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:

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:

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!

Support 14erskiers and yourself. Get Free Shipping over $45 at Altrec Outdoors

Though not even a thirteener at 12,953′, the twin Sopris summits tower over 6,000′ above the Crystal and Roaring Fork river valleys, making Sopris appear much taller than it is. Our intended descent route was the Laundry chutes, seen here from the scrub oak halfway up the mountain.

Nearing treeline:

The weather was surprisingly cold, windy, and cloudy compared to our cloudless day on Pyramid. Still, it made for some interesting light as another group made their way up the mountain.

We went straight up the bowl and then found ourselves on the ridge, where the cornices were peeling away from the earth.

After reaching the summit and skiing back down the ridge, we reached the entrance of our chosen couloir. Brittany:

Lou:

Jordan. As you can see, conditions were still quite powdery:

Jordan got some nice shots of me:

Carbondale, still far below:

Brittany. Photo Jordan White:

Lou, exiting the couloir. Photo Jordan White:

Frank, coming out into the bowl below the couloirs.

Brittany from below, with the Laundry chutes above.

From the bottom of the bowl, we still had a lot of bonus turns until we reached our snowmobiles. Brittany:

All in all, it was exactly the kind of day we were looking for. A fun and aesthetic climb, a steep powdery couloir, bonus corn skiing, and all with great people. Thanks Lou and Jordan!

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.

Tom Runcie, Rob Dickinson and I headed up towards Purple Peak and we were able to get nice and close with the snowmobiles, followed by a short bootpack.

Photo Tom Runcie:

Tom got the first drop:

Rob dropped in next but he went so fast all the photos were blurry. Or else the photographer just needs some work. The chute had just a touch of windcrust in it, but otherwise it was in great shape. Our tracks and part of the line, as seen from below:

Mount Owen continues to look caked, though the cornices guarding it are getting a bit excessive. I went back to this area on 3-19-11, and some of the cornices had indeed failed and there was some debris in the runouts of these lines, so we went elsewhere. Rob likes:

Since Purple went so quickly, we decided to do some mini laps with the sleds in a nearby zone. Frank:

Photo Tom Runcie:

Rob:

Then Rob and Tom decided to start hucking. Tom:

Tom, starting to realize that despite his best efforts, he’s about to land in Rob’s bombhole:

Ouch.

Then Rob decided to go for the slightly higher take-off. And he pointed it a little higher. And there was a bit of a windlip that acted like a kicker. And the result was one of the bigger airs I’ve seen in a while.

Doesn’t look that big, eh? Try Tom’s view:

Photos Tom Runcie:

He’s just now landing…

All in all, a good day back in Colorado.

What would Santa leave in our stockings this year? I must have been naughty this year, because Santa gave me a lump of coal…

We parked in Schofield Pass and made a diagonal towards Rock Creek through a beautiful forest:

Discussing whether or not to take this knob to the right or left:

Brittany and I ascended this point, while Pete and John traversed under it to the right. Both ways worked just fine. Brittany ascends with Baldy behind her:

The Northeast face of Galena had several intriguing but short runs coming off the summit. Pete and John can be seen on the ridgeline to the right of the summit:

Frank nearing the summit of Galena:

The views of Snowmass and Capitol never get old from this part of the Elks:

The wide angle view of the Elks, with all the 14ers except Castle visible:

Crystal Peak was directly across the basin, and looks like it would have great skiing once it was a little more filled in:

Enough with the skinning and scenics, on with the skiing! The couloir looked wind affected from the previous few days’ worth of wind, but not bad once we got into it. John Jasper drops in first:

Followed by Pete Sowar:

Brittany dropped in next:

My GoPro camera mounted on my chest mount caught this shot of me as I dropped in myself:

Nothing but smiles after the first pitch:

Pete:

JJ:

Frank:

Santa served me up my lump of coal right after that photo was taken. As I went around the corner, I hit a hollow spot that sent my ski tips under some harder wind affected snow and sent me headfirst down the slope. The true steepness of this line soon became apparent, as it took me three rolls before I finally came to a stop. Since the conditions are still somewhat thin, I was using my old skis and equally old Fritchis, and while they have been basically trouble free over the past 10 or so years, I guess they were ready to be retired. The heel moved on its’ track to a size way bigger than my boot, and the adjustment screw refused to move it back. Great. Only one thing to do. Just 1200′ more of one-ski skiing left to go:

At least everyone else was still having fun, and the snow continued to get better as we descended. John:

Brittany:

Pete, now carrying a little something extra:

Brittany:

Yes, my right leg is still sore. And no, I’m not really making turns look that good with one ski:

Luckily, Jasper was able to fit into my broken ski well enough to shuffle out the flat valley, while I adjusted one of his skis to my smaller boot. It would have been an epic slog out otherwise. Despite the broken gear, this was still a great descent in an amazing zone. All things considered, I’m more interested in skiing aesthetic lines than seeking perfect conditions, and this line qualifies with ease. This stuff will never get old to me:

It’s time to shop for Christmas. Help out 14erskiers.com by shopping the Thanksgiving Day Sale – Up To 30% Off A Bounty Of Outdoor Gear At Backcountry.com. Expires 11/25/2010 At 11:59pm MST.

Our mountains have quickly turned from a fall playground into a winter one, with Crested Butte’s “pow cam” getting literally buried. This shot was only halfway through the storm:

The higher peaks to the West and North were even more buried. To say we’re off to a good start is, at this point, an understatement. Let’s hope it keeps up and we’re left with a nice stable base for the rest of the season. As we skinned up the South side of baldy, I came to the unfortunate realization that my camera batteries were dead. I had just replaced them, but the rechargeable AA batteries must have never been recharged. It was a bummer, but the skiing was still superb. After our second lap of the day, I was scrounging around my pack looking for sunscreen, (which I did not find, and my face is burnt, so don’t forget your sunscreen as we begin the ski season) when I found some other batteries. While they died last spring, they had regained just enough juice to take a few photos.

