TR: Hagar Mountain (20 March 2015)
(Last Updated On: April 25, 2015)
I first skied Hagar over 8 years ago. I was with my friend Dave. Our original intention was to ski the neighboring Citadel. But, clouds moved in and a white-out ensued. Without Dave’s GPS, we surely would have had no idea where the mountain actually was. Part way up Citadel, visibility was basically non-existent. We decided to back off and retreated to Hagar. Why did we try to ski this when we couldn’t even make it up Citadel? Dave had a “couloir” in mind. The couloir would provide some visibility.
In the end, it turned out to be a fantastic ski for the day. So, when Hagar got brought during a discussion while Frank, Gary, and I were discussing what to ski the next day, I jumped on it. It was high, which is something we were looking for with hopes of a good freeze during the warm nights we were having, and it was southeast facing, which meant we should find good corn.
The trail head right off I-70 isn’t necessarily ideal.
But, I-70 is quickly left behind as we entered into the alpine.
Our gang for the day- Dan, Gary, Alex, Frank – and of course me, who was taking the photo 🙂
The skinning continued. Frank.
Our destination- Hagar Mountain. Nice to actually see the mountain this day – much different than my experience 8 years prior.
We ascended to the ridge and the views of the Gore Range were magnificent.
After skinning most of the way, we made our final push to the summit by bootpacking.
Gray’s and Torrey’s in the distance.
Hagar Mountain is easily spotted from Loveland ski area. So, of course, we were able to spot Loveland from the mountain.
The last bit of the climb was especially fun.
Frank on the summit.
Then, the skiing. Alex.
Gary.
Frank.
Me.
That run was soooooo good that we decided to stick around and do another. Destination #2 – Citadel.
But wait! As the boys rounded the corner, they spotted it. The Boomerang – or a variation of it anyways. That’s what I skied with my friend Dave 8 years before. Although I really wanted to ski Citadel, which I hadn’t skied before, I couldn’t deny that the skiing on the Boomerang looked far better. So, back up Hagar we went.
Frank decided to kill us all by putting in an insanely steep skin track. A picture of it later in the day.
I decided booting was better.
A few shots from where the skinning was less steep.
Dan with Citadel behind.
The skiing on the first run was great. But, it was even better on the second! Gary dropping in.
Alex.
Dan.
Frank.
Me.
It was fun to relive memories from 8 years ago and great to be able to actually see the peak I was skiing this time. It was another fantastic day of skiing on Hagar Mountain and a great way to welcome in the Spring!
Brittany Walker Konsella
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Love the skin track shot for your second run. A straight line up, overlayed with a zig zag, hahahah.
The top little bit of warming snow was peeling off, to an extent, when sidehilling. I often find in conditions like that that it’s easier to leave the skins flat and go straight, especially with grippy snow. So yeah, I was going straight up. Not sure who decided the put in switchbacks.