We started off around 10,300′ at the old Pieplant townsite. There are a number of well-preserved buildings in the area, and the well-marked Timberline trail heads straight towards Jenkins from there. Apparently the town was named for a Rhubarb-like plant which grows wild in the area, which local miners made pies out of.

The old mining trail seen above leads straight to treeline on Jenkins, and even after switching to ski boots we made the summit in just under 3 hours. Jenkins is one of those great summits that “connects the dots”, geographically speaking. The central Sawatch range couldn’t be any clearer from this vantage point- Clear Creek with the ghost towns/ trailheads of Winfield and Vicksburg to the East, 14er La Plata and popular ski peak Sayres just to the North of that, and even the high 13er Grizzly and Lincoln Creek looking close enough to touch. La Plata/ Clear Creek:

Taylor Reservoir:

Castle and Cathedral:

Some exploration near the summit revealed that Jenkins actually has a number of fine couloirs that drop off the North side into Church Basin, so we chose the steepest, cleanest looking one a little bit East of the summit. We dubbed it the “Belltower Couloir”, since it drops into Church Basin. Frank:

Brittany off the summit ridge:

Approaching the “Belltower”:

Frank:

Finishing off the line with a fun little straightline:

Looking back up at some of the lines on the North face of Jenkins:

Our original plan was to descend Church Basin, get back on a different part of the Timberline trail, and loop back to the trailhead. It seemed just as easy and more fun, however, to simply climb back up Jenkins and ski the South side back to the mining road we used in the morning. We traversed over to the “Steeple” couloir, which was the one we had originally sought. Brittany:

In no time at all, we were back on top. Not bad, considering the summit register on top of Jenkins only sees 20 or so signatures a year. The South side had some good skiing as well, but also some thinner and punchier areas. Frank:

Brittany’s tracks:

At this time of year, we typically milk every last foot of snow. Why walk when you could ski?

One last look at Jenkins from Taylor Park:

These lines are great and come highly recommended. Compared to some Sawatch range classics like the Grizzly couloir or the Refrigerator on Ice, Jenkins does quite well. The lines are longer than the Refrigerator, and they’re steeper than Grizzly. Plus, the access can’t be beat. Put ‘em on your list…

Brittany climbing towards the basin underneath Golden Tops. Trail 403 is in the forested area behind her. It’ll be a while…

South Maroon. We tried this peak a couple of days later on 6/7/2011. Unfortunately, we found it to be in rough condition. More on that later…

Brittany climbing the South Couloir of Golden Tops:

Precarious Peak. The upper part of this route looked to be in good shape. We were hoping to ski the North Couloir, but in the end decided we didn’t have enough time.

So, the Southwest Face of Cassi became our plan B, as seen here:

But first, we get to ski the North Face of Golden Tops. Brittany:

Frank:

We made quick work of the West face and North ridge of Cassi and once again found ourselves on top of a peak with great views. The East face of Bellview mountain is on the list, though it’s a bit of a slog:

Looking out the still-very-snowy Rustler’s Gulch towards Marble:

Our tracks on Golden Tops:

Brittany on top of Cassi:

Though it was now a little after noon, the snow on Cassi was nearly perfect. Perhaps we’ve entered a more summer-like snowpack stage. Brittany:

Frank drops in:

The lower pitches were great, too. Brittany:

Brittany skiing in front of the impressive Spider Face:

Frank:

Looking back at some of our tracks and the summit of Cassi from the East:

We descended into Copper Creek, which made for a nice circular loop. I was amazed how much snow had melted in just a few days since the last time I was in this valley. Despite the melting, I’m pretty confident in saying that the skiing will be quite good for some time to come. So leave the bike at home a little longer and get out there- it’s the best spring ski season in years!

