14erskiers has a new access vehicle, and we’re excited to set up a good ski carry system and get out there. I won’t be spending the $ on a Cheetah rack system, so I’ll try to make my own. I’m not sure which way I want to go, so if anyone has some good mod suggestions, I’m all ears.
Kevin Green, Telluride Ski mountaineer and first descent artist with credits including the San Joaquin couloir just outside Telluride’s boundary died in a tragic accident on Monday. From the sounds of things, he hit a rope while skiing Telluride near closing time. for more information, read here.
The San Joaquin (photo Bill Middlebrook, 14ers.com):
If I say today was another great day of skiing, it might seem like a broken record. But at least the record just keeps playing my favorite songs over and over again…
Today, I went out with Zach Berman, Rob Dickinson, and Tom Runcie to ski in the upper Slate River area. With another couple of inches overnight, conditions could best be described as “supportable blower”. On our first lap, we stayed in some thicker trees, making it hard to get many quality photos. Here’s one of Rob, however:
We decided to head to another area for our second lap, and Zach had some trouble with his skins. He made it up with a little help from his friends, though:
The terrain above us looked enticing, but se decided to save it for another snowpack, not the one we have now, that’s for sure.
Zach dropped in first off a small cliffband:
Rob followed:
Tom:
Rob finished things up with his ‘O’ face, perfectly describing the whole day:
OK, maybe not the greatest movie ever, but for a Colorado kid it’s tough to beat a movie about Colorado kids kickin’ some butt. I just had to mention that, since “Wolverines!” kept going through my head as we headed up Emmons yesterday.
Originally Brittany and I were going to ski Redwell, but after hearing that conditions in Wolverine were good, we opted to check it out instead. Wolverine is Emmon’s steepest bowl, and a line I’ve only skied once or twice in the past. Red Lady was getting its’ usual hammering, surprisingly still powder despite the hot temps of late. At one point, we watched three people skiing the bowl at once, always interesting even if there are a bunch of tracks there already. Meanwhile, not a single track went to the looker’s right side of the bowl, which was also “interesting.”
Things are looking considerably better than they did a couple of weeks ago when I skied the South face of Schuykill
We made a couple of turns to check out the top of Wolverine. Brittany:
The view from the top was far from disappointing…
And the turns weren’t disappointing either…
Brittany, looking more and more comfortable on steep, sloughy terrain:
Our line was just a hair looker’s left of the summit…
After the steep upper bowl, we still had 2,000′ or so of good meadow skipping below us. The warm days and cold nights have once again created a ton of surface hoar, which made for great skiing on our way out, but will soon be yet another layer in this season’s poor snowpack. Frank:
A much better shot of Wolverine from a couple of days later..
Brittany’s camera batteries died, so we didn’t get a ton of photos, but there it is, the day of the year (so far).
The Winter Wildlands Alliance (WWA) is a group dedicated to eliminating types of winter recreation other than the ones they support, namely human-powered recreation. From their website: “We believe winter wildland adventurers and future generations should have sizable areas of public land on which to experience the natural sights, sounds, and winter beauty of public lands free of motorized vehicles, and that our backcountry wildlife habitat should be protected from the negative impacts of motorized intrusion such as snowmobiles.” One can only guess that their supporters are not aware of these “sizable areas” available throughout the west, otherwise known as Wilderness areas, many of the National Parks, areas that just aren’t suitable to snowmobiles, areas closed to snowmobiles via the local Forest Service travel management plans, etc.) They must also be unaware of the evidence that people on foot are often much more disturbing to wildlife than people on snowmobiles (See here for more info.)
Here at 14erskiers, we’re supporters of quiet places free of snowmobiles just like any other lover of wild places. The question, of course, is how much is the right amount. In most areas, I think there is already a solid compromise between the different user groups. We’re skiers, not snowmobilers, but we use snowmobiles to go up roads that are open to cars in the summer in order to access some backcountry areas. Personally, I fail to see the difference between a car on a road in the summer and a snowmobile on the same road in the winter. WWA seems to think snowmobiles should be banned virtually everywhere.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, to be sure, but what I find interesting and sad is the list of sponsors the WWA has garnered. Some of WWA’s sponsors include Keen, Clif bar, Black Diamond, Cloudveil, Osprey, and even REI. It would seem that snowmobilers and snowmobile skiers might want to purchase products from these companies, whether it’s a backpack from Osprey or a pair of goggles from REI. Hopefully everyone who is interested in keeping their National Forests open to multiple forms of recreation will let these companies know that their support of WWA is unacceptable. the best way to do this, as usual, is by voting with your pocketbook. Personally, I will no longer support these companies as long as they continue to support WWA. I hope you will too, and please let your friends know about this if you care about your National Forest recreational opportunities.
