Kristine, the dogs, and myself had hiked the high centennial 13er Mt. Silverheels (13,822′) in the fall of 2013 from Colorado Highway 9. However, when Ben & Brian suggested we climb the lengthy east ridge and ski the elusive southeast gully, I was on board to check out this less explored side to the mighty Silverheels. Mike and I met Ben, Brian, & Dillon in the crossroads town of Como at 8am off Highway 285 and proceeded up the Boreas Pass dirt road and basically parked on the side of this road adjacent Tarryall Creek. We could see the east ridge of Silverheels miles away and what looked like a decent drainage in which to access the ridge. Now, we knew the route information on this side of the mountain was limited and that the approximate RT mileage was around 10 miles with maybe 3,500′ vertical gain, but the day turned out to be a bit more of an adventure than we had expected with a bit more vertical and mileage. Not that we all don’t like vertical and mileage and some route finding, it was just slightly more of an adventurous day than we had initially thought. Plus, Ben, Brian, & Dillon were rolling in that morning on fumes having just driven all the way to Taos, NM the day before to climb and ski the highest peak in New Mexico, Wheeler Peak. After we were literally 1 minute from the cars and into the skin, we had to cross Tarryall Creek. Nothing that a little shot-putting of skis across the creek and tiptoeing across rocks couldn’t take care of, though. We skinned up the South Tarryall Creek drainage past several frozen ponds and entered the woods. It took a bit of route finding and bushwhacking to eventually get our bearing and head for the steep treed slope which would eventually dump us out on the east ridge proper right at treeline at around 11,500′. After a few hours in the woods, it certainly was nice to get above treeline so that we could actually see where we were going and see our intended ski line.

The view from treeline of our east ridge ascent route and its numerous bumps along the right skyline. Our ski line down the southeast gully is in red

The sun was out and the skies were bluebird. The only disappointment was the number of bumps along the east ridge we would have to go up and over. It was about 2.5 miles to the summit along the extensive east ridge with lots of vertical gain and loss. We could also see the wind whipping across the ridge and creating small vortices of snow. Our good fortune with no wind would only last so long this day as it typically does up high on winter summits.

The boys skinning up the lower portion of the east ridge with Little Baldy Mountain (12,142′) behind

Ben & Dillon with Bald Mountain (left) and Boreas Mountain (right) to the north. Mt. Guyot is dead center in the distance

Ben on the east ridge

Getting higher on the east ridge

Brian & Dillon

The final 500′ or so up the east ridge to the top of the southeast gully

Ben and crew behind him

Getting closer

The long east ridge of Silverheels

The skin up the east ridge was long and arduous, especially with the wind, but we all eventually made it to the top of the southeast gully, which turned out to be yet another bump along the ridge. The true summit of Silverheels was still yet another few hundred yards away to the southwest. That wasn’t the concern. The concern was the ferocious wind whipping across the ridge and at the summit. However, Ben, Dillon, and I continued onto the summit sometimes bracing ourselves as to not get blown off the ridge. It was some of the more intense wind I can remember in a long time. Gusts between 50-60 mph were not out of the question.

Dillon on his way over to the summit

Dillon, Ben, and I on the summit of Mt. Silverheels (13,822′)

Ben de-skinning and getting ready to ski. As you can see it was a gorgeous day despite the wind

Quandary Peak looking caked with snow from the summit of Mt. Silverheels

Anyway, we topped out, took a few pics, and boogied back to the top of the southeast gully as quick as possible to join up with Brian & Mike. Ben skied the ridge, I skinned it, and Dillon was on his snowshoes. We quickly threw our skins in our bag, strapped into our skis, and started our way down the southeast gully skiing one at a time safe zone to safe zone. Dillon used the east ridge as his descent route since he was snowshoeing. Right away we realized the snow was absolutely bulletproof and would take an earthquake to shake it loose, which was great from an avalanche perspective. What was awful from a  skier’s perspective was the breakable wind slab crust intermixed with bulletproof ice. It was probably the worst ski descent I have ever experienced, especially being on my telemark skis. I think everyone else agreed as well, though Ben & Brian said it was their second worst ski descent and these guys have no shortage of ski descents. I was just very careful and deliberate with my turns and mindful as to not break my leg or tear my ACL or something worse.