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Our goal for the day was the Spider Face. Brittany and I tried to ski this same line last spring, but found a little too much water ice for our tastes. With this year’s deep snowpack, we hoped that much of the ice would still be covered by snow. This photo is from 6-5-11, just a few days later:

Morning on the face:

There are a bunch of fine objectives up the Copper Creek valley. A high camp near Copper lake would yield an awesome week’s worth of skiing. Example one:

Example 2. East Maroon pass is the low point in the foreground ridge:

We had a great view of the East faces of thunder Pyramid and Pyramid. Our friend Jordan skied Pyramid again that morning.

It wasn’t long until we reached the ice climbing cruxes of the Spider Face route. It was in much better shape than the last time I tried it. More importantly, it was really fun!

It didn’t exactly let up once past the water ice:

John Jasper points down what we just climbed. I’m not sure if there’s a more stoked person I ski with. It’s always “So psyched to be here” and “I love getting up early” when skiing with Jasper.

More photos of the roughly 2,000′ climb:

Plenty of avalanche debris is visible in the last photo. Unfortunately, almost every face with rocks on it had slide activity within the last week. I hate to say it, but the best skiing right now is on slightly mellower faces that don’t have rock faces triggering point releases. The point of all this is that once we reached the roughly 13,200′ summit of “Spider Peak” (the unnamed and unofficial subpeak of Whiterock), we decided that the Spider Face should wait for another day, when it didn’t have so much avalanche debris. It was a bit upsetting for me, since I now stand at 0-2 on the face, but it was probably the better choice to ski the White Widow Couloir on the South Face. Besides, it isn’t exactly a bad consolation prize. White Widow front and center, with the Spider face on the left:

Pete drops in first:

JJ:

Back to Pete:

A strange angle of JJ:

Pete:

The turns in the massive basin were some of the best of the day:

One last shot of “Spider Peak” as we headed down Copper Creek:

We had been dreading the trip back up the road all day, knowing that the frozen snow which hadn’t posed any problem in the morning would be thawed and miserable in the afternoon. Thankfully, heavy equipment saved the day:

Gothic road is presently plowed just past the Gothic townsite to the Judd Falls parking area. My sources tell me that the gate will open tomorrow, 6-3-11. This should make trips up Copper Creek and Rustler’s gulch much more reasonable. Descents of the South Couloir of South Maroon should be on everyone’s list next week. Ski mountaineers looking for easy access should also note that other springtime classics like Cinnamon Pass (linking Lake City and Ouray in the San Juans) and Independence Pass (between Aspen and Leadville) are both open. So go get some, and think freezing temps!

So often on my snowmobile, I’m reminded of “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” by Dr. Seuss. I really love my snowmobile. Best piece of ski gear I own. Tom:

Brittany:

Time for bootpack #1, Purple Mountain:

As has been the case on many of our adventures, our friends were with us in spirit. We miss you Alison K.

One of the tough things about backcountry skiing for so long in one place (15years in Crested butte for me) is that it is getting increasingly difficult to find new lines and new challenges close to home. On the other hand, I have spent very little time on the West side of the Ruby Range, and it looks like I should change that:

If only access to the bells and Pyramid wasn’t such a pain from Crested Butte:

Same for Precarious and Cathedral:

Purple Mountain (12,958′) was still solidly frozen as we skied the shaded West Face towards The Blob (UN 12,781′). A quick boot got us to the summit of The Blob. Tom:

Our main goal for the morning was a descent of the North face of “The Nipple” (UN 12,789′), a line I have wanted to ski for years. Ant (UN 12,655′) is the farther peak.

While we wanted to ski the North face directly off the summit, concerns about the cornices and snow beneath them led us to a short ski of the West face and a traverse back to the North face. The snow was recycled and rippled of a powder-like character. In other words, excellent. Frank dropping off the summit to the West:

Brittany on the compacted West side:

Frank on the North:

The Blob in the background:

Tom:

Brittany near the bottom, with Ant behind:

Tom gazes up at “Little AK”.

