Despite having basically lived in Edwards for the better part of 12 years (except for a few year stint in Eagle-Vail with the fabulous friend & roomie Megan Gilman), I always glanced up at this nice peak looming far above the Lake Creek Valley and the town of Edwards dubbed “Finnegans” by locals. The official 13er Finnegan Peak (13,346′) is south of Finnegans along the same ridge a few summits over. It has a mellow north-facing slope from its 12,765′ summit down to treeline at around 11,400′. This tree-less alpine slope always looked like it would be a superbly fun ski. Well, it took 12 years to finally go ski it, but it was a great adventure with my good friends and the skiing down the north face yesterday (June 7) was just awesome creamed corn goodness. We all felt the patchy post-holing effort along the Middle Lake trail was well worth the skiing on the upper face.

I had hiked up Finnegans twice in the last decade. The first was with my friend Mike Johnson when we thought we could actually ridge-run from Finnegans all the way to 13er Gold Dust Peak with Rainier & Kona in an afternoon after arriving on Finnegans’ summit at an early ridge traverse alpine start of 10am. Yeah right. Oh how my mind/body’s appetite has caught up with my eyes over the years, i.e my eyes can’t write checks anymore my mind/body can’t cash. Then in fall of 2011, Kristine, Rainier, Kona, & myself did a nice hike up a dry Finnegans and had wonderful view of the fall colors and turning leaves in the valleys below.

All Chalks on the summit of Finnegans (12,765′) in October of 2011

Fast forward to yesterday and good pals Joel Gratz, Tamra Malczyk, J Weingast, Gus (Tamra’s 11 year old wonder dog), & myself all piled into my Tahoe and bounced our way up the West Lake Creek Road (Baryeta Cabins Road as J and I call it) around 7:30am.

Finnegans as seen from a mile and a half in on the West Lake Creek Road. Photo by Joel

As compared to my photo of Finnegans in October of 2011 along this same stretch of road

About a mile and a quarter before the end of the road (where we had hoped to drive to) a snow bank blocked easy passage. Yes, we maybe could have plowed through the 18″ high drift, but we played it safe and parked off the 4WD road. Skis/boots on our packs and trail running shoes on our feet, we boogied up the road to the Middle Lake trailhead.

Me heading up the dry trail. Photo by Joel

I had a hunch it would be off and on snow drifts along the mostly north-facing trail, but we perhaps did a little more post-holing than I anticipated. Putting the skis/skins on your feet really isn’t justified when the snowdrift is followed by 30 yards of dry trail. The snowdrifts were sloppy and deep. Our feet were soaked. J was smart to bring his gaiters. However, it was warm out and wet feet didn’t really matter all that much – it actually felt slightly refreshing.

Joel in some of my deep post-holes along the Middle Lake trail

After negotiating some steep drifts on the trail that essentially hugs a cliff, we ventured into the mellow west-facing bowl and found continuous snow up through the trees. YES! We then donned our skins/skis and skinned our way up the remaining 1,000′ to treeline at around 11,400′.

Finally, we’re on skis!

Joel

Tamra

J heading up and out of the woods onto Finnegans’ broad north face

After being in the woods for a few hours, it was extraordinary to get above treeline and see the views really open up around us of all the familiar peaks and valleys.

J and the Gore Range

I guess the snow is still this deep up higher on north-facing aspects – likely 6′ or so

Tamra and our favorite Gore Peaks towering in the distance

The mellow north ridge/face of Finnegans

Cornices on the north ridge

The crew skinning along

After an hour of mellow skinning we reached the final little headwall to Finnegans’ summit, which maybe reached 45 degrees but only for 30 feet or so. There were significant cornices on the north ridge’s east side, which made things a bit more dramatic (and made for cool pictures). J and I were able to skin the final headwall pitch while Tamra and Joel booted up. Gus, of course, booted up.

J doing some steep skinning

Tamra booting up the final pitch with me looking on from above. Photo by Joel

Tamra booting up the final pitch

Joel topping out on Finnegans

It was a great summit from the views and the crew to the warm air temperatures(short sleeves were acceptable). We probably hung around for 30 minutes up top taking pictures and giving Joel and Tamra a peak tour of the northern Sawatch. The Elk Range looked amazing as well from this perch as did Mt. Sopris. So fun to see this much snow above 10,000′ in June.

All of us on the summit of Finnegans (12,765′) on a beautiful June 7, 2015

Tamra & Gus

Looking south to Finnegan Peak (left, closer summit) & Gold Dust Peak (right, far back summit) from the summit of Finnegans

Summit panorama by Joel

Gus

Looking down the north ridge/face of Finnegans

As compared to this photo in October of 2011

We then descended maybe around 12:45pm and the turns down the 1,400′ north ridge/face were just plain awesome. So enjoyable.

