Category: Crested Butte

Scenics and Snowmo’s 2.15.12

Posted by Frank – February 16, 2012

Yesterday, I pulled some double duty with a tour up the Red Lady Glades followed by some uber-deep snowmobiling up Kebler Pass in the afternoon. With 20-40″ of new snow in the past few days in the Crested butte backcountry, the Red Lady Glades seemed like a good, safe choice since the angle can be kept below 30 degrees or so the whole way down. It’s far from my favorite run in the area, and I felt quite a bit of jealousy for those who chose to ski steeper backcountry runs on the same day. No doubt about it, I’ve been feeling like a giant wuss this season- but unfortunately the CO snowpack seems to be giving daily reminders that playing it conservative is a good strategy this season.

I didn’t even bother taking any photos on the descent- but it was a beautiful day to gaze upon Crested Butte:

Thankfully, snowmobiling flat meadows is a whole lot more fun than skiing them, so we headed out, got stuck a bunch, and had an absolute blast doing it. It was deep:

Just a beautiful afternoon in CO:

We know it sounds like a broken record, but stay safe out there friends.

More From the Crested Butte Backcountry 2.11.12

Posted by Frank – February 13, 2012

After a good day in the backcountry last week, I headed back to the same zone with Tom Runcie last Friday, and again on Saturday with Sydney Dickinson and Brittany. Without a doubt, conditions were as good as they’ve been this season, although avalanche concerns remain very high, as they will throughout this season. We had about a foot of fresh today in Crested Butte, and double that in the backcountry, so I doubt I’ll be visiting the backcountry again before setting off to Alaska on Saturday. Our thoughts go out to the friends and family of Colorado’s fifth avalanche fatality of the season, today outside of Telluride. Stay safe everyone!

It was a gorgeous day on Friday:

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Tiptoeing Back Into the Backcountry 2.8.12

Posted by Frank – February 9, 2012

As almost everyone in places like Colorado and Utah knows this season, it just isn’t the year to get after it in the backcountry. With all the stories of tiny but deadly avalanches and giant slides that were triggered from hundreds of feet away, I simply made the decision to stop skiing in the backcountry for most of the past month. It simply isn’t fun for me to ski low angled pitches and still find it somewhat terrifying thanks to some of the worst avalanche conditions in decades. But after hearing less and less reports of slides in the backcountry and more and more reports of decent skiing, it was finally time to go for a walk and check things out. Things are certainly better, but it’s still hard to imagine skiing any big features until late spring– and even that might not happen this snow-starved year. On to some photos…

Can’t believe they still have these:

Weekend Powder Stoke (21 & 22 Jan 2012)

Posted by Brittany – January 22, 2012

The town was buzzing on Friday, knowing that the first significant snowfall for months was quickly approaching. NOAA forecasted the storm would hit at 11 am on Saturday morning. Flakes began to fall from the sky at 10:30 that morning, and we were elated. We let the snow accumulate while we worked on a few projects in our apartment. But, when we looked glanced out the window at 11:30, we realized it had already snowed a couple of inches. It was time to grab the skis and go!

It dumped all afternoon, yet the lines were like this.
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The snow continued to fall all day long. When I took a quick break, I came out and my skis had been quickly buried.
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The skiing got better and better throughout the day. And during our last two runs, we decided to grab a few quick shots.

Frank sporting his tele-steeze.
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TR: Blue skies and and warm highs

Posted by Brittany – January 20, 2012

A week ago we were in the middle of a high pressure following a snow storm that dumped the first significant amount of snow we’d seen in over a month. Unfortunately, that same snow storm left us with wind that scoured our peaks. I headed out with my friends Mike, Rachel, and Grete, sticking to terrain below treeline, hoping to find decent snow in the sheltered trees.

As we skinned up, the windscouring was evident everywhere. And even though temperatures were forecasted in 20′s, it felt much warmer, as we all stripped down to our thermal layers.
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Mike dropped in first.
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Though the snow was certainly wind-affected, we did find some good turns. However, our turns were most abruptly interrupted when we hit old frozen tracks beneath the new snow.

Grete.
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Rachel.
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Mike.
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Though I enjoy blue skies, it’s certainly good to have the white clouds this week. With snow falling every day since Saturday, this season is finally starting to turn :)

State of the Snowpack 1-19-12

Posted by Frank – January 20, 2012

Things are bad in Colorado, Utah, and many other areas of the Western US right now. Everyone knows it. The snowpack right now comes right from an evil mad scientist’s worst dreams- almost exclusively rotten facets and dense windslabs. So it goes without saying that we’re toning it down here at 14erskiers, and hopefully everyone else will do likewise. The snowpack hasn’t looked like this in about 10 years- 2001/02 was a rough one, but I was luckily spending that winter in Whistler/Pemberton, enjoying a banner year there. We’ve enjoyed a string of relatively excellent years in Crested Butte, and we’ve been able to enjoy some fairly aggressive skiing in the backcountry as a result. In all likelihood, the backcountry this season has no chance of a full recovery- it will be dicey, possibly even in the spring.