While the weather forecast was calling for very warm temps, the reality on the snow was a fairly cool and windy day, so rather than call it quits we decided to head up Treasure Mountain, a massive mountain and the highest in the area at 13,528′. A full descent of the North side of the peak through Bear Basin all the way to the townsite of Crystal 4,000′+ below remains high on my list. The climb up the South side was a bit of a slog, but the views were worth it. Capitol:

And a peak that’s right at the top of my list, but won’t name out of respect for some local landowners:

Even though it was now well into the afternoon, the SW faces of Treasure were still frozen solid. More Easterly exposures were a bit wet, but still good skiing. Brittany out in front:

Tom in front of The Blob and Nipple:

Looking down Yule Creek and Ant:

All that was left now was another ascent of Purple Mountain. The light got amazing near the summit:

Brittany, with Treasure behind. Our tracks are barely visible on the left of the left bowl:

Tom brings it home down Purple’s South face to the sleds. Nearly perfect around 5pm:

Brittany does likewise:

Yeah Brittany, we just did that. Somewhere around 5,500′ of vert skied and 10 miles or so. Great day!

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This area of the Elks borders the Sawatch range, and is correspondingly dryer and windier than what we’re used to in the snow-favored areas closer to Crested Butte. Shallower snowpacks tend to slide more, and we observed a number of large slides on generally East-facing terrain on peaks like Hunter Hill, Doubletop, and Italian. The slides didn’t look too recent and we were skiing different aspects, but it was still something to take note of. As always, future lines popped up everywhere. Pete and I have been eying this one for years:

We made short work of our bootpack and dropped into this short and sweet line. Josh:

Brett:

Josh:

Pete:

Very short, but probably worth the trip:

We still had plenty of daylight to work with, so we headed over to another sub-peak of Italian which I had skied with Jeremy Wegner a few years ago. Jeremy called this Italian Nipple:

We had a nice view of the East face of Castle:

Super fun and aesthetic climb:

Pete drops in:

A rare photo of me. Photo by Josh Macak:

Best. Snowmobile. Ride. Ever.

As we skied Italian Sub #2, we watched the clouds rolling in from the West. We’ve been getting snow ever since, which is great, but it’s also hampering our ability to get out in the alpine. At least the powder skiing has been great.

Red Rock Creek is now known as Brush Creek, although I think I like Red Rock Creek better. Today, the official height is a little lower as well, at 13,209′. In any case, we quickly made our way up the south slopes and took a quick break at the start of the rock outcrops.

Nearing the summit:

One option we had in mind is the beautiful splitter couloir that drops off just before the summit:

The face itself was just too nice to pass up, however, so I guess I still have the couloir to come back to some other time on Teocalli. Obviously, this isn’t a bad thing. Pete, Josh, and I talking about the face:

As we discussed the face, it was pretty obvious that it had gotten some crossloading due to some steady winds out of the NW. This wasn’t necessarily a problem, just something we wanted to either avoid, or get to release with a ski cut. The skier’s right hand side, in fact, was already stripped of new snow and was a safe route. Pete dropped in first, somewhat down the middle.

Josh went next and decided to test things out. Sure enough, the little wind slab popped right where we thought it would.

Our route was a whole lot cleaner and safer now, as we mostly skied the margins of the slide. Frank:

Brittany:

Pete:

Brittany:

Next up was the fun climb back up to the summit via the North ridge. Josh:

Brittany:

Back on top of Teo for the second time that day, the West side was looking nice:

Pete dropping in. The East face of White BM is behind him. Someone put tracks on it on Friday as well. Always good to see people out getting after it!