Joel getting ready to depart the summit

Joel skiing the steep headwall pitch

Panorama of me below the summit headwall pitch by Joel

Me, J, & Tamra way below. Photo by Joel

Joel took these videos of J and I skiing off the summit and then J and Tamra a bit lower down:

Most of the slope was only probably in the 20-25 degree range and was so much better than I imagined. With all of the warm temperatures as of late, I was expecting super sloppy deep snow. There was actually a firm base and creamy corn on the surface good enough to slice through like butter. A majority of the steeper lines all around the state have seemed to wet slide in the last week or so (from what I gather) and still remain a hazard with the warm temperatures and very little overnight freezing. So, it was nice to get on a moderate slope that would take an earthquake to avalanche.

Joel

Joel again

And, Joel again

J & myself. Photo by Joel

Tamra

Tamra again

J & Gus

Joel skiing the north ridge/face

Doesn’t look like this guy is having fun at all 🙂

A plug for Mr. Gratz. Photo by Joel

The last bit to treeline. Snowslide Park is the summit in the distance with the snowy top

Once we returned to treeline, the skiing got a bit worse and punchier, but still definitely skiable all the way down to about 10,500′ where we started the snowdrift post-holing along the steep north-facing Middle Lake trail. J noticed something in the woods and I should have remembered he’d go nuts at the small little disheveled cabin near where we put our skis/skins on our feet that I had seen a few years ago. He always goes “kookoo” for abandoned backwoods cabins.

J, Gus, Tamra, & the abandoned cabin

Tamra actually skied the hiking trail’s drifts a lot of the way down. Of course Tamra did. We then arrived back at the Middle Lake trailhead and started the 1.25 mile back up the West Lake Creek Road to my truck finally arriving around 3pm.

Looking up at New York Mountain from the Middle Lake trailhead. Photo by Joel

On the road again. Photo by Joel

A look at our route for the day from where we parked on the West Lake Creek (Baryeta Cabin) Road

Some of the best gems in life you can find in your own backyard. I think we may have found one here in terms of fun adventure and moderate skiing. And, we didn’t even have to get on Interstate 70 to do so. It was a very enjoyable day for all. All told per Joel, it was around a 3,500′ vertical gain day in about 9 miles roundtrip. One thing I did learn – Gus likes Rainie’s front seat view of bumping along on 4WD roads:

Photo by Joel

A little link to Joel’s take and his daily weather forecast over on OpenSnow is http://opensnow.com/dailysnow/colorado/post/4105.

I’m always looking for fun little half-day ski tours that are fairly easy to access. Even better if these ski tours are in the Gores. I’ve looked at the very moderate southwest face of this 12,736′ peak dubbed “West Deming” for well over a decade of living in the Vail Valley yet have never ventured up into the steep woods to access this face. It always looked like it would be a great ski despite its very mellow angle (25 degrees maximum). I noticed there was a runaway truck ramp on I70 West halfway between the top of Vail Pass and East Vail. This looked like the perfect parking spot (just below the runaway truck ramp in a very large shoulder off I70 West at about 9,600′) and it turned out it was pretty perfect. Not many hikes or ski tours you access by walking up a truck ramp – at least not many that I have found. Kristine, Kona, & myself did some recon over a week ago one Friday afternoon and made it to 11,600′ right at treeline before we had to start the ski down in order to pick up Sawyer from daycare at 4pm. However, it was good recon of the lower meadows and trees in finding a fairly efficient route up to treeline and the base of the southwest face.

Our route up West Deming’s southwest face from I70 West

After dropping the youngest & oldest Chalk (Sawyer & Rainier) off at our good friends’ Sarah & Keith’s house in Edwards and picking up their dog Molly, we boogied up to Vail Pass this past Saturday morning to meet good friend Joel Gratz and give West Deming the good ole college try despite a not so ideal forecast. Joel was calling for decent weather at least for a few hours Saturday morning, which was good enough for us. It was extra special to get out again with Kristine as having a 6 month old doesn’t necessarily allow us to get out together as often as we would like. After hiking up the runaway truck ramp, we donned the skis/skins at the first open meadow down at the end of the bike path and began the route up we remembered from the week prior. The skinning was much easier this time around as Kristine and I were breaking trail through 6″ of heavy spring snow the week before. We skinned the 2,000′ up to exactly the same spot at treeline in about an hour and 45 minutes. There are actually some areas of steep skinning through the woods and one point where Joel & I carried our skis up a steep, bare (of snow) glade while Kristine again showed us up and kept her skis on.

