TR: North Routt Backcountry Skiing – Hahns Peak & Farwell Mountain
(Last Updated On: May 4, 2016)
This winter, we spent some time up in the Steamboat area and surrounding backcountry. Similar to Crested Butte, much of the best backcountry skiing is best accessed by snowmobile. But, we did find a few worthy non-sled backcountry skiing options on Hahns Peak and Farwell Mountain.
Hahns Peak (13 Feb 2016)
Although Hahns Peak doesn’t have a very impressive elevation, by Colorado standards, it is certainly one of the more prominent peaks in the North Routt area. It beckons backcountry skiers.
We generally stuck to the typical summer route for the climb.
Colin, Frank, and I enjoyed good views of Hahns throughout the climb.
The top of Hahns Peak is decorated with a lookout tower.
Unfortunately, it was closed for restoration.
The east chute certainly looked good, but was not in our plans for the day….
Colin dropping in near the top.
My turn.
Lower down, we enjoyed plenty of good powder turns. Frank.
Hahns Peak is certainly worth checking out!
Farwell Mountain (12 Mar 2016)
Farwell is one of the larger mountains in the North Routt area. Not only does it rise almost 3000 vertical feet above the valley, it also has a wide breadth. There’s lots to ski on this peak. But, we headed for the southeast chutes.
Larry skinning across Pearl Lake Reservoir with Farwell in the distance.
The skinning was pretty east and straight-forward and we found ourselves making good time to the summit. The skiing was pretty good! Larry, on the skier’s right edge of the SE chutes:
Me, with the SE chutes behind.
After finishing the chutes, we enjoyed a nice ski through the aspen forest back to our car at Pearl Lake!
The Steamboat Springs region has a lot of good backcountry skiing, and it was fun to do some exploring in the North Routt area!
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Hi Brittany, what was your route up Farwell and down back to the car? Trying to avoid private land.
Hi Gloria! Thanks for your comment! The details of our route are subject to copyright as per our contract with Mountaineers Books. But, you can find the details in our guidebook!