Frank:

There are a number of different couloirs dropping off the West side. Pete and I took one right off the summit, which neither of us had done before, while Brittany and Josh took the standard just down the ridge. Here’s Josh:

Brittany took this shot looking back at Pete and I:

Josh:

Brittany:

Pete:

Teocalli, North Face, taken the next day from the upper Cement Creek area:

Teocalli, West Face, taken a few days previously from White BM:

Days like this are what we live for. Good times, good lines, good people, good conditions- all on a perfect day. Support 14erskiers and get some new boards for the spring season: Up to 55% Off Ski Sale at Backcountry.com
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We started off in the dark, skiing down to the East River via headlamp. As much as I hate the alarm clock going off well before dawn, once I’m up it’s hard not to admire the beauty of the early morning hours.

Whetstone:

Queen Basin, the Ten Little Indians, El Nacho, and Gothic.

West Face of Teocalli:

The Pyramid group, looking caked and ready to go:

We skied the NE face of White, a short but steep line which would take us towards Whiterock. Conditions on this aspect were wind affected, so we all opted for the couloir line rather than the face we had been eying ever since our last trip to the area. Jasper:

The wind had continued to hammer all day, much to our dismay, and we were already starting to reconsider our plans. Rather than ski the long SW face of Whiterock, we decided to ski the S face instead, a shorter route which would still give us the option of heading towards the Spider Face.

Conditions continued to be variable. Pete:

Jasper:

Howard:

Given the continued wind and variable conditions, we decided to save the exposed Spider Face for another day. Rather than ski down the valley to Copper Creek and slog all the way out from there, we decided to do some more climbing to reach the Red Rock section of No Name ridge, a prominent feature from the Crested Butte Ski area. Towards the goats!:

Josh:

Our final descent had gotten enough sun to get nice and soft, definitely our best turns of the day. Pete:

Jasper:

Spot the skiers, still high on the face:

Another view of the No Name ridge:

While we didn’t get to ski everything we set out to, we did end up skiing three new faces and put in a lot of miles deep in the heart of the wilderness. All in all, it was a great day and hopefully a precursor of lots of long spring days to come. ‘Til next time…

The trouble with Bear Basin is the access. Once winter road closures begin, it’s a long walk from anywhere in the Crested Butte area. The best access would be from Yule Pass, during the brief window when the pass can be accessed via snowmobile in the spring, but that would still leave a backcountry skier miles away from home. Access in the fall is a different story, however, and we hoped to sneak one in before Schofield Pass closed for the season. Of course, we wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the full 4600′, but it was still worth a shot to get in the zone and start figuring things out.

We dropped a snowmobile at Paradise Divide and started up Treasury Mountain, an ascent which is starting to become a regular for me in the early season. Pete Sowar and John Jasper, heading up Treasury with the Raggeds shrouded in clouds behind:

Purple Mountain and the Ruby Range:

It was a cold day, with wind chills below zero on the summit ridge:

Gearing up was and arctic-like experience on top of the Wine Bottle Couloirs, a strange sensation considering I had just skied it 4 months ago on the fourth of July.

Like I said, it was freezing, so I skipped the helmet cam and tried to take just still photos. Unfortunately, my freshly charged batteries in my camera were once again dead. I guess rechargeable batteries only last so long. I got one shot, and one shot only; thankfully it was a good one of Pete dropping in:

I still had my helmetcam, so I was still able to shoot some photos. Lunchtime (the couloirs are somewhat hidden just left of the summit)

Looks like winter:

Having seen a familiar truck on Schofield Pass, we weren’t terribly surprised to see a skintrack here in North Pole Basin. We were in pretty deep at this point, and the list of “usual suspects” was quite small. Sure enough, we ran into Josh Shifferly and Ethan Passant on the other side of the ridge in Bear Basin. Now, we had set our sights on Bear Basin from the top of Treasure Mountain. A long cliffband runs down the slope of Bear Basin, separating it into a small basin, which I am now calling Bear Cub Basin, and the main basin. We hoped to find a way through, but there simply wasn’t. So for now, I’m giving our efforts to ski Bear Basin an “Incomplete”.

Our tracks. As Ethan and Josh pointed out, it bears an uncanny resemblance to Cody Bowl in Jackson Hole. Our tracks are looker’s right…

Video version (Yeah, Sabbath is a little rowdy for this one, but it was a short song…)

Bear Cub Basin from 14erskiers on Vimeo.

