Butler Gulch Alpine Powder Skiing 11.28.15
(Last Updated On: December 2, 2015)
After a few days in Denver eating turkey and battling Black Friday crowds (OK, I’m kidding about that part), it was time to head back to Crested Butte. Thankfully, we had planned for a ski mission on the way home, and there was new snow to be had in the Front Range. After throwing out a few options, Butler Gulch seemed like a good call given the number of backcountry skiing options.
At the trailhead, I quickly discovered that I haven’t gone skiing enough this season. Which means I’m not on my game- and that means I forget things, like skins and gloves. Luckily I had realized my gloves error before leaving Golden, so Gary Fondl grabbed an extra pair on his way to the trailhead. The skins on the other hand- those were discovered at the trailhead. Good thing Butler Gulch is incredibly well-traveled, so much so that booting wasn’t nearly as bad as it sounds. Gary and Brittany, on the other hand, got to skin:
Actually, in the area near treeline above, Gary gave me one of his skins. Then we each put Voile straps around our ski that didn’t have a skin. It worked out OK on the flats. When it got steeper, it was back to skinning, which wasn’t bad since you could follow wind-stripped areas. Up top, with Torrey’s behind:
Brittany dropping in:
While there wasn’t a lot of new snow, what was there was light and fluffy, and the surface underneath was smooth and fairly predictable. In other words, it was good. Gary:
Brittany:
Gary:
It was so good, we went back for lap number 2. Another group was heading up at this point as well:
In the end, we skied around 3500′ of good snow on a bright sunny day- and I got to boot most of it. Lucky me, hopefully next time I won’t forget my skins 😉
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