TBT: Loveland Pass – Widow Maker & Hippie Trees (1 May 2016)
(Last Updated On: February 15, 2017)
This post is part of a Throwback Thursday series featuring trip reports that we haven’t had a chance to write about until now! Look for them at least every other Thursday!
There’s nothing quite like spring powder. The storms often come with a vengeance, dumping more snow than most storms in winter, leaving wet snow that stabilizes fast. When they come, I start feeling like I live in the Pacific Northwest.
Susan and I had taken a little trip to the Front Range during one of those storms last season. The first day, we found great turns on Trelease. The next day, we focused on Loveland Pass, with the Widow Maker in mind.
From across the way at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, the Widow Maker is easy to spot. It’s ominous avalanche path swoops across the mountain and calls to backcountry skiers who dare.
But, it’s an avalanche path, which means it does slide. Skiing the Widow Maker on a pow-day in the heart of winter would certainly lead to grave outcomes. Yet, our day was in spring. Late spring really – the day after a cement-like snow fell and bonded quickly to the stable snowpack beneath it. The Widow Maker was a good choice for the day.
Looking down the Loveland Pass Widow Maker.
Susan dropping in.
And she just kept on going 🙂
A look back at some of our tracks.
When we got to the bottom we weren’t done. We wanted to keep skiing. So, we headed down the road and began making our way up the Hippie Trees. Although these are normally accessed from a shuttle at the top of the pass, these aren’t hard to access from the road either. Before we knew it, we’d arrived to the top of the ridge.
Susan.
Me.
The of course, in true Loveland Pass style, we hitched a ride back to our car 🙂
The Loveland Pass Widow Maker is a great backcountry ski route in more stable conditions, while the Hippie Trees would make a good lapping option in the heart of winter. All in all, it was another fun day out in the backcountry!
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