Kristine early on in the trees

Kristine & Kona hanging tough over the steep, dry ground

Kristine showing Joel & I up by keeping her skins/skis on

Good to be out with this guy again

The upper southwest face of West Deming above treeline was a very enjoyable skin with great views. The ominous dark clouds almost made for better light and pictures. It took us just shy of an hour to skin the remaining 1,200′ and 1 mile (as the crow flies) to the summit.

Kona & Molly and the route above treeline to West Deming’s summit

Kristine heading out to the top with the dogs

Kristine & Kona

Joel skinning the upper southwest face with the East Vail Chutes/Benchmark Bowl over his left shoulder

Joel charging ahead to the summit

West Deming’s summit was indeed a fantastic perch to view the southern Gore. In fact, in every direction we could point out past camping spots, such as at the Zodiac Ponds below Zodiac Ridge, and all the familiar peaks and ridges of the Gore Range. We remained on the summit for a good 20-25 minutes and admired our views and the good company.

Kristine, Joel, & the dogs up top West Deming

The Chalks on top of West Deming (12,736′)

Mr. Gratz & myself

Summit view west to the Vail Valley

Close-up of our “Top of the World” campsite (right summit of gladed bowl) we frequent in the summer and fall

East Vail Chutes, aka Benchmark Bowl, off Vail Ski Mountain

Looking east to Deming Mountain & Buffalo Mountain (left)

Looking northeast to Red Peak (right), Zodiac Ridge, & the Silverthorne Massif

The very mellow, low-consequence ski down the upper southwest face was phenomenal. Spring-powder on top of a firm base made for awesome arcing turns. It was a lot of fun. Some ski shots:

Kristine

Joel

The skies were just awesome

Joel taking us home

And, one of me

Joel & Kristine relishing in the fun ski of West Deming’s upper southwest face

We made it back to my car at about 12:45pm, exactly about 4 hrs after we began. We dropped Joel off in Vail and boogied to Sarah & Keith’s house to pick up Sawyer & Rainier. Both ladies did very well all morning. This great moderate ski tour is a great addition to our running mental list of fun half-day ski tour outings. Even mid-winter, this would be a great ski tour as it is relatively safe due to the moderate slope angle. It would also be a nice summer half-day hike to get high and some great views. I believe the RT is roughly 3,000′ vertical and maybe 5 miles. Don’t quote me on that mileage, though. We are glad the weather cooperated, but really were we ever in doubt? I mean, c’mon, we had Mr. OpenSnow himself with us! In all seriousness, it was great for Kristine & I to get out with Joel again and especially for Kristine & myself to be together again on a fun little adventure like in our pre-baby days.

A climbing trip can sure take a 180 pretty fast due to the ever-changing weather forecast. With Kristine & Sawyer back in Minneapolis visiting her sister & family, the dogs & I were planning on heading to the desert for some crack climbing. However, a planned  trip to Indian Creek quickly turned to a local skin/ski of a nearby 12er called Outpost Peak in the Gores due to a wet forecast for the Moab area. It was all good & dandy though and good buddies Shawn Wright & Sylvan Ellefson joined me for a nice ski tour of Outpost Peak, which turns out to be a relatively accessible Gore peak from the Pitkin Lake trailhead even in winter conditions. I had circumvented and passed by Outpost Peak more than a half dozen times on several Gore outings, but had yet to crest its summit. Plus, I wanted to peer down its northeast face/bowl and scope it out for a potential spring time ski descent. A larger snow storm was to move in starting Saturday afternoon, but the morning was forecasted to be nice and sunny. After swapping Rainier for The Gus Dog with our good friends who just welcomed their baby boy into this world a week ago and running into buddy Elliot Halverson at the Pitkin Lake trailhead who I had not seen since last spring, we all set out booting up the Pitkin Lake trail at around 8:30am. Shawn & Sylvan’s good friend Zac joined us as well plus Shawn’s pup, Fitzy. About 400 vertical feet up the trail where it starts to flatten out, you leave the trail heading initially west and then northwest and bushwhack your way up Outpost’s broad south ridge through Aspen forests and shrubs. The morning was superb, and while the lower forested terrain was thin on snowpack in spots, which made for interesting skinning, above 10,000′ the snow was much more plentiful allowing for more efficient travel.

