Boreas Pass, Gold Dust Trail, camping and Boreas Mountain

BOREAS PASS- CLOSE TO BRECK YET A DIFFERENT SCENE ALTOGETHER

Having moved our last load from Steamboat to Summit Thursday night, we were still unpacking and getting settled once the weekend rolled around.  I had thought of heading over to Leadville to pace a friend in the Trail Run 100 but never heard back.  We wanted to get out of the house as the work was endless but did not desire to drive a long way and had to be back in 24 hours to resume house work, interview tenants and meet with an electrician.  Not to worry, though, as there are countless opportunities in the Breck area to travel a short distance, yet feel like you've left the domestic life at home. Such a place is Boreas Pass, just 15 minutes drive from downtown.
We packed up camping gear, bikes and Acacia (family dog) and headed through the soon-to-change Aspens on the old railroad, which provides some of the best views (read: tourist hangouts) in the area.

Looking into South Park... Tim thought that the smoke haze settled in the valley made the hills looks like islands surfacing from an ocean floor.

Flat Tops Bicycle Tour

Camping at its best

Wedding

Wedding weekend. An adventure of a different kind requiring endurance, patience and planning.

Tim and I left Steamboat Thursday morning for Summit County. Stopping in the Summit County 'suburbs' of Willowbrook and Summit Cove we continue on the hunt for the 'perfect house,' or at least a home that would give us easier access to winter recreation and bigger mountain skiing. The views of the Gore and Ten Mile Range, once taken for granted, now beckon me back to where I grew up.
Thursday was low-key, comparatively. Crossing paths on Swan Mountain Road, the connection between Breckenridge and Keystone resorts, we saw Tim's immediate family. We then met up with Dave and Sam, Tim's groomsmen, at the Breckenridge condo. They had skied at Arapahoe Basin that day. They joined us for dinner at my parents.
Friday was where the fun started I guess one could say... Tim went back to the Basin with the boys while I had some 'girlie things” to accomplish. During each part I remained positive and tried to enjoy even though I am not used to being fussed over. Dress fitting at the Breck Rec Center's locker room was followed later by buying flowers, creating the guest and letter book then going for manicures with the ladies! 

Epic rides in Steamboat

Some epic rides happening in Steamboat, lots of trees down.

To start the ride out we have to cross the stream

Longs, Storm and Lady Washington

After being thwarted by Trail Ridge Road being closed Friday, we thought to shorten our Glacier Gorge Traverse by one night and decided to camp at Boulder Field on Saturday night, climbing Longs in the AM and then continuing on Keyboard of the Winds from there.

Tyndall Glacier and Tyndall Gorge ski

After climbing Longs the day before we decided to do one last day of skiing as a recovery day. We figured the best way to do this was to hike up Flattop Mountain and ski down Tyndall Glacier to come out the gorge and trail.
There was surprisingly lots of snow on the flattop trail, given how much snow there was on the trail to Longs. We don't have pictures of the snow on the trail.

Animals in Rocky Mountain National Park

This past weekend we were in Rocky Mountain National Park and saw a few animals that I'd love to share.
Friday night we were hiking in the evening in the national forest and Wilderness and came upon a young moose.

4th of July Bowl in May

Two weekends ago we went up to the 4th of July Bowl on Peak 10 just after the spring storm to get some fresh snow.

Robins hatching in Steamboat

Recently robins hatched outside our front door in Steamboat. Here's some pictures. I'll keep the post updated as they grow

The first one hatched, second one poking through

Nokhu Crags Powder Day

We went to Cameron Pass this past weekend to get some couloir skiing before the big day. We're busy for the next few weekends and so figured this would be the last chance to ski Nokhu Crags. I've got my eyes on these two parallel couloirs on the west slope of the crags and so I hoped to ski at least the lookers right one on Sunday. On Saturday we figured to ski the classics, Nokhuloir and Grand Central Couloir.
I also had my eyes on possibly skiing Rock for Brains but figured that would not likely have enough snow.
We stayed in the truck Friday night and got up early Saturday. It was quick getting to the campground and we found a great spot on a dry patch. We set up the tent and went off to the east face of the crags. It was an easy approach and there was flurries and clouds keeping the day chilly. Good for us, since we had not gotten the earliest start. We were also surprised to find a good bit of fresh snow on the approach. We were socked in and did not see the crags well until we hit the moraine. It was amazing to me how aesthetic it is in there!

RMNP Ski Tour March Day 4

The next morning I woke and felt much better. We cooked the dinner planned for the night before for breakfast and decided to do a little skills practice while waiting for the snow on the way out to warm up a little. We went over to some rock fin poking out of the glacier and Kate placed a few anchors and we practiced rappelling. This went well, looking at creative placements for nuts and pitons.
Then we went back and packed up. I should have paid more attention to Kate's pack, but let her take care of loading it. Later on in the day this was a problem again, similar to the way in. Packing went quickly and soon there was no evidence that we had stayed there.
The hike to the top of the couloir we had booted up went quickly and soon we were descending it. It was still firm and with the heavy packs a little unbalanced, but still very fun and aesthetic.

RMNP Ski Tour March Day 3

Today we had plans to ski a number of couloirs, first Dragon's Tail, then Dragon's Tooth, then Corral then Hour Glass. We got up relatively leisurely figuring to give the day some time to warm the snow before we got into it. This worked fine, especially given it was a cloudy day to start.
We had to hike along the divide for about an hour to get to Flat Top Mountain and then down a bit to get to the top of Dragon's Tail. I'd read up about this quite a bit, but it was still a bit difficult to find from the top.

Sign for Chaos Canyon

RMNP Ski Tour March Day 2

Today we were a bit sore from yesterday but in good spirits. I figured it would take 3 hours to get from camp at Foot Bridge to near Andrew's Pass, counting elevation gain about 3k feet. I did not take into account some very gentle switchbacks, down trees, or booting up a couloir, all which ate up considerable time, adding perhaps 1-1.5 hours. 

One not so large deadfall to negotiate over

RMNP Ski Tour March Day 1

Kate loaded up and ready to go

We came in from Grand Lake via the North Inlet trail. Thankfully the backcountry permit application is free in the off season, so it didn't cost us anything to camp for the weekend. However, we did have to pick the permit up from the backcountry office where they made sure to doom and gloom us about the conditions. Not that they were wrong, we did find lots of down trees and a fair bit of rotten snow down low, but they always seem to blow it out of proportion.

Summit County Peak 6 Ski

Tim doing some rock scrambling