Well, both Kristine and myself as well as most of our ski-mountaineering buddies have learned by now to never say “never” when it comes to hanging up the planks for good signaling the end of our spring ski season. Just when you think you are done with ski season, you end up going out again just as Kristine did today on Quandary Peak’s Cristo Couloir with J and the Active Energies group after saying she was done after our ski of Mt. Oklahoma this past Saturday.

The last few days have treated us well with regards to wonderful ski-mountaineering adventures in our hills. A line I try to do every year is 14er Quandary Peak’s South Gully, aka the Cristo Couloir. Its a fantastic 2,500′ line in only a mile topping out at around 40 degrees in steepness. My good friend Mikey was leaving our engineering firm here in the mountains and moving to Denver and wanted to do the Cristo again before he moved to the big city. J joined us as well and in a short and sweet 2 hours we were on top of Quandary basking in the sun and waiting for the sun to soften the Cristo to perfect corn. We waited over an hour on the summit and then dropped in about 10:30am and had an exhilarating ride back down to the Blue Lakes dam hiking back out about 1/4 mile to our cars. Pics of the morning are as follows:

Mikey climbing the Cristo in his new crampon compatible snowboard boots

Mikey high in the Cristo

Mikey, J, and I on the summit of Quandary enjoying the nice morning

Mikey ripping the upper couloir

J high in the Cristo

No matter how many times we go up and down Quandary, its always a pleasure

J halfway down the gully not really looking at where he is going

Me enjoying my tele turns. Photo by J

J lower down with Wheeler Mountain in the distance

Mikey

Next up Kristine & I left Edwards around 5:30am this past Saturday for the North Halfmoon Creek trailhead behind 14er Mt. Massive arriving at 7am and hiking up the trail to the high centennial 13er Mt. Oklahoma by 7:30am. Despite being a relatively short 7.5 mile roundtrip jaunt up the 3,400′ to Oklahoma’s summit, routefinding and navigational skills were put to the test a bit. Kristine did so well now being 22 weeks pregnant and I am so proud of her. The carrying of ski gear on our backs, river crossings, and bushwhacking definitely got her a bit tired but she persevered on to about 13,100′ until she thought she should go no further not pushing the envelope too much with fatigue and her pregnancy. Despite a 40% chance of thunderstorms in the weather forecast, we had a beautiful morning. I skied down from the summit at about 11am and the snow was just perfect. Kristine was at a rock outcrop at about 13,100′ above the snow-covered headwall and we skied down together from there. It was a great day out together and we were back at the car at about 2pm for a 6 1/2 hour day. Pics of the day are below:

Ski line down the centennial 13er Mt. Oklahoma from the North Halfmoon Creek trail on the way in

Summit view to the west

Close-up of Grizzly’s North Couloir from Oklahoma’s summit, which we hope to climb/ski in 2 weeks or so

Our beloved Gores in the distance

Mt. Oklahoma summit (13,845′)

Time to ski

My tracks down the awesome low-angle upper 800′ of Oklahoma from the summit

Kristine in great form on the steeper headwall

Kristine enjoying the turns

Skiing into the high basin

Our turns down from 13,100′ to the high basin

About 7 hours after Kristine and I returned home to Edwards, J and I left for the Leadville area again not really certain on which peak we wanted to hit. We were thinking about Grizzly Peak’s North Couloir, but the Lincoln Creek road was not open yet making for a 12 mile RT day with 5,200′ of elevation gain all above treeline from Independence Pass. With the imposing 50% chance of thunderstorms and snow showers all day, this was probably not a smart idea nor would be all that much fun. Also, my friend Natalie was now going for Oklahoma as they had had a big day up on Castle Peak and wanted something a bit shorter. We were trying to think of a car-camping place on the east side of Independence Pass along Highway 82 when I suggested the Willis Gulch trailhead which leads to the high centennial 13er Mt. Hope. Voila! We will go for the classic Hopeful Couloir on Mt. Hope. This sounded like a better plan as it allowed us to much more easily escape to the cover of treeline should weather roll in. Nevertheless, it was still almost the same stats as Grizzly from Independence Pass at about 11.5 miles RT with 4,700′ of elevation gain. After one of the best night’s sleep I have had in the back of my truck with the tailgate down and the roaring waters of Lake Creek 15 yards away, J and I were off trucking up the Willis Gulch trail around 5:45am in our trail shoes with all our ski gear on our packs. Not knowing where snowline may occur in this north facing gulch, we were prepared to be carrying our gear for a long ways.

On the approach up Willis Gulch to Mt. Hope. J loves old mining cabins

The miles and vertical went fast though and we were at the base of the Hopeful Couloir at about 11,800′ in about 2.5 hours.The Willis Gulch and then Little Willis Gulch trails are good trails and easy to follow until we got into upper Little Willis Gulch where a few snow drifts prompted some route-finding.

