March is one of my favorite months. The days get longer, the snow stays good and often is quite stable… it’s the time for long tours and big lines.
March
March opened up with a bang with a long tour beginning at Mt. Emmons, and then skiing Scarps and Peeler.
I was able to tick a few more lines off of my wish list, like the East Face of Gothic
and Teocalli.
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:
By now, virtually every backcountry skier in North America has heard the name Saddle Peak and seen the photos of the massive avalanche that roared down Bridger Bowl’s popular sidecountry. Photo from the GNFAC:
Thankfully, no one was hurt, although it was a close call as shown by these videos:
One thing I’ve spent some time pondering since this avalanche occurred is Bridger Bowl’s beacon policy. In order to ski Bridger’s ridge terrain or ride the two year old Schlasman’s lift, you need to have a beacon although you do not need any other gear such as a shovel. This terrain is controlled, as any slide would potentially bury skiers below the ridge, yet as you get on the lift or start the short hike up the ridge you must first pass a wand which will beep and give you the green light if you have a beacon turned on.
I purchased my first beacon in 1995 specifically for Bridger’s ridge terrain when I visited during spring break from the University of Colorado. This marked the beginning of my education regarding avalanches and avalanche safety. In this way, Bridger’s policy is a great thing. I suspect many other skiers have purchased their first beacon in much the same way, particularly students at nearby Montana State University, home of some world class skiers including the late great Doug Coombs.
In some ways it’s a great policy, but on the other hand I think there are some unintended consequences. To ski the ridge terrain, all you need is a beacon- no class, no shovel, no probe. You go up Schlasman’s with your new beacon, and it starts to feel a little less like a ski area, and a little more like backcountry, even though it is not backcountry- this is controlled terrain. Venture a little farther and you’ll leave the ski area with just a short hike- now you are in uncontrolled terrain, but it gets so much traffic it might not feel all that different from the ski area you just left behind. Continue on your way even farther from the ski area and you’ll be in true backcountry terrain that sees a lot less traffic. For an experienced backcountry skier, these subtle differences are meaningful, but for a MSU freshman chock full of ski skills but with little avalanche experience, most of it might seem about the same. That’s when someone will find themselves on Saddle Peak, a big consequential line with tracks all over it, and will drop in without being fully aware of the chances they are taking.
Bridger Bowl pass purchases can include a cheap beacon during checkout. To me, it seems like that package deal should also include a probe, shovel, maybe a backpack as well. More importantly, it should include an avalanche class, hopefully a cheap one subsidized by pass sales. Refresher courses should be available as well, since avalanche education is an ongoing process.
Let’s say BB sells 1,000 passes a season and adds $10 to each of them for “Avalanche Awareness”. So they’ve got $10,000 in a fund. 50 people who bought a pass would like to attend an Avie 1 class, since they are backcountry newcomers, and with their pass purchase they can do so for $100 instead of the regular $200 (I’m just making up numbers here for the example). BB picks up the slack and pays out the other $5,000 from the fund. Another 50 people want to take a refresher course for $50 instead of the regular $100, and BB picks up the $2,50 from the fund. Any excess $ can stay in the fund for subsequent years or get donated to the GNFAC (local avalanche center). This seems like a better way of educating people instead of “Here’s your pass and your beacon, good luck to you.”
The way things stand right now it’s more like someone giving a teenager a loaded gun and saying “Have fun”, rather than taking some time talking about gun safety. I don’t know, maybe I’m way off. Anyone want to weigh in on this?
If it’s time for a new beacon, the Tracker 2 might be a good option:
After some small storms accompanied by strong winds, conditions in the backcountry had somewhat taken a turn for the worse late last week. Still, Luke, Jeremy, Josh and myself were still hopeful that we could find some sheltered snow. We headed up the slate river and began a short bootpack up a ridge from the snowmobiles. Sure enough, the wind had created a slab that we triggered off the ridge, breaking right at our feet.
