Since we returned from our road trip to Canada, we’ve had a lot of sunny days here in Crested Butte. March bluebird days get me in the mood to get up high in the alpine, on long tours. Of course, work often gets in the way of this sort of thing. But, Saturday, things came together. Frank and I headed out for a long day on Scarps and Peeler with our friends Ben and Carol visiting from Montrose and Durango.

The snow was most excellent.

And the views made me hungry, like a bowl full of chocolate.

Now that you’re hungry too, check out Frank’s trip report

Saturday I had one of those days that I’ll remember for a very long time. With powder so deep, I could barely breathe. I think I ate about 10 snow cones by the end of the day. A great crew and fluffy white silky powder are the recipe for a day that’s this high on the stoke meter. I needed a vacation in the White Room

A couple of photos of me from our friend Chris Webster.

For Frank’s TR click here.

After a fantastic day at the resort and a delicious dinner (see Part I), we headed out for some backcountry skiing the following day. I took these ladies to meet another lady- the Red Lady- Queen of Mt. Emmons. I chose to take these ladies to ski the Red Lady glades, as they were low angle, low avy-danger terrain suitable for our varied group. Some of our ladies were “seasoned” in the backcountry, for others, it was their first tour!

The ladies lined up for backcountry fun!

Ann brought her Ullr helmet for a visit, and I was honored to wear it. Ullr is the god of snow. The female equivalent of Ullr is Skade (also called Skadi), the goddess of skiing. She married Njord, who wanted to live by the sea. So, they divided their time evenly between the mountains and the sea. (Huntford, p. 28) I was Skade for the day

The girls kicking butt up the hill.

Ann on the skin track

Photo courtesy of Fast Froggy

Photo courtesy of Fast Froggy

With snow continuing to fall, and with thoughts of long drives ahead, many of the girls opted to turn around about 1/3 of the way up the mountain.

Lauren and Julianne getting ready to ski.

Amber and Andi.

Corien and Carol.

Ashleigh and Corien watching Carol lead the way through the glades.

Amber with a trail of pixi dust behind her!

Lauren skiing.

Photo courtesy of Julianne.

Carol skiing.

Photo courtesy of Fast Froggy

Only Sonya, Ann, and I were left, making our way to the top of the Red Lady.

Sonya, Ann, and I on the top of Mt. Emmons.

During her first backcountry outing, Sonya climbed and skied 3000 vert. Pretty kick ass for her first time out!

Skiing was creamy and good!

Ann

Sonya

Me. (Photos courtesy of Ann Driggers)

It was fun being Skade, even if for only a day Thanks ladies!!!!!

References

Huntford, Roland. Two Planks and a Passion: The Dramatic History of Skiing. Continuum. New York. 2008.

Last week’s high pressure worked to stabilize our thin snowpack, but did little to improve the condition of the snow from a skiing stand-point. With a couple of friends visiting from Denver, we decided to go on a fun day of slogging. If the snow is less than desirable for skiing, why not just go on an adventure?

We headed out early in the morning, from the Gothic Rd winter closure: Jarrett, Adam, Hillary, Jeff, Frank, and I.

Skinning, with the mountain we would climb behind.

Jarrett and Adam.

Jeff, Hillary, and Jarrett with the ski area and Whetstone behind.

Heading up the ridge.

This looks like a fun line to ski in more snow.

East face of Gothic.

The middle part of the ridge was steep and icy- a bit treacherous. But we all made it to our rendezvous point.

Jeff and me.

We continued up the ridge until we got to this- Queen Basin.

Hillary approaching the crest of the ridge.

From there, we decided to split our group of six figuring it was safer to have two groups of three ski separate couloirs down to the basin’s bottom.

Adam, Jeff, and Hillary opted to drop into the first chute that came across our path. Adam (photos by Jeff)

Hillary.

Jarrett, Frank, and I headed along the ridge, searching for a different line. We spotted some ptarmigans along the way.

Frank and Jarrett.

Me.

Finally, we dropped in. Frank lead the way.

My turn.

Jarrett.

Hillary and Adam captured it best (photo by Jeff).

The basin bottom had some flat, but good skiing- recycled powder.

One more look at Queen Basin before entering the trees.

After traversing skiers left for awhile we found a nice opening to ski. Adam.

Me.

We made our way down to the Copper Creek / East Maroon Pass trail and followed that back to the town of Gothic. From there, we slogged up Gothic road back to the trailhead.

4000 + vert, 8 hours of adventure. Good day, good group, good times, good slog. That pretty much sums it up

Carbon Peak is one of those mountains that’s on the “other” side. As a crow flies, it’s only a few minutes away. But, driving entails a near journey all the way back to Gunnison and back, just to reach the trailhead. Carbon is one of those peaks that sticks out like a sore thumb from Gunnison. But, is barely noticeable from Crested Butte, stuck in the shadow of Whetstone. Nevertheless, we sought out new backcountry territory on Saturday. And what a good day it was!

Check out Frank’s trip report on 14erskiers.com and my trip report on TGR!

While skinning along Schuykill Ridge on Sunday, I caught a great glimpse of the west face of Gothic.

Having been on this peak before, and seeing it in good shape, I was inspired. Weather and avy danger were shaping up to be perfect to hit Gothic on Tuesday. So, our friend Tom and I headed out for Gothic.

The night before, we discussed our options. Although the avalanche danger was rated moderate, we were still a bit leery about hitting a big line, having seen a reactive snowpack earlier in the week. As seen in the photo above, many of the west chutes were cross-loaded. We decided our two safest options would be the far right chute on the west face (seen in pic above) or the Spoon (around the corner to the right of the west face in the pic above).

The morning was beautiful.

We were able to skin up a lot farther than usual with the recent snow.

The valley below, with Mount Crested Butte peaking from behind Snodgrass.

Mt. Owen, looking incredible, as usual.

Photo by Tom Runcie

As we climbed and got a better glimpse of the Spoon, we decided upon skiing that line. The snow looked good and it was a better option for our limited time.

Tom, ready to go!

Me (photos by Tom Runcie)

One more look on the way out- blue marks our ascent, pink our descent.

Gothic is always one of my favorite peaks to ski around here. It was good to get up high again. Can’t wait for more