I thought I should spread the word about this event for anyone who is interested. It is, afterall, a fundraiser.
The banana is the steep chute right under the peak at Crested Butte, as seen here (green line):
Whether as a team or flying solo, the goal is to make as many laps as possible from bell to bell (9 to 4), hence the 7 hours of the banana. I think it’s about 2500′ of vert and it’ll hurt. A lot.
Should be a lot of fun for you enduro types, plus lots of parties and prizes and stuff. The date is Feb 27 and it’s a fundraiser for the adaptive sports center and the Cb ski club.
More info HERE
I’ll admit it. I’ve actually thought about mountain biking in the past couple of weeks. It makes me sad just admitting it. But given the nearly non-existent base, the lack of steep terrain open on the mountain, and the backcountry filled mostly with sugar, it’s been groundhog day every day this winter, and the date seemed like it was stuck in early November.
Thankfully, the last week has started to get us over the hump. Sure, the backcountry is still scary, and will be until springtime to some extent, but at least the ski area is moving forward. Today was the long-awaited opening of the North Face lift at Crested Butte, and it didn’t disappoint. Finally having the ability to make some steep turns on runs like Cesspool and Hourglass made all the difference, and I don’t think I’ll be thinking about the bike again until at least June. Here’s to more storms on their way in a couple of days…
I’m currently reading “Two Planks and A Passion” (see right sidebar), a historical look at skiing. I haven’t gotten too far into it yet, but one thing that I already found interesting are ski shapes and dimensions. Things like fat skis, reverse camber, and reverse sidecut seem like new inventions, something just introduced in the last 10 or 15 years at most. Turns out, they’re not.
Some of the earliest skis ever discovered look like a lot of modern skis- reverse sidecut, well over 100mm in the waist, reverse camber, basically the whole deal. Just like the park rat jibbers of today are mostly just rehashing tricks the hotdoggers of the ’70s used to do, it turns out the modern shapes look a lot like some transportation device some hunter used to shoot reindeer back in the day. Weird, huh?
Brittany and I are hoping to head up to interior B.C in about a month to do some touring and some lift riding as well. One of the reasons I’m excited about this trip is that we will hopefully visit some of the areas I have not been to, but have wanted to visit for years, such as Fernie, Kicking Horse, and the new Revelstoke resort. I may need to adjust my top ten list once I visit those areas, but for now, of the areas I’ve been to, here’s my top ten list in no particular order:
1: Crested Butte
2: Whistler/ Blackcomb
3: Red Mountain
4: Jackson Hole
5: Snowbird
6: Alta
7: Snowbasin
8: Squaw Valley
9: Bridger Bowl
10: Big Sky/ Moonlight
That’s my list, what’s yours?
There were a couple of tragic freak accidents in the Colorado backcountry this weekend. One was right here in Crested Butte. A local skier was ascending the skintrack to ski “Coney’s” when he apparently collapsed and died of what appears to be a heart attack from what I hear. I’ve been told he was only 35.
Meanwhile, in Telluride, a woman who was snowboarding with Telluride Helitrax accidentally fell into a creek and drowned. What is really strange about this story is that reports have indicated the guide was unable to free her because her helmet was wedged under a rock. This may be the rare circumstance when a helmet may have contributed to a death, rather than preventing one. More information on this accident can be found at the Telluride Daily Planet and the L.A Times Read the comments in the L.A.Times for an outrageous take on what “gender roles” had to do with this accident.
Some of the dangers of the backcountry are a given, such as avalanches. The thought of a backcountry partner having a heart attack in the backcountry is a tough one, knowing there is nothing that could ever be done in a case like that. Likewise, while creek crossings evoke a healthy dose of respect in the backcountry, who would think that a helmet would create a deadly situation like that.
In the end, these accidents are just that- accidents. Bad things happen, sometimes when crossing the street, sometimes when skinning up a hill to do some skiing. It’s sad, but I’m not sure there is necessarily a lesson in it. Condolences to all the friends and family of those involved…