Since we were on a ridge, we weren’t in any immediate danger, although we quickly scrapped any plans of continuing any higher. We headed over to some South facing terrain and yet another small SE facing slab ripped out. In the first hour, we’d already triggered more slides than I’ve triggered in the last 10 years. Time to find another area, so we switched to lower East facing terrain, which was skiing pretty well. Luke:
Some of our tracks on this fun and playful terrain:
Luke catching some air:
The snow on this East face was starting to get wet, so we switched things up again and rode over to some North facing terrain. There were some nice options in the area for another day:
No skins were harmed during the making of this TR:
Luke dropping in:
Josh:
“Where’s Jeremy?” It’s like “Where’s Waldo?”, but different:
Jeremy:
Luke:
5 laps, probably about 9,000′ of vertical skied, not a bad way to spend the day. I could get used to this sled skiing thing…
In 1995, Christian Begin released his award winning movie, “Locomotion”. A ski movie with an actual storyline, Locomotion told the tale of Roger’s Pass and the terrible toll it took on the men who built it. In 1871 Canadian Prime Minister John Macdonald promised the people of British Columbia that a transcontinental railway would be built within 10 years, as an incentive for the people of B.C to join the new Canadian Union. Without a railway linking B.C to the rest of Canada, there was strong talk of B.C joining the U.S.A. Unfortunately for Americans who wish they could live in B.C, Roger’s Pass was discovered and the railway was built, though not without the loss of many lives due to avalanches that plagued the route. 58 men were killed in one avalanche alone, on March 4, 1910. Begin’s movie tells the history of this pass, and features the skiing that is now world famous at Roger’s Pass.
Today, Roger’s Pass is a huge destination for ski touring. Several areas of the pass are permanently closed for highway crews to study snowpit data and for avalanche blasting. Other areas need a permit at the Roger’s Pass Centre, and may be closed due to avalanche control work. We arrived at Roger’s Pass with a few inches of new snow, fog, falling snow, and high avalanche danger due to several buried surface hoar layers. Meanwhile, just prior to our arrival, daytime highs had been hitting the low 50′s even at the tops of the highest peaks in the area. Reports of avalanches on these buried layers were everywhere, with some slides occurring even on low angled slopes.
With that in mind we discussed our options with the friendly rangers at the Centre, and they eventually steered us to Loop Creek and the Bonney trees, which were less crusty due to their northern aspects, and popular enough that some of the snowpack weaknesses would be less of a concern than other areas.
Our views looked like this for much of the day:
It was a pity not to be able to see these huge mountains and their tremendous relief (ski descents of 5-6,000′ are common), but we continued up through the fog and occasionally saw some enticing terrain:
Gap jump, anyone?
We also passed some of the old railroad towers, since replaced with a tunnel. 90 degree pillow lines, oh yeah!
We reached treeline and that was the end of the road for us, as the visibility was no where near good enough to continue onward. The snow quality had improved greatly as we headed up, and we were now set to ski well over a foot of fluffy fresh snow. Brittany:
Frank:
We stumbled into this clearing, which was steep and filled with pillow after pillow after pillow, all around 5′ high. While the photo does it no justice, this 1000′ of skiing was my favorite of the whole trip.
While we had planned on skiing Roger’s Pass for at least a couple of days, the avalanche and weather conditions kind of forced our hand a little, and this would be the only day we skied Roger’s. Still, Roger’s Pass remains as one of the epicenters of North American skiing, and we were grateful to experience it, if only for a day. Next stop, the 2 year old resort of Revelstoke…
Other Montana-Canada Road Trip Blog Posts
Road Trip Update
Itinerary
Bridger Bowl
Whitefish
Fernie
Kicking Horse
Our deepest condolences go out to the friends and family of Kellen Sams, 26, of Manitou Springs, who died in an avalanche near Ridgeway on Thursday. Details of the incident can be found on the CAIC report, and from a post from Kellen’s father below.