Skinning up through the lower Aspens on Outpost’s broad south slopes

Grand Traverse Peak

Its always a treat for me to head into the Gores. I love this range. You can be all alone with your little crew on a peak in the Gores yet look over at Vail Mountain where 20,000 folks are gracing its slopes. It was a fun and mellow skin up through the forested south slopes of Outpost Peak, which eventually narrows into a well-defined ridge. At around 11,000′ the heavily forested terrain gave way to open fields and glades, which afforded us our first real views of the day.

The boys skinning in one of the large open fields along Outpost’s south ridge

We crested over Point 11,637′ along the south ridge and then made our through more beautiful glades along the ridge towards Outpost.

Sylvan & the Solitude massif to the east

The dogs follow suit

Shawn offers Fitzy to Lord Gore

Nice skinning along the south ridge

Shawn & Fitzy approaching Outpost’s summit pyramid

I was having some serious skin adhesiveness issues (or lack thereof) the entire day. My skins are at the end of their life expectancy and honestly I didn’t think I would be skinning peaks this early in the season. Nevertheless, after my duct tape failed and they just fell off for the last time 200′ below Outpost’s summit, I just left my skis & skins in the snow and booted the rest of the way.

The final few hundred feet to Outpost’s summit

Sylvan reaching the summit of Outpost Peak

I believe we reached Outpost’s summit about 12:45pm and you could definitely feel the wind picking up, high clouds building, and a storm brewing in the distance to the west. Our bright sun and bluebird skies had given way to those pre-storm skies. Nevertheless, it was a nice summit and wonderful views. I think all of us enjoyed the perch.

Outpost Peak summit (12,362′)

All of us enjoying this Gore summit – maybe except for Kona giving me the “I’m cold and let’s get out of here” look 🙂

Shawn & Fitzy with the Partner Traverse behind

Sylvan doing the “Lyndon”

Peering down the northeast face of Outpost. Looks like a very steep entrance, but an awesome bowl down to the Pitkin Creek drainage below. Hopefully, this spring

We then descended after maybe 20 minutes on top, strapped into our ski setups, and made our way down the south ridge sticking close to our skin track for the dogs’ sake so they could use it. I loved the views of Bald Mountain and its northeast facing bowl as well as Vail Mountain.

Bald Mountain & the Vail Valley

Sylvan skiing Outpost’s south face

Shawn & Sylvan

Shawn in the fun open glades along Outpost’s south ridge

Mt. of the Holy Cross made for a scenic backdrop here for Sylvan

Shawn & Fitzy

And, Zac

We eventually made it back down to the cars around 3pm for a RT time of about 6-1/2 hours. I believe the RT mileage is maybe 6-7 miles with close to 4,000′ of vertical gain. Outpost’s south ridge made a for a very nice ski tour in very safe terrain. Thanks to all the boys and dogs for making it a memorable day. Of course I missed Rainier on this outing, but post-holing in deep snow and uneven terrain for close to 4,000′ is just not for a 12 year old golden retriever. I think she understands, but probably not. I am already looking forward to going back in the spring to ski Outpost’s northeast face/bowl.

Buffalo Mountain is that big behemoth of a hill most of us have viewed a hundred times when driving west bound on Interstate 70 down from the Eisenhower Tunnel. Located in the southern end of the Gore Range and though only 12,777′ in elevation, Buffalo has one of the most spectacular ski lines called the Silver Couloir on its steep northeast face. This 3,000′ couloir tops out at around 40 degrees in steepness with most sections in the mid-30 degree range. It is even featured in the big coffee-table book Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America by Chris Davenport, Art Burrows, and Penn Newhard and in the new guidebook Climbing and Skiing Colorado’s Mountains: Fifty Select Ski Descents by our friends Brian Miller and Ben Conners. Its easy access, mellow approach to its summit, and great skiing make this a classic and I don’t know of too many other ski lines where you can get as much “bang for your buck” in terms of effort involved for great skiing.

I’ve been fortunate to climb and ski Buffalo now three times and each has been a great outing. My first experience was by myself with Rainier & Kona on a very late season July 3, 2008. I had just heard about this line and decided to go check it out with the pups and being July 3 I think it was relatively safe in terms of avalanche hazard 🙂 We had a great day and most of the Silver Couloir was amazingly skiable!

The Silver Couloir on July 3, 2008 as viewed from Highway 9 north of Silverthorne

A younger me, Rainier, & Kona on Buffalo Mountain’s summit (12,777′)

The dogs halfway down the Silver Couloir that hot July day back in 2008

My second outing up and down Buffalo was on March 21, 2009 was with a large crew of great friends, my girlfriend at the time (yes, Kristine), and Rainier & Kona, once again. This trip had more of a winter feel to it considering the colder temperatures and larger snowpack up Buffalo’s standard route and down the couloir.