The Hopeful Couloir on Mt. Hope in the morning fog

The Hopeful Couloir from 11,800′ at its base

Never donning our skins on our skis, at the base of the couloir we switched trail shoes for ski boots and crampons and away we went booting straight up the Hopeful Couloir. It was a fun climb, a little mushy here and there, but overall good kick-stepping in decent snow. The 2,000′ couloir angle averages around 36 degrees but tops out closer to 50 degrees near the top.

J showing some leg 🙂

In the middle of the Hopeful

J climbing the Hopeful

Steepening a bit

Fun climbing and the weather was holding for the time being

Me climbing up and up

J in the upper section of the couloir

From about 13,800′ at the top of the couloir, we stayed in our crampons and hiked the remaining vertical and distance to Hope’s true summit arriving around 10am.

J on Mt. Hope’s summit ridge with some nasty looking weather behind over Twin Lakes to the north

Mt. Elbert to the north from Hope’s summit

Summit of Mt. Hope (13,933′)

Storms over the Belford Group to the south

Weather was really building all around us, but Hope’s summit remained clear, sunny, and nice. We only stayed up on the summit for 15 minutes or so and man I am sure glad we did. If we had stayed up there 10 or even 5 minutes longer, we would have gotten thundered and graupeled on while skiing the couloir. We skied down the summit ridge to the steeper Hopeful Couloir descent option (skier’s left) and dropped in on 50 degree terrain only for 100 ft or so (thank goodness!).

Skiing down the summit ridge to the top of the Hopeful Couloir

J dropping in

J ripping turns…

…with a gorgeous backdrop

The ski down really was fun on mostly creamy corn snow

I like this one of J

The couloir’s slope angle mellowed out to the 40s and then eventually higher 30s further down. J ripped every turn as usual while I did my best of my teles – I think I did alright. I felt pretty good about it. The snow got a little chunkier towards the bottom from the avalanche debris but overall we timed this ski descent pretty spot on as the snow was nice and soft the entire way down.

J skiing Hopeful with Twin Lakes beyond

So scenic

Looking down on J skiing

A nice perch, buddy

J lower down in the couloir

And out…

Thanks to J’s GoPro footage on his descent of the Hopeful, I put together a fun little video to the tune of my favorite song called Promentory from the soundtrack to Last of the Mohicans (be sure to turn the 1080p HD on):

Just as we skied down below Hope Lake and beyond to treeline, the god of thunder let us know just how insignificant we all are and graupel fell from the heavens at an alarming rate. It actually felt pretty good as long as it didn’t hail and we felt safer now that we were not so high on the mountain and at treeline. Again, the skis and boots went on our packs and we cruised on out of there down Little Willis Gulch in our trail runners.

Mt. Hope and the Hopeful Couloir on the way out

We got a little wet on the hike out, but arrived safe and sound back at my truck around 1:45pm for a wonderful 7 hour day up on Hope.

The Hopeful Couloir shown here in red from Twin Lakes. Mt. Hope’s summit is clouded over

This spring ski-mountaineering thing sure does allow for some awesome days in the hills. I will be sad when the snow recedes to the point of it not being worthwhile at all to bring ski gear anymore. But, that just means the transition to full-on summer with scrambling in our Gores, rock climbing, and trail running. Not bad at all. However, I just have a hunch that the 2014 spring ski-mountaineering season isn’t quite over. But, that’s just me.

I just love spring skiing. Even with the amount of snow we have had this season up to about two weeks ago, the warm temps all last week have put a serious hurting on our snowpack. However, I still think we have a few weekends left yet for some decent lines and spring ski tours.The temps this past weekend were very warm as well not even allowing the snowpack to freeze at night. This typical nightly freeze allows for a safer spring freeze-thaw corn cycle during the morning hours when one would want to ski steeper lines and couloirs.

Having been under the weather all week, I still felt like getting out for a shorter ski tour. So, on Saturday my good bud Mikey and I went and checked out the snowpack on the familiar terrain up on Uneva Peak north of Vail Pass. Any time we can skin from the car is worth it in my eyes. We ended up skiing a steeper gully off Uneva’s south side into the western of the two Uneva bowls, one we rarely venture to during the winter because of the steeper slopes and greater chance for avalanche activity.

Looking down our little gully line into Uneva’s western bowl

Mikey starting down the gully

Skiing the gully

It was a fun albeit short gully down to the dirt-ridden bowl from which we skinned back up to the ridge and skied down the mellower eastern Uneva bowl, which we typically ski several times a year.

