This winter in (most) of the Western USA got you down? Here’s a couple of solutions.
First, pick up a pair of these skis. AT $199, plus a free ski bag, plus free shipping, plus no tax in most states, how can you not?
Then, basking in the glow of your purchase, check out “The Ordianary Skier”. I really enjoyed watching Seth Morrison getting his ski mountaineer on in Chamonix. Great Flick- free right now on hulu. Enjoy:
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:
I’ve been antsy since April 1st. Pyramid Peak was the road block in my five year goal of skiing all of Colorado’s fourteeners. One of the most intimidating of the fourteeners, it is the only one I’ve had to attempt more than twice, and I was hoping that the third time was the charm. But April never brought the window I was looking for. Winter simply wouldn’t leave. Pow day was followed after pow day. Spring wasn’t ready to arrive and I was left wondering if the window would shut before it ever opened. I kept a constant eye on the weather, and repeatedly watched high pressure after high pressure forecasted in the long term crumble into a winter storm warning. I’ll admit it, I was stressed, and even grumpy at times. The pressure of getting my last two fourteeners done was weighing on me.
Photo courtesy of Caleb Wray
So, when the weather window looked like it was going to open, I called Jordan White- our faithful Aspen-valley friend. He provided me with the necessary beta regarding the Maroon Lake road as well as his opinion on the local snowpack. We rounded up a crew- Matt Kamper, Caleb Wray, and Frank – an excellent mix of strong climbers and strong skiers. And my thoughts were consumed for days about skiing this peak. Am I ready? Because of repeated storm systems, I’ve had so few ski mountaineering days this year…. I can count the times I’ve boot packed this season on one hand and my crampons have been used exactly twice.
On Tuesday, we decided Thursday would be the day. And of course, my mind would not stop racing. I woke up at 3 am on Tuesday night in a cold sweat and was unable to sleep the rest of the night, much to my disappointment. I knew I needed the sleep- I did not want to repeat my first Pyramid attempt where I was forced to turn around because I was falling asleep while climbing. That’s why I nearly cried when Frank and I packed up the car at 6 pm on Wednesday, knowing it would take over four hours to get to Aspen and we had a 1:00 wake up time. Do the math for that one and you’ll find that there are less than 3 hours of time built in for “sleep”. But, who can really sleep the night before a line like this. “I don’t know if I can do this on three hours of sleep in two nights,” I said to Frank. “But, you have to.” “Okay.” I knew he was right.
Of course, everything took longer than it should have and we didn’t even make it to Aspen. We pulled over somewhere on the road west of Carbondale and “slept” for a couple of hours there before waking up at a time that most people call night, but we were calling it morning. We met up with Jordan, Caleb, and Matt at Aspen Highlands and made our way to the trailhead.
Snowmobiling on a road in the dark is one thing. But, snowmobiling for a mile and a half on pavement with plowed banks beside you is not only frustrating, but silly. Overheating was an issue and we were thankful when we reached unplowed road.
We left our snowmobiles a little bit before 4 am at Maroon Lake and made our way toward the couloir that led to the northern amphitheater on Pyramid. The skies were clear and it was cold. “You’re moving fast,” Jordan commented. “Well yeah, we gotta DO this thing!” I knew today was going to be the day. Three hours of sleep for the last two nights didn’t matter anymore. I’d found some strength deep inside that I didn’t know I had, and it was carrying me through this. It was my dream to ski this and I was living it. I was dreaming and living at the same time.
First light hit on our way up the couloir, as we were transitioning from skinning to boot packing.
Booting was frustrating up the northern couloir. The snow pack had not yet transitioned to spring. It was still winter there. The first sunlight that pierced the north face of Pyramid was alarming.
Photo courtesy of Jordan White
And we cruised through the amphitheater. We found better snow on the northwest face and made good time gaining the northeast ridge.
Photo courtesy of Jordan White
Frank and I reaching the saddle of the north east ridge.
Photo courtesy of Jordan White
The saddle offers the first view of the Landry line itself. Last year, I stood on this saddle in mid-May but was forced to turn around due to uncooperative weather. I was hoping it would look less intimidating this time around. But that was not the case.
April 26, 2011
There was powder on the slopes
Tell me where were you?