Buffalo Mountain and its much more filled-in Silver Couloir on March 21, 2009

The conditions in the couloir, however, were not so much fun powder as they were harder recycled powder with a breakable crust in certain sections. I learned a valuable lesson this day and that was to not charge down a couloir, especially not knowing the conditions. During this particular time of day half of the couloir was in the sun and half was in the shade. I charged in the steepest section and laid out a tele turn skidding into the shaded part and hit some icy hardpack and took a tumble. I slid head first for maybe 200 ft before grabbing a rock in the middle of the couloir thereby flipping myself around and stopping myself. I broke a tele leash in the process and my sunglasses slid another 1,500′ down the couloir to the apron below. Quite a rush and nerve-wracking for sure, but I learned so many valuable lessons – another of which was to always ski steeper slopes/couloirs with an ice axe or whippet (ski pole/axe combination). I was definitely much younger, naive, and inexperienced back then and have since learned a lot and gained valuable knowledge with regards to this whole ski-mountaineering activity. And, yes, I ski with a whippet these days.

Ryan “Baba” Aldrich, me, Andy Dionne climbing Buffalo that late March day back in 2009

Caleb & Jennie Wray on Buffalo’s summit

Chris Carlsen dropping a knee in the upper portion of the Silver Couloir

Kristine telemarking down the Silver

Kona and Derek Drechsel in the lower portion of the Silver

Jennie Wray

My third time on Buffalo was just yesterday with great friend J Weingast. As he had yet to climb and ski this mountain, the Silver was towards the top of his hit list for the spring and so we went and got it in what may be one of the last weekends of the season it could really be in or for that matter skiable at all. After a cold night and a 7:30am start at the Ryan Gulch trailhead, we took a leisurely pace up the standard Buffalo Cabin trail until we hit snowline at about 10,700′. After my last fumble in the Silver, I definitely wanted to make sure the couloir was properly warmed up enough to allow for soft spring snow conditions and not hardpack ice. We put the skis on our back and booted the rest of the way to Buffalo’s summit up the broad east face.

J on the way up Buffalo’s standard route

After topping out around 10am, the clouds really started to move in over the Gores yet the Tenmile and Sawatch ranges remained sunny to our south. Go figure. Still wanting to wait a bit for the Silver to soften up even more now that the sun was behind whispy clouds, J and I decided to take a fun jaunt over to Buffalo’s southern subsummit dubbed “Sacred Buffalo”. Twenty minutes and a fun little class 3 scramble later we were on Sacred Buffalo. There were definitely snow showers pelting Red Peak to our north and the wind had picked up. This was not the weather I had anticipated nor had been forecasted.

J on his way to Sacred Buffalo

Hmmm….why is there sun over the Sawatch and clouds and snow flurries over us in the Gores 🙂

Clouds to the west with Red Buffalo Pass (center) and Red Peak (right) visible

The connecting ridge between Buffalo’s true northern summit and the southern Sacred Buffalo subsummit as seen from Sacred Buffalo

Looking down into the Salt Lick Cirque with Silverthorne and Lake Dillon below

Buffalo Mountain summit (12,777′)

Nevertheless, we scrambled back to Buffalo’s true northern summit and decided to go ahead and ski the couloir. Not really wanting to wait around all day for sunny weather, we just decided to go for it and hoped those few hours of early morning direct sunshine warmed the snow up enough for our liking and to make things safe. The top hundred feet of the couloir were pretty firm and I was thinking if the rest of the couloir was like this I would be in trouble. J would be fine because like many of my friends, this guy can ski anything, anytime, anywhere. As if our wish was granted, the snow softened up soon after and good turns ensued for approximately 1,500′ down the couloir.

J beginning the descent of the Silver Couloir

And, he is off to the races…

J in soft snow

Always having a good time

Me in the upper portion of the Silver Couloir

Me having fun in the Silver Couloir amid a scenic backdrop

The bottom 1,000′ weren’t the best snow conditions – bumpy, dirty, sun-affected, and a few rocks thrown in the mix to dodge around. And, then the couloir’s apron itself was just plain horrible. However, the apron didn’t last long and soon enough we swapped skis and boots for our trail shoes and made our way back to the South Willow Creek trail and then eventually back to my truck at the trailhead around 12:30pm. A fun 5 hours up on Buffalo with J. Its been a fun ride up and down this mountain over the years learning important lessons along the way. If I’m lucky and my timing is right, I do hope to ski the Silver Couloir in powder conditions at some point.