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:

Near the summit we transitioned to booting, which went fine until the windpacked snow turned back into sugar and we decided to skip the final 100′ of climbing. Beautiful ridge, though:

Fun skiing off of our highpoint (Frank):

Brittany sends a rooster tail:

Brittany finds the light:

Frank:

Ben:

Jonathon (I can’t imagine dropping a knee in variable crusty conditions like that.) He killed it:

Brittany:

Like I said, we actually had fun and found a number of good turns along the way to go with some absolutely horrible ones as well. The wait for snow will continue, and we’ll continue to make the best of it. Support 14erskiers:

Justin:

Adrienne:

Zach:

Caption contest. Please leave comments:

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Heading towards the saddle between Treasury and Crystal:

Climbing Crystal from the saddle was a lot of fun despite some wind and even had a nice short scrambling section:

The chimneys of Treasure Mountain. These formations are apparently excellent climbs, often done on Outward Bound courses.

Treasury from the summit:

The Marble side of Schofield Pass sits far below. The vert on this side of the mountain is huge. Sharp eyes can see the turnoff for Lead King Basin:

More lines on the Treasure massif, looking towards Marble.

Snowmass and Hagerman:

Santa’s Chimney, a line we skied last year:

The snow on the face was surprisingly good, despite all the wind we’ve had lately. Zach ripped it:

Crystal Peak:

Awesome day. And we’re getting snow today! Get that Christmas shopping done:

Treasury:

The gang with Capitol and Snowmass in the background:

The Mouse House, as it is sometimes called:

Zach got a great shot of me dropping in:

Scott:

Adrienne:

Zach, getting his low angle pow style dialed:

Adrienne practicing powder 8 technique:

Scott:

Adrienne down in the protected powder in the trees:

Zach:

We had a surprisingly good time on the long long run from Mouse House ridge to the valley floor. There is a little snow in the forecast, so we can only hope for improvement in the snowpack. Zach and I had a great run today in the same area, and meanwhile I’ll be switching gears and climbing a little ice down in Silverton. More on that later. Support 14erskiers: Save Up to 60% at the Eastern Mountain Sports Outlet Store

Mike:

Adrienne:

Brittany:

On to the photos…

Mineral Point always looks amazing from here.

Adrian dropping in…

Mike:

Zach:

Wish this tree wasn’t in the way, but nice grab anyway there Zach…

Conditions were a mixed bag, but generally we’ve got some recycled pow in the backcountry right now. Of greater interest to me were the vast number of slides on what seemed to be every aspect and elevation. So far, this season isn’t shaping up to be one where much steep skiing will get done, at least for a while. Take it easy out there…

‘Tis a beautiful sight to see:

Brittany killing it:

Our regular camera died pretty quickly, so most of those shots were with the GoPro, which I actually think takes pretty good photos of the fisheye variety. I shot video on the descent, and it was pretty hard to edit out much of it. Doctor’s Park is so good from top to bottom, so which part of the descent would you eliminate- the top fast section?, the techy middle?, the Ewok descent through the forest?, or the tech finish? So I left it all in- perhaps too long, but a good reference for the bike guide for those who have yet to ride it. Enjoy:

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While accessing Timberline from Cottonwood adds almost 5 miles and 20 minutes of riding, it’s totally worth it since the Timberline trail is a rockin’ downhill from Cottonwood down to Texas Creek. Unless I expect Cottonwood to be extra busy, this is probably the way I will usually go to get to Texas Ridge. One of the Texas Lakes near the junction of the Timberline Trail and Texas Creek road:

Sydney:

From Texas Creek, the Timberline trail climbs steeply- very steeply before the downhill starts again. Still, most of the trail is barely rideable and a good challenge if you’re up for it. A couple shots of the climb:

Once the descent on Timberline, and then Texas Ridge starts, the fun levels spike on what at least one member of our party openly wondered “might just be Gunnison County’s best ride”. High praise indeed, and completely warranted. I was shooting video with my GoPro, but unfortunately the lens got splashed early on and it wasn’t worth using any of the footage. So, just a couple shots of the descent:

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Here’s the link: Crested Butte Mountain Bike Guide A-Z

I’ve done my best to doublecheck for broken links, but please let me know if I’ve missed anything or if you have any other suggestions. Happy riding!

Since the weather looked iffy at best, we chose a ride with lots of options in case things went bad. Here’s the town of Mt Crested Butte, where my condo is located, taken from Snodgrass.

More Snodgrass:

After Snodgrass, we headed up Washington Gulch to get to 403. The ski area is getting smaller Notice how the flowers compliment Brittany’s pink jersey

Backcountry rail session, anyone??

Brittany nearing the top of 403…

It might not look like it, but 403 is about as steep and techy as we tend to get here in the Crested butte area.

… But it has its’ share of smooth singletrack as well

The weather kept cooperating, so we headed up Schofield pass for more fun on 401.

Brittany, Avery in the background, and you can see 401 way off in the distance if you look closely.

Brittany:

Where’s Waldo, (Frank):

It’s a jungle out there

Frank:

I’ve been in CB so long, I think I’m a bit dismissive of 401, given its’ most favored tourist ride status, but I’d have to say it is in really good shape right now and was really tacky and really fun. A couple of hours after we got back, the skies let loose with one of the most entertaining lightning storms I can remember, which kind of put a damper on my buddies’ birthday BBQ, but we need the moisture, so we’ll take it. Anyway, hopefully the next TR I do is a skiing one, and it comes really soon