Having been near that area recently, skiing at Red Mountain Pass, an avalanche in that area doesn’t surprise us given the shallow and hallow snowpack we found there. Still, no one ever wishes for someone else to get caught or harmed in an avalanche of any sort. We view this tragic even as horrible news and our hearts go out to everyone involved.
At the same time, we at 14erskiers also consider this a warning and a reminder. Skiing in the backcountry has it’s consequences, and it’s important for every backcountry skier safe travel techniques and choose appropriate lines as they pass through avalanche terrain. It’s unfortunate that the death of a fellow backcountry skier evokes these reminders. But, please, everyone, remember to be safe out there 
Last Thursday, Brittany and I got up early and headed down to Silverton to check out the conditions there. Many of the storms rolling through Colorado had hit the San Juans pretty hard and we hoped to find a deep snowpack that would put the local conditions to shame. That isn’t exactly what we found on day one, but we did manage to find some decent snow and a lot of peaks we’d like to come back to ski someday.
Starting off from Red Mountain Pass:
We wanted to head upvalley and do some exploring. Our backup plan, if we didn’t see anything else, was to ski these somewhat popular tree chutes:
These peaks at the head of the valley captivated us as we headed up the valley:
It was great to be skinning in a whole new area, exploring as we went along..
As in the Crested Butte area, evidence of slides from the last storm cycle were everywhere:
These slides, plus our unfamiliarity with the area or the snowpack, led us back towards the first chutes we had checked out earlier. Although there was a skintrack on the other side of this large knoll, our exploring had taken us to the other side and we had to make our own way up the backside, which was fine and we still popped out in the same place. Another group felt more comfortable with the conditions than we did, and centerpunched this fine looking line:
The skiing was good, but the warm temperatures of the previous days had dropped plenty of treebombs, making the skiing a little variable. (Treebombs result when huge pillows of snow drop off of tree branches and compress the snow where they fall.) Brittany:
Frank:
From there we headed down to town to visit our friend Bruce who had invited us to stay with him in Silverton. We went out to dinner and were treated with a Moroccan dinner complete with belly dancers. That certainly wasn’t expected in sleepy little Silverton, nor was the skiing equivalent of running into rockstars, since most of The North Face’s ski athletes were there as well, filming with Silverton’s Heliskiing operations. All in all it was a terrific first day in Silverton, stay tuned for our report from the next day…
It seems as though the winter of ’09-’10 will never start in much of the western U.S. It isn’t just Colorado, it’s thin in Utah and Jackson as well. And when it’s thin, it’s usually sketchy, too. We seem to be doing better in the Crested Butte area compared to other areas of Colorado, but right now the game remains to make the right calls before you ever leave the house. I’m leery of certain aspects right now, especially NE and N, even though that’s where the powder is. A windloading event a few days ago, combined with buried surface hoar from an earlier dry spell made those aspects a bit touchy. So, I’m switching gears to south faces, which seem to be nicely consolidated with all the warm weather we’ve been having.
One South face I had not yet skied is the South face of Schuykill. My friend Conan decided it sounded like a good route as well and we gave it a go. My snowmobile wasn’t quite ready, and in the end I had to get towed, and I forgot how tough that can be (or else I’m just getting old). We were able to use Pete + friends’ old skintrack to the summit through the awe-inspiring upper basin below the East face of Schuykill. We even got to do a little scrambling:
Scuykill’s East face, maybe another time when the snowpack is a lot deeper and less touchy:
Must. ski. Marble. area. peaks. soon.
The South face looked to be in and thin, as Conan checked it out:
This route was very fun, with lots of rolls and constrictions and even some small icefalls in the thin conditions…
Looking back up at the route:
We ended up in Democrat basin, one of my favorite places to be locally. Looking up at (L-R) Afley, Oh-Be Joyful, and Hancock.
