Last week, a little bit of snow fell to “refresh” our current backcountry conditions. With Frank out of town, I headed out to Purple Palace with friends Sydney and Janae. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the near-foot of new snow that had fallen a couple of days prior.
Skinning.
Enjoying the views near the top.
Let’s face it. This early-part of winter has been less than desirable as far as conditions go. The skiing has been largely sub-standard for this time of year. We simply need more snow. Though Frank and I have certainly been skiing, what we’ve been skiing hasn’t been worthy of posting TR’s on this blog- especially when I have a few unfinished TR’s from last year. So, while we wait for the snowflakes to grace us, here’s a bit of stoke from last April.
Views of Wilson Peak (right) and neighboring Sunshine (left) from the road leading to Lizard Head Pass. The Peak of Mt. Wilson is peaking out in the background, between the two closer peaks.
Toward the end of May in 2010, I skied Mt. Wilson, making it my 52nd fourteener. However, I was not able to ski this peak from the summit. Wanting to keep the standards high for my fourteener-skiing project, I knew I would revisit Mount Wilson again. In April of 2011, I was still waiting for my last two fourteeners to come into condition. Matt said he was planning on heading to the San Juans to ski some of the fourteeners there. Plans were made to meet up for Mount Wilson. I asked my friend Kim to join us as well.
As the last glimpses of light were leaving the sky, I met Matt at the Lizard Head Creek trailhead. The trailhead was a seemingly barren wasteland of snow and drifts right next to the highway. Protective trees were far away and we found ourselves talking over the wind. Kim was set to arrive later that night. But, with a 4 am start planned, Matt and I went to sleep in our respective cars, as setting up a tent was not an option. With the sound of constantly passing traffic, sleep, if any, was very light. But, I was thankful when Kim’s headlight’s shined into my back seat.
A view from the trailhead, during the day. Photo courtesy of Matt Kamper
I was awake before my alarm went off, not even really sure if I had slept or not. With freezing fingers, I put my contact lenses in my eyes and tried to down a blueberry muffin and Java Monster. But, the early-morning nausea got to me before I could even finish my breakfast.
I knocked on Kim’s Subaru window and she stirred. As she opened her door, she blurted out, “I’m not going.” “What? You’re crazy. You’re going. You came all the way here. You’re going.” Though the weather undeniably looked less than desirable, I wasn’t going to let her bail.
Matt, Kim, and I set out in the dark but it wasn’t long before the first light glowed above the horizon.
Photo courtesy of Matt Kamper
With a little bit of fresh snow, we decided to check out the status of the backcountry. The Anthracites are still easily reachable as it is possible to drive a car far up the Kebler Pass road. However, I suspect this will change the next storm or two. The snow was still quite thin in the Anthracites, with a punchy layer beneath the few inches of fresh, making from some interesting and inconsistent turns. Nevertheless, the pics are worth sharing:)
View of Ruby, Owen, and Purple from the top.
Frank.
Me.
From Mouse House Ridge, Zach and I spotted an aesthetic line on 12,632′ Crystal Peak, just a little to our West. We made plans to check out the area on the following day, and it turned out to be a great tour, my favorite thus far in ’11-’12. From the summit, we had some of the most impressive views of any Elk range peak I’ve been on, and I’ve been on a few.
Heading towards the saddle between Treasury and Crystal:
Climbing Crystal from the saddle was a lot of fun despite some wind and even had a nice short scrambling section:
When the pickings are slim, the slim start picking new lines. Or something like that. Typical thin early season conditions, combined with a lot of wind, have made for some rough conditions, both for skiing and avalanche stability, all over Colorado. The few sheltered areas that are easily accessible and have enough snow to ski are getting skied with regularity, further limiting the options. So, rather than follow the herd, Zach, Adrienne, Scott and I ended up picking a zone that looked safe and different from the norm. It ended up being a great tour, despite the variable conditions.