You were sittin’ home cryin’ on the internetz
While we were participating in some face-shots
First spot we hit was the big chute
I finally got all the powder that I could take
Ahh, March and April, my favorite time of year. Generally stable enough to ski most of the steeper alpine lines, yet the snow is still powder on the north faces. It just doesn’t get any better in Colorado.
March 18, Anthracites.
Dave Bourassa, visiting from the front range and enjoying his teal birthday suit:
Mel Walker:
March 7th was looking like the final bluebird day before at least a week of storms were forecast to pound the Coast mountains of British Columbia. So, it was with both a tinge of sadness and anticipation that I decided I would starting heading back to Colorado as soon as the clouds came back. Though neither Jon nor Susan could ski with me, they set me up with their friends Lisa, Chris, and Lon so we had a good group and we made our way back to Dope Creek, since there was already a track and plenty of room for more turns on the face.
The only change that had occurred in the previous two days was a bunch of ski tracks on the 20 degree “drag race hill”- apparently left by heli skiers. I can’t imagine getting dropped off a heli to ski flat terrain with snowmobile tracks on it while being surrounded by steep spines and faces everywhere. Maybe some day I’ll have top secret information and I’ll be tortured in this manner- I’ll give up my secrets pretty quickly to get on the good stuff.
The only regret of my trip? That the stars never quite aligned in a way for me to get on the big lines like this one:
Next time. I wasn’t exactly crying about the lines we were about to ski. I don’t think my photos (and certainly not my POV) do it much justice, but it qualifies as “steep n deep”. Lisa:
Lon:
Chris, straight killing it off the top:
We got 3 runs on this spine wall before we decided to switch it up and ski a nearby steep face. I only got a couple of runs in on the helmet cam, but that’s probably enough anyway. I used “Back in Black” by AC/DC because to this day every time I hear that song, I think of Jack Hannan and a competition run he had at Kirkwood 10 years ago. He was way back in about 20th place and had the best comp run I’ve ever seen to move all the way into 2nd place. This video also features “Jackass Pass”, a crazy snowmobile line between a wind drift and the mountain which somehow goes cleanly:
Dope Creek Spines 3-7-11 from 14erskiers on Vimeo.
The last line we skied in this zone was one I had looked at a lot on a poster made for Jack after the avalanche last year. We got to the top and clicked in, and at that moment a bald eagle flew by, maybe twenty feet away. Lisa was the first to yell out “Yeah Jack!” as we watched him fly across the valley. I came to Pemberton to ski, but I also came to feel some connection to Jack, and this moment was one of many that qualified. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a year since he passed away. I know the eagle is hard to see, but he’s on the left in front of the cliffs.
I guess that’s about it. The skiing in Crested Butte has been pretty amazing for the past 3 weeks, so I haven’t felt like I was missing out on too much since getting back. Tomorrow, March 31st, will be the one-year anniversary of Jack’s accident on Mount Currie, so I hope everyone shreds a line or tips a glass in his honor. “Jack’s got My Back”
More Road Trip 2011 Posts:
Stevens Pass
No Sleep Spines
O Face
Pemby BC
Luna Creek
Trandem Trees
Whistler/Vancouver
Down Days and thoughts on snomo skiing
Dope Creek 1
Dope Creek 2
After about a week of down days characterized by wind, poor visibility, and cold temps, winter returned to the Coast Mountains and a small window of good light that Jon thought we could jump through. I knew before I left Colorado that I would probably have some days that challenged my snowmobiling skills. This ended up being the day. It wasn’t all that difficult, really, but the combination of my lack of confidence on the sled and not knowing where I was going really got my heart rate going. On one particularly intimidating looking climb, one that even had a sidehill after it, Jon said something like “That was SO worth making you do, just to watch you soil your shorts.” Thanks man. No seriously, thanks Jon- there’s nothing like the feeling of pulling something off that you didn’t think you could do.
“Follow me.”
“Uh, OK.”
Then we got a view of the spiny goodness that was available to us, still partially hidden in clouds, but definitely there.
The clouds kept teasing us with windows of good visibility, followed shortly thereafter by socking in. We decided a quick tree run was in order to see which way the weather was turning. This was yet another treerun that rivaled anything I usually ski in the trees of Colorado, but seemed pretty commonplace up here. This is a really short video of that run- when I came up on the gully, I knew I should just ski it as fast as I could- so much fun!
Dope Creek Trees from 14erskiers on Vimeo.