The rime (or was it rain?) layer in the Anthracites yesterday:
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Skiing 7th bowl through the rime crust was interesting- Zach’s skis made the most fascinating sound skiing through it, and at first I thought it was his carbon DPS skis. But no, it was just a weird snowpack.
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So, we’ll be spending more time than usual at the resort. Heck, I’ve been spending most of my time on my tele gear. The bummer in this case is that the resort needs a ton more snow to get the steep stuff open, and once we do get snow all the steep terrain will likely slide right back down to the ground. There hasn’t even been enough snow this season for the bootpackers to stomp the sugar down in much terrain other than the Headwall and Teocalli bowl. So we’ll need some really big and prolonged storm systems to get much of the steeps open, and even then it’s doubtful that all of our terrain will open this season (i.e. 3rd bowl and the frontside and possibly even Phoenix/Spellbound).

Yes, I realize I’m being pessimistic, but the reality is that it is late January and Crested Butte Mountain Resort has recorded 40-some inches for the whole year. So we’re finalizing plans to get the heck out of here. Girdwood Alaska looks like our first stop in late February. I hope to find myself in BC at some point in March. April will hopefully find us in the Tetons and/or the Wind Rivers, and if all goes well, we’ll finish out the season on Rainier and other peaks in the Cascades. Suddenly, I’m looking forward to this winter again.

Whoa, New Snow!? 1.8.12

Posted by Frank – January 11, 2012

It snowed last weekend for the first time in a long, long time. Sure, it was only about 8″, but it felt more like 8′ considering the way we’ve been deprived of snowfall this season in the Crested Butte area. Brittany and I headed out to the Kebler Pass area, where amazingly people are still driving, to check things out. Beautiful light on a beautiful day:
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Brittany shredding it up:
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Given the state of this year’s snowpack, it didn’t take much new snow to increase the avalanche danger. You can see a small slab that broke loose, but didn’t move, in this photo:
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It will take a lot for avalanche conditions to improve this year in Colorado and Utah, so keep it mellow in the backcountry this year, ski the resorts, and travel to places with a better snowpack. Do a little snow dance- it sounds like we might have a better chance at snow in the near future.

Making the Best of No Snow: Hartman’s Rocks 1.5.12

Posted by Frank – January 10, 2012

Last week, the phrase “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” translated into “When life gives you bare ground in the middle of winter, make tire tracks.” This was doubly true last week when temps in Gunnison Colorado, which usually struggle to reach single digits in January, were in the upper 40′s last week. I’d rather ski, but with ski conditions this bad, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ride my bike in shorts, in one of the coldest places in the lower 48. It’s kind of like Bodie’s 50 year storm in “Point Break”, but it’s a 50 year winter of the kind skiers don’t even want to think about.

The parking lot was busy, filled with like-minded mountain bikers, trail runners, and dirtbikers. If someone told me it was October, it wouldn’t be hard to believe. Conditions were incredible- every trail is rideable and the short sections of snow have been ridden enough that they’re barely noticeable. If this winter stays like this, I’ll be back. Here’s a short video, with a few photos mixed in as well:

Biking was fun and everything, but I’ll still be thinking snow:

What we’ve got

Posted by Brittany – January 8, 2012

We’ve been waiting for this. We’ve been waiting for far too long. On Saturday morning, we were awakened by the sound of a snow plow. The building shook as the mighty machine scraped the two inches of snow off the parking lot pavement and dumped it on top of our tiny snow banks. It’s been a bad snow year so far. There’s no debate about it. And while last year two inches of fresh felt like dust on crust, this year’s dry spell has made two inches feel more like two feet. It was declared a powder day.

We grabbed our skis and headed to the ski area. Yelps and smiles and shouts of elation were everywhere. Two inches became three inches and three inches became five as snow continued to fall throughout the day. I felt my edges carving through the newly fallen snow as if they were razor sharp, something I rarely feel on the man-made frozen congealed slop.

We made our way to the East River lift. “Scrape, scrape, brush, brush,” was the sound our skis made as we glazed over rock after rock and blasted through the small trees and bushes. The coverage was thin, but it was natural snow- natural snow with fresh snow on top of it. And that made it fantastic.

Last year we were spoiled. We would have either laughed or cried at the desperation we find ourselves in today, where skiing a black diamond bump run laden with rocks and bushes has been the highlight of our lift-served experience, where two inches of fresh is declared a pow-day. But, no skier on the mountain yesterday could deny that it wasn’t a good day. Because it WAS a good day!

Sometimes the best days are the ones that remind you what you’ve got :)

New Year on Richmond 1.1.12

Posted by Frank – January 5, 2012

It’s been a long time since I posted anything, mostly because I haven’t been in the mountains much the past month or so. Since the skiing wasn’t very good in December, I took a small job in Denver, and followed that up with family Christmas visits. Surely the skiing would be better by the time I got back around New Year’s, I thought. Sadly, the skiing went from bad to worse as December wore on. Crested Butte, like much of the West from Utah to California, is in the midst of an extremely dry winter. Certainly the worst I’ve seen here since my arrival in 1996. Don’t be surprised when I do a bike trip report- sadly the biking is excellent right now.

In any case, Brittany and I will keep trying our best to keep the faith and have fun with what little snow we have. So rather than party hard on New Year’s eve, we stayed in and were joined by our friends Ben and Jonathan on a tour up Richmond. In addition to the lack of snow, we’ve also had a steady diet of strong winds, so rather than attempt to seek out powder, we were actually hoping for smooth wind buffed snow. We found some, as well as punchy crusts and scree-covered snow. The conditions weren’t all that surprising, but what may have been surprising was how much fun we still had despite it all. On with some photos…

Skinning:
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