Treasury:
The gang with Capitol and Snowmass in the background:
The Mouse House, as it is sometimes called:
Zach got a great shot of me dropping in:
While visiting family on the Front Range, we were invited to make a few early morning turns up at Butler Gulch before the big Turkey Day festivities. We were thankful to get the chance to ski with friends and surprisingly found some decent snow despite the fairly dry weather.
This season seems to be the one when critical mass has been achieved with the use of airbag backpacks here in North America. No longer a strange curiosity occasionally seen on a backcountry skier returning from Europe, backcountry users are now embracing the technology in increasing numbers as prices and availability have gone up. Before we get to our review of the BCA Float 36, let’s hear the case for airbags.
Most of the airbag research thus far has been conducted in Europe, where big open alpine faces provide a perfect place for airbag deployment. Here in North America, where backcountry skiing often takes place in treed areas, the results of airbag use will surely be different than in Europe. Still, the statistics from Europe are quite convincing. Between 1990 and 2007, of 151 skiers wearing an airbag (specifically ABS), only 3 people were completely buried without part of the airbag still showing. There were only 2 fatalities. Those numbers would be far worse without the airbags. Check this LINK.
Even if you ARE buried with an airbag pack, two things are likely to help your survival. First, some part of your airbag is probably above the surface, even if you aren’t, so your partners won’t even need to search for you with their beacons- they will simply ski straight to you, saving you a couple minutes or more of search time. Second, you probably aren’t buried as deeply as you would have been without the airbag, greatly reducing your burial time. Even an experienced group may have trouble finding and digging out a deeply buried victim in less than 15 minutes, given how long it takes to dig through concrete-like avalanche debris.
Trauma will remain a big concern for avalanche victims, and it is unclear if airbags will help with that aspect at all. Still, one has to think that a big poofy airbag, situated by your head and neck, will at least help a little. Also, since it tends to keep victims above the moving debris rather than sucked down in it, trauma will likely be minimized.
However, even with an airbag pack, the best thing to do remains not to get in an avalanche. Anyone who has had a uncomfortably close look at a big avalanche knows that serious injuries are a real threat with or without airbags. For those of us who ski in the backcountry on a regular basis, the odds say that you’ll eventually make a mistake and be involved in an avalanche. So, the choices are not to ski, only ski on slopes less than 25 degrees, or try to make good decisions and try to stack the odds in your favor.
Therefore, Brittany and I will both be skiing with BCA Float 36 backpacks this season. At $785 MSRP, they’re not cheap (although they are cheaper than most airbag packs, many of which are over $1,000). And at a reported 7.7 pounds, they’re certainly not light either (a typical non-airbag pack of the same size is probably around 2.5lbs). After a half dozen ski trips with our new packs so far, here’s our take on the Float 36.
Float 36 Review:
First off, it is heavy. You won’t pick it up without noticing that. Thankfully, however, the engineers at BCA have done a terrific job of designing the pack in a way that makes the weight less noticeable. After all, 20lbs in a cheap school backpack won’t carry as well as 20lbs in a nice ski pack. The “guts” of the pack are tight against the back, where the weight isn’t as noticeable once the pack is on.
The main compartment is huge and can be opened nearly completely, making it easier to dry out at home or stuff a big jacket in there. Meanwhile, there is a pocket for the shovel blade (My BCA Companion shovel is the biggest you’ll get in there), and side pockets for the handle and probe. Water bladders can go behind the shovel blade where my hand is:
Hose routing for water bladders is a bit of an issue, so Brittany was forced to make a small cut to allow the hose routing from the main compartment to the shoulder strap access point (I don’t use bladders, so a non-issue for me). One more inside pocket, which I’ve been using for snacks:
The main compartment can also be accessed by a small access panel in the back of the pack, making it user-friendly for things I grab often, like water.