Ben skiing off the top bump into the southeast gully with the wind still whipping and swirling around him

Brian and the long southeast gully descent ahead of him

Brian is a strong skier and this breakable wind slab snow even through him around some

Ben starting his way down

Ben making it look better than it was. Notice the wind slab snow in his wake

Ben skiing with Dillon barely visible on one of the eight bumps at upper right

Ben & Brian with a beautiful backdrop

Me doing my best to make a tele turn without breaking my leg. Photo by Ben

Me skiing the southeast gully. Photo by Ben

I think we were all happy to escape that ski descent without incident or injury. However, in looking at the 2,500′ gully from afar, I realized how fun of a ski it truly would be in spring corn conditions. We then veered northeast and traversed a ways until we had to start the uphill climb back to the east ridge proper to rejoin our ascent route.

Left to right: Mike, Brian, & Ben with the southeast gully behind

Ben skinning back up to the east ridge through a burned tree area

The burned tree area made for beautiful pics, though

Silverheel’s southeast gully

After regaining approximately 500′, we all took a break at treeline on the ridge, I finished my PB&J and drank some water, and we all gathered ourselves for the remaining ski descent through tight trees.

A lone tree with Bald Mountain and Boreas Mountain as the backdrop

The descent took awhile and many thanks to Ben & Brian for waiting for Mike and myself. I know we slowed you guys down. It was 3pm now and we had to find our ascent route. After a bit of wandering in the woods, we finally found our tracks and skied the rest of the way down the steep treed slope following our ascent route. We then took a hard left and took the South Tarryall Creek drainage all the way back to the Tarryall Creek crossing and finally our cars on Boreas Pass Road finally arriving back at our cars around 5pm for a 8.5 hour RT day. Dillon, of course, beat us back to the cars. We all thought the total mileage was more like 11-12 miles (rather than 10 miles) and including all eight bumps along the east ridge and our 500′ re-ascent of the east ridge the total vertical gain was probably more like 4,500′. Whatever the totals, it was a longer day than expected though fun all the same. The winds intensified throughout the day and Silverheels looked like it was getting hammered in the fading daylight by the time we reached the cars.

Silverheels from the east along Boreas Pass Road

A fun day out with a great crew, though it may be awhile before I venture up Silverheels again.

The weather forecast this past Saturday was for snow showers and cruddy weather in general which would make any higher alpine pursuit above treeline fairly unpleasant. J and I attended our friends Ben Conners & Brian Miller’s new book presentation in Edwards on Friday night. Their new book, Climbing and Skiing Colorado’s Mountains: 50 Select Ski Descents, is a wonderful addition to any ski mountaineer’s collection of books and knowledge. These two very accomplished ski-mountaineers put forth a lot of effort with this book and it really showed. Its a spectacular book ranging from beginner ski descents like Quandary’s east face to the extreme such as North Maroon Peak’s north face. Plus, Brian gives his expert recommendations on where to eat after each climb and ski descent, which is just about as important as the adventure itself. The next morning Ben, Brian, J, myself, and Rick Thompson all met at the Mt. Royal trailhead in Frisco at 8am to give this nifty little ski line dubbed The Coin Slot a solid attempt. This ski line is at or below treeline in order to avoid any harsher weather and wind on this day and is also north facing so it should hold better snow being not nearly sun-affected as other aspects. The Coin Slot just simply sounds like a fun adventure down the steep north side of Mt. Royal to looker’s right of the 1,500′ rock climb called The Royal Flush, which we have climbed a few times. Additionally, there is a 50 ft rappel into the 45 degree chute, so what’s not to like?!

The Coin Slot as viewed from I-70

We met Ben & Brian’s friend Elliot Halverson, a very knowledgeable and accomplished ski-mountaineer, who skinned up the Mt. Royal trail with us and showed us where to go for The Coin Slot. Elliot’s crew then went on to ski a supposed new line down Mt. Royal’s north face. The 1,500′ skin went by pretty fast and once we hit the ridge the wind and weather was pretty intense. We quickly donned harnesses and put the skis on the packs and descended steep and loose slopes for a few hundred feet to the rappel point. We unpacked my two 8mm/30m ropes, hitched them together, and slung it through the webbing and rap anchors already in place around the tree.

