Junetober Continues…
(Last Updated On: June 15, 2009)
Normally one of the hottest times of the year, after the snows of spring but before the monsoons of July and August, June this year has been anything but hot. A seemingly endless parade of cool, wet storms have kept the temps quite nice and snow has been a regular occurrence, sometimes even down in Crested Butte at 8885′. The dusty snow has been covered up by a much more appealing white in many locations, and I would even go so far as saying that the skiing this June is better than last years’. Even more surprising, people are still getting summit descents off of peaks that were nearly bone-dry in March, but are caked now as we inch closer to summer.
Forrest contacted me and asked me if I was still interested in skiing and the answer to that was of course “Yes”. Tom was still game as was Shannon, a friend of Forrest’s, so we had a foursome. We met up in the Sawatch range at the end of a high road near treeline- terrific access for this time of year. (It isn’t hard to figure out where we were, but I’ll at least let the reader figure it out, since this was Forrest’s idea) Our destination was a thirteener at the head of the valley, although several other steep couloirs were tempting.
Our peak:
The skis stayed on our backs the whole time, as it was just as easy to boot up the grassy slopes as it would have been to skin the nearby snow patches. (Photo Tom)
Near the top the ridge got a little interesting with a couple of moves here and there. Tom negotiates the fun little finish…
Though it was not yet 11am, clouds were already building and it was time to go. Tom off the top:
Frank (photo Tom):
Forrest:
Shannon (photo Tom):
Tom:
Frank (photo Tom):
The skiing was quite good- almost powdery in places, great corn in others. By the time we reached the trucks it was flurrying once again- more fresh tracks for someone to get!
One last thing- I often post up Tom’s photos, and I think he has a great eye. To check out all his photos, go here.
Frank Konsella
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