This line doesn’t look like much in this photo, but it looked great in person and it’s high on the list now…

Schofield Park in the setting light with some fog coming off the river…

Well, we still have some work to do to get into Bear Basin proper. I love this stuff. It’s all well and good to follow the beaten path and ski the same stuff as the rest of the sheeple, but what keeps my attention is a route that takes a few tries and some serious thought. Hopefully we get another chance this fall to get into Bear Basin, but who knows.

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Photo from Independence Pass, Memorial Day, 2006

Brittany and I were joined by Jarrett Luttrell and Kim Ross, and as we headed up Independence Pass from Aspen, we found ourselves in a blinding snowstorm of the Star Wars variety. At the campsite:

We awoke the following morning with a few inches of new snow, and some continued light snowfall. Needless to say, it was beautiful:

The hike up valley quickly broke out into meadows and we were able to enjoy the views of this area, which most of us hadn’t been to. Jarrett and I both commented that it felt like one of the first trips of the fall, rather than one of the last trips of the spring. It even smelled like fall. Kim, riding high on expectations:

The sun came out momentarily and gave us a great view of our objective. The actual peak is slightly behind, while the Grizzly couloir remains mostly out of view on the right, tucked up against the cliffs.

As quickly as the sun came out, the snow came back in again:

Then right back to sun:

We entered the couloir, which is a bit misnamed in our opinion since it is quite a bit wider than a typical couloir, and conditions couldn’t have looked any better:

From the top of the couloir, it was a quick scramble to the summit. Brittany nearing the summit:

Jarrett and Kim on the summit:

Brittany on top of the couloir from near the summit:

From the summit, the Southeast face of grizzly looked extremely intriguing and may warrant a return visit someday. Then again, the line might not even go…

Brittany and I were 10 minutes or so ahead of Jarrett and Kim, so we decided to go ahead and drop in, since the sun was out and we wanted to get the couloir in powder conditions. I dropped in first and I’ll just go ahead and say it- these were the best turns I’ve ever made in June. Here’s the POV video proof:

Grizzly Couloir 13 June 2010 from 14erskiers on Vimeo.

Brittany:

A couple shots of Frank (these turns were my favorite of the day):

Between Brittany and I, we had really sloughed out the couloir, so Jarrett and Kim decided to hit up the East face instead. They also described conditions as “as good as it gets in June”. Honestly, it doesn’t get much better in January, either. By the time we got to the lower valley, it was a completely different place, now melted and dry. Jarrett:

These lines at the head of the valley are now on the short list:

After a celebratory beer or two, we made our way down the road and watched this slackliner for a minute:

A perfect day needs a perfect ending, and Taylor Park provided the perfect ending for us:

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The line I wanted to ski forms a double dogleg right off the summit, so I’m calling it the “Broken Dogleg” Couloir, although I’m sure it’s been skied before and might be known be another name. Here’s a shot we took from Humboldt back in 2007:

From the summit, the line looked every bit as interesting as I’d hoped, and since the line keeps twisting and turning, we couldn’t even see very much of the line.

We dropped in and found some highly variable snow conditions- some carveable windbuffed chalky snow, but some pretty icy areas as well, so we descended carefully. Brad:

One last view of the Needle as we descend the couloir:

Looking down, halfway down the couloir:

Brittany got some photos from below, where she was waiting along with Pam and Chris. Brad and I are the two dots in the center of the photo. This shot and the one following really give a sense of how complicated and interesting this face really is.

Brad is just leaving the couloir, while I’m skiing some good windbuff in the apron:

Although we skied it in very difficult conditions, this was still one of the best lines I’ve skied in Colorado. Top 5 for sure- it’s just so varied, with double fall-lines and twists and turns as you descend. Not to be missed when it’s in condition.

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