Fleece lined goggle pocket on top of the pack:
Kim Ross is undeniably one of Colorado’s best female skiers. Balancing her skiing with her graduate degree has been quite an act, but Kim still manages to be the envy of most of us with full-time jobs. Even more inspiring is Kim’s streak – 144 consecutive months of skiing. This summer, I marveled after my first “endless winter” in a few years. But, that pales in comparison to Kim, who has now had 12 of those, and hopefully many more to come! On November 5th, I had the opportunity of celebrating with Kim on her 12-yr skiing anniversary, riding lifts at Loveland ski area. While asking a few probing questions, I realized Kim had fantastic stories to share. So, here’s Kim’s story, in her own words.
Kim making her way up on the lift for her 144th month of skiing. All photos by 14erskiers unless otherwise noted.
1) So, you started this streak in December 12 years ago. Do you remember that first December ski day? Tell us about it.
I was living and skiing in Bozeman, Montana in 1999 when the streak started. It was the end of fall semester and I was absolutely swamped; I knew I couldn’t ski until after finals. I worked at Bridger Bowl at the time, but they rarely opened before mid-December. Back then I didn’t have the monthly thing going, and early season that year wasn’t particularly snowy. However, our neighbors to the south were spinning lifts and about to get hammered by a big storm. So, on the day of our last final, a friend and I packed the car and headed to Grand Targhee. That week I skied the deepest powder I ever had up until then in the area known as Mary’s Nipple, just outside Targhee’s boundary.
Both Kim and I hiking out after a fantastic day skiing Atlantic Peak, July 2011
2) When did you decide that you wanted to start skiing year round?
The streak actually started with an “endless winter”, as we called it. My best friend and I had schemed a plan to depart for the Southern Hemisphere in June of that first year. Our trip to New Zealand was conveniently disguised as a “study abroad” program, but skiing was the top priority. We lived on the South Island for 6 months, outside of Christchurch (where we “attended” classes) so we could be closer to the ski fields of Arthur’s Pass. After the semester ended, we traveled to the North Island to climb and ski the active volcano Mount Ruapehu. We looped up through the tropical paradise of the Bay of Plenty before returning to the South Island, where we headed for the 12,000-foot peaks around Mount Cook and the Fox Glacier. When we returned home to Montana around Thanksgiving, we had skied every month of the year and began our third winter in a row just as the Northern Hemisphere ski season began.
Kim drops in to the Wine Bottle Couloirs on Treasury, outside of Crested Butte, 4th of July 2010
3) When you first started skiing year-round, did you envision yourself still doing it 12 years later?
I certainly didn’t imagine I would keep the streak going for 12 years. After the “endless winter”, the streak stood at 18 months or so. June and July are pretty easy months to make turns in Montana, but August and September presented a problem. So, each summer my partner and I planned late summer trips to find at least 2 days of summer skiing. Sometimes it was as easy as driving to Mount Hood in Oregon, and skiing the lift-served Palmer Glacier for back-to-back days on August 31st and September 1st. Other times, it was more ambitious (and expensive), like when we traveled to Smithers, B.C., or Las Leñas and Bariloche, Argentina. When I moved here, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able continue, but it turns out I’ve been able to ski year-round in Colorado for 6 straight years now.
Arggh, another year older. Thankfully I got to ring in another year with some good friends and some good skiing. I was joined by Brittany, Mike, Adrienne, and Zach and we found conditions which weren’t quite as deep as the day before, but still pretty decent by November standards. Despite some Southwest winds which sent temps spiking and my skins glopping, we had a great time:
Frank:
Mike:
Adrienne:
Brittany:
We woke up to a light dusting of snow. But, those who live here in Crested Butte know that a “light dusting” can mean several inches of fresh for those venturing in the backcountry. Today’s storm did not disappoint, as Frank and I headed out stormchasing with Mike, Adam, and Susan. In certain zones, we found a foot of nice fresh fluffy white snow.
Digging a snowpit.
The boys, ready and eager 
Frank.