Me setting up the rappel. Photo by Ben

Left to right at the rappel point: Rick, J, Ben, & Brian

Looking down the rappel

The boys then insisted I go first (probably because we all knew I would be last on the ski down since I am a telemarker and the fact that J, Rick, Ben, and Brian can just plain rip on skis). I made the rappel into the steep chute and set up myself to get my skis on my feet, probably the hardest task for me this day. The boys came down after me (Brian rappelling with his skis on his feet, which was interesting yet efficient) and we all proceeded to ski the steep chute one at a time. J said it was the tightest chute he has ever skied. I would bet so considering at its choke its probably only 6-7 ft wide. Let’s just say I wasn’t making telemark turns in this narrow chute. Anyway, it was a really fun adventure down a steep, narrow line on the north face of Mt. Royal. Enjoy the pics:

Brian on rappel with his skis on his feet

Everyone in the chute now

Looking down The Coin Slot to I-70

Ben (left) and J (right)

Left to right: J, me, & Rick. Photo by Ben

Brian slashing and spraying his way down the narrow chute

Ben’s turn

Ben’s point of view down the narrowest portion. Photo by Ben

J coming down

J doing his jump turns down the narrowest portion of the chute

The remaining portion of the steep chute after the very narrow section. Photo by Ben

Brian on the descent. Photo by Ben

J on the lower section

I was actually really looking forward to skiing the much more open and lower-angled apron, but the conditions were so variable (breakable crust to powder) that it was survival skiing at its worst. We all regrouped at the cars and were going to take another lap down the J-Chute or something similar but the southeast facing snow conditions below treeline were atrocious in that I would rather just hike down than take skis back up. So, we called it a day and went into Frisco and ate lunch at Lost Cajun as recommended in Ben & Brian’s new guidebook. Yum.

The Coin Slot

The next day, in much better weather (absolutely bluebird skies and full sun), Kristine and I had a ski tour date up our local 12,136′ peak named Bald Mountain just north of Vail Village. Despite being so close to us and located in our favorite Gore Range, we had yet to climb this peak for one reason or another. While only a 12er, Bald Mountain boasts quite the vertical gain and mileage at around 4,000′ and 10 miles roundtrip. After dropping Rainier off at Sarah & Keith’s house and picking up their dog, Molly, we drove to Vail and essentially parked at the main Vail Village exit. From there we started the ascent of Bald’s long and broad southwest ridge through gorgeous glades and thick trees around 9:30am.

Kristine starting the skin with the Vail Village exit down below

We had to put the skis on our packs for the initial few hundred vertical feet, but then we got to mellower slopes and were able to skin the entire way to Bald’s summit. We quickly noticed that there was a Black Hawk helicopter running all day up in the Spraddle Creek, Middle Creek, and Bald Mountain areas. We also noticed the chopper was dropping folks off on the west ridge of Bald Mountain and pretty soon our fears were realized. We came upon a few search and rescue (SAR) volunteers in the woods and they told us a man from Indiana had been missing since Friday en route to the backcountry Eiseman Hut north of Bald Mountain. We had been to the Eiseman Hut on a few backcountry skiing excursions/hut trips and certainly know how difficult the terrain and locating the hut can be, especially in bad weather. However, when he went missing last Friday, the weather was good and apparently he deliberately separated from his group saying he would meet them at the hut. By the time his friends arrived at the hut, the man was not there. SAR crews had been searching all weekend and still to this day there is no sign of the missing person. Its a tragic situation and it seems that every year someone gets lost en route to/from the Eiseman Hut. I certainly hope the gentleman is found alive.

Kristine skinning through gladed areas with Vail ski mountain behind

Bald Mountain still a good distance away

Open glades along Bald’s broad southwest ridge

Bald’s south face

Kristine and I proceeded to have a fantastic day together skinning to the summit of Bald Mountain for outstanding views of Vail ski resort, the northern Sawatch Range, and of course the Gores the entire way up.

Kristine beginning the skin up Bald’s west ridge once above treeline

Kristine & Kona

Kristine topping out on a new Gore Range 12er for us

There is nothing better than a PB&J on a summit with very light wind, warm sunshine, gorgeous views, and your terrific wife. The Black Hawk came fairly close to us on the summit searching for the missing hiker.

Kristine & Kona on Bald Mountain’s summit with Vail ski resort and the northern Sawatch Range behind

The Black Hawk

The Black Hawk with Ripsaw Ridge as the backdrop

Molly taking in the views

Kona catching some zzzz’s on Bald’s summit with East & West Partner Peaks behind

The Chalks (minus a Rainier) on Bald Mountain’s summit (12,136′)

Just a gorgeous winter day

Vail ski resort with 14er Mt. of the Holy Cross in the distance as seen from Bald Mountain’s summit

After about 3 hours and 45 minutes up, 30 minutes on the summit, we started the ski down our ascent route.