WSC bowl is named because it is very popular with students from Western State College at this time of year. A few years back I even saw a college student with a full-length garden shovel sticking out of his pack. At least he had something, I guess. In any case, here’s our tracks. The skiing was probably as good as it gets in October, with a supportable base and no rocks at all.

The second lap took us down “Skinny Cinny”, a couloir that drops off the summit of Cinnamon to the South. The first time I skied this line was way back in October 1996, a year that also started off really strong. We walked all the way from Pittsburg in the Slate River valley that time, and skied it with our 205 skinny skis. I can’t think of much that I miss from those days. “Skinny Cinny” isn’t all that skinny right now (our tracks are hard to find, but they’re in there):

All that was left after our second lap was another trip up and over Baldy.

Looking North towards Siberia, Capitol, Snowmass, and Hagerman:

Taking a break and looking towards Crested Butte:

Even at the end of a hot, sunny day, the South side of Baldy was still skiing very well. That said, I’m not sure how many sunny days the South faces can handle.

Conditions are unbelievably good right now. This is a great start to our base, but of course the fear is that all this snow now will simply be a rotten avalanche causing mess later on this season. Right now it looks like we’re heading into warmer and dryer temperatures, so we can only hope for the best. At least the skiing will be good in the short term.

On Sale – Women’s Softshell, Fleece, Down & Rain Jackets Up To 50% Off At Backcountry.com. Valid While Supplies Last.

Last year at almost the same time of year, travel up the valley was quite simple- but this year that wasn’t the case at all, and John Jasper and I even took the time to build a short road to make sure our sleds didn’t get dumped into the river.

At Yule Pass, the Raggeds Wilderness starts, so we parked the sleds there, and headed down Yule Creek. JJ, Chair Mountain behind:

The North Face of Ant has been on my list for a long time, as it offers up over 2,000′ of steep skiing right off the summit of a highly aesthetic peak. This is what we were heading for:

Unfortunately, the clouds started to roll in, and then it started to snow. Thankfully it wasn’t very windy, and the visibility was OK, so we kept going, heading up into some very rugged terrain:

The clouds continued to grow, which was a shame because the climbing near the summit was more fun than I’ve had climbing in a long time. A steep, fluted snow ridge was the only route up, and at times it was deep enough that I would use my hands to burrow away a little path to go through. “Little Alaska” indeed. At the summit, I tried to get a photo of our tracks:

A couple of shots looking down our descent route:

JJ, looking up at the sky, hoping for a brief clearing and better light on this big face:

While the light was far from ideal, we could see well enough to make our way down, especially since the upper face has a lot of rocks and cliffbands to help out, from a visibility standpoint. JJ:

Steep:

Deep:

Everything about this day was reminding me of my year spent in Whistler, from the snow and clouds to the heavy but creamy nature of the snow. In Whistler, oftentimes it’s very obvious when and where a small snow pocket will rip out and avalanche. When I lived there I called it “Permanent April”, because that’s the way the snowpack acts up there- like Colorado in April. Long story short, both Jasper and I could tell that in a few pockets the snow from two days ago hadn’t quite bonded, and sure enough, Jasper got one spot to go. As he said, “It’s not that scary when you know it’s going to happen.”

We continued down the face without any more slides, and began the gentle trek back to Yule Pass. There is so much terrain back here, one could easily spend a week here ticking off lines. The southern faces spilling off of Treasure looked like so much fun in wintertime, with literally hundreds of 5-10′ drops. Sadly, there just isn’t an easy or very safe way to get to this zone in wintertime from Crested Butte.

Mother’s day is on the way, a gift certificate from Backcountry.com is so much better than flowers.

Checking things out seemed like a better option than turning tail and heading home, so we gained the ridge and dropped down the crusty SW slopes to enter Democrat Basin. Winter or summer, Democrat Basin is an amazing place and well worth a visit even for the most jaded outdoor traveler. The wind was still pluming off one of Richmond’s summits:

We began our second ascent of the day, this time heading towards Oh-Be-Joyful pass, right under the school bus sized cornices precariously hanging off of Richmond’s South ridge. It’s a good place to move as quickly as possible.

This face continues to climb the ranks of my “most wanted” list.

Brittany and I persevered through the high winds above Oh-Be-Joyful pass and reached the summit to gear up. The top 10′ was fun:

The massive face looked like it had escaped the full brunt of the winds and we were stoked to drop in.

It was good. Frank:

Brittany:

Great terrain, good snow, bluebird. Does it get any better? Frank:

Brittany:

Frank:

Brittany:

We were worried about our climb back out of Democrat Basin and if it would be too hot on this sunny face, but the windy conditions were now doing us a favor and keeping the snow relatively dry and cool. We spent our time admiring our “John Hancock’s” on this beautiful face:

I’d like to bang a skier’s right another day to ski the steeper terrain of the East face, but the snow was a lot better on the face we skied. The cream of the Ruby range in all their glory:

You know it’s a good day when the bonus turns are in the S-Tube. We chose to ski the rib just left of the actual tube and exit the adjoining chute. Frank:

Brittany, barely visible in the center of the photo in the sunlit patch:

…and exiting out the bottom:

Looks like we’re in for some snowy weather, hopefully without too much wind and we can get back at it soon.