{"id":6794,"date":"2011-01-26T20:16:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-27T02:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/?p=6794"},"modified":"2014-03-16T20:18:28","modified_gmt":"2014-03-17T02:18:28","slug":"buckhorn-couloir-1-26-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/buckhorn-couloir-1-26-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Buckhorn Couloir 1.26.11"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crested Butte (the mountain) has a wide range of great skiing opportunities besides the terrific in-bounds terrain. Unfortunately, the area outside the boundaries is also steep, complicated, and avalanche-prone terrain, and much of it ends up on private property, so Crested Butte has always had a closed boundary policy. I’d like to think that someday that might change, and skiers could ski down lines like the Terminator chutes<\/a> with ropes and gear, but that’s probably too progressive of an outlook- after all, this isn’t Europe is it? In any case, the terrain is still accessible from outside the boundaries, so Pete Sowar, John Jasper and I headed out to ski the South facing “Buckhorn Couloir” last week amidst improving avalanche conditions and sunny skies.<\/p>\n

Fog covered the lower valley, which stayed cold in an inversion while we basked in the sun up high.
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We topped out near the summit of the mountain, where several skiers were taking advantage of the conditions by ascending the peak, an in-bounds run here in Crested Butte.
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After a quick snack, we headed through the forest towards the couloir, a line each of us had skied at least once. Pete:
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John:
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The entrance to the couloir is tight and intricate, and sometimes the best route doesn’t follow the couloir exactly down the center. JJ dropping in:
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Pete:
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The Buckhorn Couloir is an incredibly aesthetic place. Unlike most couloirs, the Buckhorn is below treeline, so there is an amazing composition of snow, rock, and banzai-like trees growing in all directions.
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The couloir gets better and more pronounced the farther you drop in. Pete:
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JJ:
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Pete nears the end of the line:
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Once we reached the boulder field flats below, we took a minute to admire the line. It’s somewhat hidden between Pete and Jasper:
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All that was left was some fun low-angle skiing back towards home:
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Here’s the video version:
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