Never Summer Range Traverse

I set out the first weekend of April to ski from Cameron Pass to RMNP with Mark Koob. We had attempted this traverse a few years ago with another friend, Travis, but decided to bail at Lake of the Clouds after unfavorable weather.

Using the knowledge gained from the last time I set a more ambitious goal of also summitting all the peaks from Richthofen to Baker and getting as many ski descents in as possible.

We didn't have any car shuttle help, so had quite a bit of driving to do with 4 hours on Friday night and 5 hours on the return on Sunday night.

We started at the Crags trailhead at 4am on Saturday moving quickly to warm up. It was quite cold. I was wearing my micropuff under my helmet and had on windshells plus a hand warmer over my gloves. We had warmed up by the time we got past Agnes Cabin and we could start to see the moon losing some of its disk to the eclipse. Unfortunately we followed an existing skintrack in the dark and ended up on the flank of the wrong mountain(Braddock Peak). After breakfast burritos we realized our mistake and decided to ski traverse around staying as high as we could. Mark left his skins on and his splitboard in ski mode while I ripped and locked my heels. We skied through a number of large slide paths that had gone big within the past few years. One in particular felt almost like walking though burned out forests north of Steamboat Springs. It was eerie.

The snow was in great shape with 4-6 inches of fresh on top of a nice stable base and we had high expectations for our descent down Richthofen's SE face later in the morning.

We skinned up past Lake Agnes and made good time to Richthofen's shoulder. Amazingly the fresh snow made for easy skinning with no ski crampons required.

When we gained the ridge we were cold again with significant wind and while the sun was hitting Mahler Peak to the west of us, it would be awhile until we were blessed with its warmth. The hiking up the ridge was treacherous with the talus being loose and only covered with the most recent storm. It made slow and frustrating progress. When we got the view of our planned descent we were disappointed to find dry talus where there was plenty of snow on our last attempt. We started to climb down the talus to a ribbon of snow but that felt unsafe due to the steep pitch. I kicked off a large block and it kept bouncing past my view. So as soon as possible I put on my skis to sideslip the 'ribbon of death.' It is even more fitting here than early season at the resorts, and fall would have been very dangerous and the snow was narrow and very firm. I did manage a few turns in a small powder deposit before traversing hard right where we had made it down in 2013. I had to cross another talus field with fresh snow on top of dry rocks. This was possible by stepping with my skis, but I worried about how Mark, on a snowboard, would manage it. I managed to avoid any coreshots, but did definitely cause a little pain to my edges and bases with this maneuver. I kept traversing until I could see a line that I was reasonably sure would go. Due to the steepness and the fact that the slope rolls over I couldn't be certain that skiing down the snow I had just traversed would have gone, but in the future I would like to do a bottom up ski of this pitch because there are some very interesting lines to be had with the right beta. I skied down a narrow ramp with variable snow until I could see for sure that I would make it down and then turned my attention to Mark.

Off Trail Hiking in the Gore

 

When the flowers were in full bloom we took a weekend backpacking trip into the southern portion of the Gore Range. We had planned a different and much more technical route, but everything worked out for the best with this pared down, fun route.

Early Summer Couloirs on Mt Guyot

In the late fall we hiked Guyot and then South along the ridge to French Pass. On the way we saw some couloirs on the ridge that were filled in with snow already, when nothing else around had much snow. We made a pact to return and ski them. We finally fulfilled that goal the second day of summer.

We camped near the gate the night before and then biked in to the second gate where we hiked up the pass a bit and then the ridge. We were glad to have our aluminum crampons to make quick work of a snowfield which extended far down into the valley.

Skiing the Ford-Stettner Route on the Grand Teton

SUMMIT DAY

We awoke after a good 9 hrs of sleep at 4:15am. The moon was high and casting perfect light onto the Grand Teton massive that began practically out our tent door. Although the peak is close at the crow flies, getting to the route and up requires stamina, patience, skill, and a little luck. For us, this day, everything came together and the mountain allowed us passage and the privilege to stand atop.

Starting up the boulder field we hiked by the guide camp, trying to move quietly. It did not matter, we soon found out from another group of two camped close by- the guided group of 4 had left 2 hrs earlier.  Together the twosome from Bozeman and us hiked up the Teepee glacier. The sun was rising off in the distance, creating enough light to see and change into crampons and harnesses.

After the little saddle of Teepee we went down a slope and around an arete into the Stettner couloir.  Here the two guys zipped by as they were soloing the first pitch, whereas we roped up. Tim lead first.  We ended up simul-climbing as well because the distance was too great between the anchors.  A fact I learned later, which I was glad to find out after the fact.

At the first belay station. Not too steep, but worth starting out roped for the  confidence and the mind-set shift.  Now begins the climb- slow and steady in the Chevy

Spring Never Summer Skiing

After skiing Nokhu Crags last year where we topped out on Breakfast Couloir and looked South into Snow Lake and the Never Summer range, I decided I needed to explore the area(and do a ski traverse). 

I recently had been planning the traverse and had two buddies to come with, so we went for it. 

West ridge up Richthofen

We had planned to ski from most of the peaks in the range, camping half way at Lake of the Clouds. However, slower than anticipated travel speed and severe warming early in the day conspired to change our plans.

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

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.

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.