
With this weekend’s opening of Gothic Road heading towards Schofield Pass outside Crested Butte, local ski mountaineers have a number of new options available. Or, to be more specific, they have more options that don’t involve an overnight pack or a huge day. With that in mind, Tom Runcie and I headed out towards one of Whiterock Mountain’s subpeaks with a couple different lines in mind. The first line we wanted to ski was the White Widow, a line I skied several years ago but hadn’t been back to:
Big news today: Capitol Peak was once again skied via the Secret Chute. The skiers this time included Jordan White (2nd time), Brittany Walker (Likely the second woman to do so), Jarrett Luttrell (likely the 1st snowboarder), and Matt Kamper. In all likelihood, this marks just the 6th time Capitol has been successfully skied from the summit.
This takes Brittany to 50/54 skied, with Pyramid, Mount Wilson, El Diente, and Pike’s left to ski. Jarrett is now down to only Long’s Peak left on his list, with a great chance of becoming the first snowboarder to ride the 14ers this season.
Congrats to all!!
The last day of April ended with a bang, and the first day of May came in just as strong, with more snow and winter-like weather. Brittany and I were joined by usual suspects Rob Dickinson and Tom Runcie, plus Ron Pankey and Eric Freson. We considered a number of different areas, but in the end decided to check out a zone that Eric and Ron knew. While it isn’t the world’s most secretive zone, I tend to keep areas that people show me secret, therefore I’ll refer to this zone as “La Zona Rosa”, after the hip Mexico City neighborhood. It’s just fun to say “Zona Rosa”.
It was a bit difficult to get there at this time of year, and required some interesting snowmobiling (Eric):
There was a lot of enticing terrain to drool over and perhaps get to on another trip…
Lap 1, Tom:
Brittany:
Frank:
Ron:
With a tremendous looking “quarter slot” couloir above us, Eric, Rob, Tom, and I decided to head that way for our second run, while Ron and Brittany decided to take another quick lap. Looking down the slot:
I dropped in first, with slough chasing me down (photo Tom Runcie:)
Brittany got these shots of me exiting:
Rob (photos Tom):
Tom:
La Zona Rosa, muy bien, si?:
Ben Furimsky and I headed out with plans of skiing Mt. Owen today, but after getting a good look at the face we decided to change plans and head elsewhere. Owen had a huge cornice blocking access to much of the face, plus some debris and wind affected snow, so we went over some other options. We both ski Axtel a lot, and we both wanted to ski something different, but Axtel looked like it was in perfect shape and Ben had put a snowmobile track all the way to the summit the day before. With the track in, we knew we could get a couple of laps in no time at all. I usually find snowmobile laps to be more trouble than they’re worth, but this one was just too easy.
Maroon looking super caked:
Ben:
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It’s been a crazy spring in Colorado, with snow, snow and more snow that just keeps falling. While this hampers attempts at skiing the big lines that we look forward to all year long, late season powder makes things sting less… a lot less, in fact. Rob and I headed out on Friday to see just how deep it piled up, and ran into Jeremy, Susan, and Spencer, so we joined forces and decided a mission out to the playground was in order. Normally, skiing the South slopes of the Anthracites is a necessary evil to get to the playground, except apparently in April when the snow is piled deep. Susan:
This spoof on big mountain filming was pretty funny, in my opinion, so check it out if you’ve got 10 minutes…
Well, the Forest Service (FS) released their Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Gunnison Basin yesterday, and as far as I can tell, it doesn’t look like mountain biking took the huge hit it could have. Roughly a year ago, I made a blog post regarding the FS’ desire to close a few of my favorite local trails to mountain bikes. Currently, it looks like the main casualty will be 413, a tremendous trail that very few people know about. I’m sure it won’t be closed immediately, so once the snow melts, I suggest riding it a few times while you still can. On the other hand, Green Lake and Eccher Gulch appear to be safe for now, which I’m really thankful for.
The FEIS can be found here, and the map, which may be the quickest way to see what is going on, can be found here. 30 more days of comments are now allowed, and then the FS will finalize their plan and then implement their plan. A huge Thank-You to anyone who wrote the FS a letter last year, I’d like to think we made a difference on this one.
Ant Peak is part of the string of mountains stretching from Mount Justice to Purple Mountain known by Marble skiers as “Little Alaska”. Other peaks in the range include “The Nipple”, at 12,789′ and “The Blob” at 12,781′. These peaks are most commonly skied from Marble, although their South faces are very prominent from many Crested Butte area summits and offer up 3,000′ descents into the Dark Canyon. There is a short window every spring, however, when these peaks can be reached via snowmobile access. Barring another big snowstorm at lower elevations, this was probably my last trip up Slate River, which is badly melted out with a lot of long dirt sections.
Last year at almost the same time of year, travel up the valley was quite simple- but this year that wasn’t the case at all, and John Jasper and I even took the time to build a short road to make sure our sleds didn’t get dumped into the river.
At Yule Pass, the Raggeds Wilderness starts, so we parked the sleds there, and headed down Yule Creek. JJ, Chair Mountain behind:
The North Face of Ant has been on my list for a long time, as it offers up over 2,000′ of steep skiing right off the summit of a highly aesthetic peak. This is what we were heading for:
But, it will feel good for you,...