Kristine and the dogs skiing off Bald’s summit

It was tight skiing in the trees and tough to find our skin track at points due to the several skin and ski tracks made by the SAR crews, but we made it back down to the car in about an hour and a half. We did enjoy some enjoyable spring corn turns on low-angled slopes at the bottom of the southwest ridge. Spring is almost here. All in all, it was  a leisurely and very enjoyable 6 hour roundtrip ski tour. I think we’d both highly recommend Bald’s southwest ridge as a fun and mellow ski tour if your willing to do a bit of your own routefinding and navigation. A map of the route is below:

Bald Mountain’s southwest ridge route

Uneva Peak is one of our favorite go-to 12,000′ peaks on any kind of day in any kind of season. Its relatively easy access from Vail Pass and moderate slopes make it a nice, safe half-day outing whether just hiking, snowshoeing, or skinning and skiing. While we’ve been up it now too many times to count, I have never posted pics on our adventures up and down the peak. However, I figured I would do so now considering the gorgeous sunny day we had this past Saturday with good friends (W&L fraternity brothers and their spouses) who were visiting us from Colorado Springs, Chicago, and St. Louis. Jamie Buckley and Dave & Sarah Levinson climbed Kilimanjaro with us back in August of 2011. We all arrived at Vail Pass at the early alpine start of 10:45am. Shortly after 11:15am, Kristine and I set off on our skins and skis while the rest of the crew set out on snowshoes and the dogs on their paws.

The crew with 13er Jacque Peak in the distance. Right to left: Jamie, Eileen, Sarah, Dave, & Kristine

Mellow slopes lead up to the shallow bowl we have dubbed “Uneva Bowl”

Moonscape

Uneva Bowl

I have rarely had a sunny, windless day up on Uneva, but this day took the cake. It was absolutely gorgeous. And the shallow bowl and ridgeline leading up to Uneva were completely caked with soft snow to boot. After about 2 1/2 hours in the soft snow, we reached the ridgeline/saddle where we could peer over into Summit County and down to Frisco and Silverthorne. This saddle was the start of the southeast ridge up and over the Point 12,340′ false summit and onto Uneva’s summit.

Rainier and the start of the southeast ridge up to Uneva Peak’s false summit, Point 12,340′

Our adopted dog for the day, Molly, with Copper Mountain ski resort and the Tenmile Range behind

Uneva Peak’s false summit on the left and true summit on the right as viewed from the ridgeline/saddle

Jamie & Eileen Buckley from Chicago

Dave & Sarah Levinson from St. Louis

Everyone was doing so well considering 4 of our 5 friends were from close to sea level and had just arrived 2 days prior. Chris Sutton was from Colorado Springs and was doing well as always. Chris had been up here before with me and Rainier, but had never tagged Uneva’s true summit. After we all hung out at the saddle a bit, ate our PB&J sandwiches, and enjoyed the sun and the views, we discussed going on to Uneva’s summit. The sea level folks had done so well all day and we were all happy that they had reached the ridgeline. While Sarah, Dave, Eileen, and Jamie were happy with the day’s efforts and decided to descend, Chris wanted to continue on to the summit as did the Chalks. I continued the rocky skin up the ridge while Kristine left her skis and booted it while Chris snowshoed.

Molly on top of Uneva’s fale summit, Point 12,340′, with the Gore Range behind

Kona, Chris, and Kristine approaching Point 12,340′

The saddle between the false summit and Uneva’s true summit

We reached Uneva’s gorgeous summit about 30 minutes later under a warm sun and calm skies. We stayed up on the summit for a good 30 minutes soaking in the sun and admiring the views of the Gore Range laid out before us to the north.

Rainier lounging on the summit of Uneva Peak (12,522′)

Kona coming up to the summit with the mighty Gores behind

Looking north to the southern Gores. The Silverthorne massif (center), Zodiac View (lower left), Red Peak (far right), and Zodiac Ridge connecting Red Peak to the Silverthorne massif are all visible

Molly and the Vail sidecountry terrain called East Vail, aka Benchmark Peak & Bowl

Looking northwest to the central & northern Gores

Chris on the summit of Uneva Peak

The Chalks on Uneva’s summit

Chris, Kristine, and me

Rainier again did so well. Its getting tougher and tougher for her on these peaks with her now being over 11 years old, but Uneva is definitely still within her limits

Kristine and the pups

We then retraced our steps back down to the saddle below Point 12,340′ where Kristine clicked into her skis. I skinned/skied my way down from Uneva’s summit over fairly rocky terrain, but managed to not ding my skis too bad. We then skied out to the mellow Uneva Bowl and descended down 25 degree terrain back to our ascent track.

Chris descending the mellow ridge before dropping into Uneva Bowl with the Sawatch range in the distance to the south

Sun, sun, sun

Kristine making the snow look better than it actually was

After carrying Rainie a bit in the deep, sloppy powder while I skied, we all reached Vail Pass an hour or so later. It was a fine day out with good friends from afar.