We put the skins back on and made our way up towards the low point of the Schuykill ridge. It felt as if it were 90 degrees, amazingly hot for this time of year. Conan did a great job of breaking trail and we were once again looking at the East face:
The snow in the upper basin was really wind-affected, but thankfully the lowest pitches heading back towards Pittsburg went back to powder, albeit of the old, recycled variety. It was so shaded by then I didn’t take any photos, not that those low-angled pitches were very exciting anyway. South faces seemed to work out pretty well…
The Red Lady Glades, on the flanks of Mount Emmons outside of Crested Butte, are one of the steepest descents anywhere in the world. It has rarely been skied, and only by the most experienced and risky skiers. I’ve looked at this steep face ever since moving to Crested Butte, and finally decided yesterday was the day to risk everything for a rare descent. I brought Adam Buckwalter along, who at the age of 19 would surely be the youngest skier ever to complete this sketchy descent.
On the climb, I was able to carefully take this photo of a leaf with my point-n-shoot, thankful I didn’t have a SLR which would have been too awkward to take out on such steep terrain. I don’t think people realize the danger getting shots like this entail.
Higher up we discussed roping up while negotiating these gaping crevasses, but decided to risk it knowing how long the rest of the ascent would take.
The ascent was too perilous to take any more photos on the way up, and filled with dangerous moments too scary to discuss at this time, but we were able to reach the summit. Ruby/Owen/Purple:
Another group had completed the ascent as well, but were too scared of the glades and opted for turns in the bowl instead:
Prayer flags mark the summit and we hoped they would guide us safely on our upcoming descent.
Adam negotiates a turn halfway down the descent. On terrain this steep, the margin for error is exceedingly small and our adrenaline was maxing out.
I anchored myself to the near vertical wall with 5 ice screws and a couple of snow pickets to get this photo of Adam hanging it out on the edge:
We completed the descent without incident and have been inundated with calls and inquiries from the press about how we were able to survive. We’re still trying to wrap our heads around completing such a lofty goal ourselves, and words can’t describe all the feelings and emotions that go along with a successful expedition like this.
Meanwhile, on a serious note… We chose the Glades because they are very low angled and the current snowpack is unbelievably weak. I often stepped off the established skintrack to get a feel for the snow and would get huge settlements that would shake the snow off the trees 25 feet away. Nearly any steep face seemed to have slid during last week’s storm, hopefully scouring out the rotten snow beneath:
Our snowpack may still heal and give us a good season, but for now things are looking grim. Hopefully this weekend’s storm will be a good addition to the snowpack and will either rip more bad snow out or at least start bridging it over. If not, this may be a season of low-angle turns in the backcountry until springtime, and a lot of days at the ski area.
Colorado Powder Forecast is a new website that has been getting a lot of praise, but I thought I would heap on a little more. CO skiers know how fickle our storms can be, and this website seeks to make a little more sense of it all. Check out the “education” tab, for starters, to get up to speed. I’ve learned a lot over the years reading NOAA’s forecast discussion, but this site was a lot easier to understand. Perhaps the best part of the posts is the humor, though- the last couple of posts featured cheerleaders cheering on the oncoming storm, and a Dalmatian representing how spotty the storm was. Combined with NOAA, and the Avalanche center’s forecasts, CO skiers now have a lot of tools at their disposal for weather forecasting. The link is always available on the right sidebar of this blog.
Here in Crested Butte, our snowfall is very dependent on wind direction. Storms coming straight from the South tend to drop all their snow in the San Juans. SW flow can be good, but the more “W”, the better, as true SW flow can once again favor the San Juans. W flow is the best of all, as there are no big mountains to the West of Crested Butte that can steal all the snow. NW flow produces the infamous “Crested Butte Donut Hole”, a frustrating situation when all the mountains surrounding the resort get snow, while the resort sits in a rain shadow and gets very little. Still, the backcountry can get many feet of snow out of these systems, so it’s not the end of the world. Storms out of the N can drop some snow up at Schofield Pass, but usually these storms just make it cold. Other directions are rare and don’t drop any snow around Crested Butte. That’s it for the CB Snow Forecast. This weekend’s storm is currently on track as a Westerly Flow, so cross your fingers…