Jon had a gully of his own:
The clouds were still hanging there, but we decided to give it a shot anyway. One thing I can say for sure is that steep spines get steeper when they’re in the middle of a cloud. My video from this run is kind of humorous, since you can’t even tell what’s going on, but I won’t bore you with that. The photos came out pretty decent with the help of Photoshop. Jon (notice how his hand is on the snow, yes it really is steep):
Jon, run #2. That’s what I like to see:
That’s about all I’ve got from this day, but stay tuned for Part 2. Meanwhile, on another note, the snowmobilers that followed our tracks had been keeping us entertained all day. Snowmobilers have a bad rap in avie circles, a reputation which is largely undeserved around Crested Butte, where they generally seem pretty prepared and knowledgeable. But this day in Dope Creek?
These guys were great. “Backpacks?”
“Nah, who needs em.”
“A good spot to eat lunch?”
“Right under that steep face those skiers are eying- let’s just chill there for a half hour.”
“Hey, let’s highmark at the same time!”
“Good idea!”
“Let’s skip this nice North facing stuff and see if the snow bonded to South facing suncrusts!”
“Yay!”
Anyway, we made our way down the Gauntlet, another terrifying but ultimately satisfying snowmobile mission. Amazing light made for a fitting end to a beautiful day:
More Road Trip 2011 Posts:
Stevens Pass
No Sleep Spines
O Face
Pemby BC
Luna Creek
Trandem Trees
Whistler/Vancouver
Down Days and thoughts on snomo skiing
Dope Creek 1
Dope Creek 2
Check out one of our new sponsors:
We awoke the morning of the 23rd with hopes and aspirations of skiing a pretty big line. Jon really wanted to get Brittany and I on something big and scary (and for us, fun), and the weather was forecast to be nice and sunny. Unfortunately, the clear weather was the result of an “arctic outflow”, as they call it up there. As the name implies, the temperatures plummeted to numbers well below zero Fahrenheit, accompanied by some wind and humidity. Big lines with possible ropework and windslabs started to sound like a bad idea in those conditions, so tree skiing plan B was adopted.
With only three snowmobiles, four skiers, and an easy sled road to follow, “Trandem laps” became the plan of the day (3 people, one sled). It’s goofy, but it works:
Though cold (both Brittany and I got some frostnip on our faces), it was a gorgeous day. A look back at the terrain I skied my first day in Pemberton:
And “Norain”, Brittany’s first day:
Despite the wind, we we on a generally protected slope, so it was nearly perfect conditions on varied terrain with pillows, chutes, and actually pretty steep terrain (notice the sluff piles everywhere). On with some pics…
Frank:
After a long day of traveling to from Crested Butte to Pemberton, I was glad to meet up with Frank who had left 6 days earlier, traveling by car with the snowmobile. We were both ready for the goods. A long (and annoyingly bumpy) snowmobile ride lead us to a sweet zone.
Frank’s day 2 in Pemberton featured a return to a peak I skied the last time I visited the area, but thankfully it’s a great mountain that even got some time in MSP’s movie Yearbook. Both Jon and Susan were able to join me, with their young baby watched over by Grandma, plus their friend Jim who crushed the snowmobile approach through the woods in over a meter of new snow. After that, it was nothing but pure gluttony- 6 laps on a roughly 2,000′ face with less than 20′ of climbing per lap. Just step off the snowmobile and go…
The face:
A few photos of Jon:
Nice spot to park a snowmobile:
Jon and Susan, psyched to be skiing together:
We skied in the same area the following day and I took this photo of our tracks on the O face. Yeah, it was good. Notice the figure 8′s thrown in by Jon and Jim just for kicks.
The video contains all 6 runs, with the bottom flat turns edited out. It also has one of the snowmobile tandems up, which were almost as much fun as the skiing on the way down. It’s a little long for a POV for some people, but it was also some spectacular skiing and I hope you enjoy it as it’s some of the best footage I’ve gotten (and getting photos on this face was next to impossible anyway)
O Face 2-20-11 from 14erskiers on Vimeo.
More Road Trip 2011 Posts:
Stevens Pass
No Sleep Spines
O Face
Pemby BC
Luna Creek
Trandem Trees
Whistler/Vancouver
Down Days and thoughts on snomo skiing
Dope Creek 1
Dope Creek 2
Help 14erskiers and yourselves: Up to 50% Off Sale at Backcountry.com
Valid: 03/05 to 03/31