Our tracks down the gully

Our line shown in red down the gully to the western Uneva bowl

Mikey skinning back to the ridge

Storm over the Tenmile Range

View west to Mt. of the Holy Cross and its Cross Couloir, which good friends J, Derek, & Brett were skiing the next day. Wish I could have joined them, but being sick all week definitely didn’t put me in prime form for a 30 mile roundtrip expedition. Hopefully, I can get it in a few weeks when Tigiwon Road opens

And, the very mellow eastern Uneva bowl we skied out

We were initially thinking of skiing down the north side of the peak, but there was so much avalanche debris and fairly significant cornices, it didn’t look all that safe nor all that fun. A nice 3 hour roundtrip tour up on Uneva was just what the doctor ordered and I felt a lot better afterwards.

A few hour later Kristine, Mikey, and I headed down south of Leadville to camp along County Road 390 at a 14ers.com spring gathering in hopes of skiing the Hopeful Couloir on the high centennial 13er Mt. Hope on Sunday. We found our friends Shawn, Jenn, & canine Fitzy in the dark and met up with friend Natalie who wanted to ski Hope with us the next day. However, after learning of the recent  Hopeful Couloir beta (runnels and avalanche debris) and the non-freezing nature of the snowpack at night, we decided to turn our efforts to Independence Pass and the two 13ers, East & West Geissler Peaks, were at the top of the list. This ski tour of the Geisslers is a local Aspen favorite and is featured in my friends’ Ben & Brian’s new book Climbing and Skiing Colorado’s Mountains: 50 Select Ski Descents. Upon leaving camp around 6am the next morning, we drove up to the top of Indy Pass and down to the Highway 82 pull-off 1.8 miles west of the top of the pass. The weather was really not what was forecasted (sunny and bluebird). It was lightly snowing, the wind was blowing, and extremely overcast. There was even the occasional group that was coming back to the cars after having skinned up the valley for 20 minutes who said they were going for a bike ride instead. Nevertheless, we’ve hardly ever experienced a day in Colorado that is forecasted to be beautiful but never turns bluebird and sunny. As fortune would have it, the sun came out and the clouds parted about 45 minutes later much to all of our relief.

Skinning up the gulch towards Independence Lake. East Geissler’s south face looms above

Shawn, Jenn, & Mike with East Geissler

These peaks really are “skier” peaks. So very accessible (when Independence Pass is open) and plenty of skiing can be had from steeper lines to more manageable 35 degree terrain. We decided to go for West Geissler first as the line we would ski is more east facing and would likely soften up first with the morning rays of sun. Kristine, being about 5 months pregnant now, did absolutely amazing and is such a trooper. Everyone was in awe that she was able to climb and ski two 13ers this day. Kudos to her for still wanting to get out and do these kinds of trips all the while growing another human being inside her belly. Amazing, really.

Kristine skinning along with Grizzly Peak A’s north couloir in the distance

Kristine climbing West Geissler’s east ridge with East Geissler, our next objective, behind

Kristine

Kristine & I booting up West Geissler. Photo by Natalie

West Geissler summit ridge

It was a nice morning skin to the saddle between the two Geisslers and then a straightforward bootpack up West Geissler’s east ridge to its summit. It really turned out to be a gorgeous day.

Kristine & I on the summit of West Geissler Peak (13,301′)

Mt. Sopris

The Elk Range

Lookin’ good!

Natalie and new acquaintance Otina decided to ski the much steeper 50+ degree line directly off the summit while the rest of us (having not brought helmets or whippets and my wife being 5 months pregnant) elected to ski the mellower sub 40 degree east-facing slopes after a short ski traverse. It was a fun ski line and the snow was pretty good and soft after a few turns down.

Shawn, Jenn, Mike, & Fitzy at the top of our ski line

Shawn & Fitzy skiing West Geissler’s east face

Kristine enjoying the fun day

We quickly skied over to the base of East Geissler and began laying down a skin track up its mid 30 degree south face. By this time, the crowds certainly started showing up and I bet at one time there was 20-30 people climbing & skiing East Geissler.

Shawn & Jenn traversing over from West Geissler (behind) to begin the skin up East Geissler

The crew skinning up the south face of East Geissler

We topped out maybe around 11am and enjoyed the sunshine and views despite a semi-stiff breeze.

View to West Geissler from East Geissler’s summit

Summit of East Geissler Peak (13,380′)

Chalks on East Geissler

After a few photos we strapped in and skied far skier’s left down the south face of East Geissler where there were no previous ski tracks that day.

Looking down our line off East Geissler. Photo by Natalie

Me skiing down the face. Thanks to Kristine for the pics

So fun

Loving life!

Sorry, one more of me 🙂

Natalie

Jenn

Shawn & Fitzy

Otina

East Geissler’s south face

On the ski out the gulch our ascent line shown in red and ski descent in blue could be seen on West Geissler

This was really just plain fun skiing and we all skied about 1,200′ down to Independence Lake from where we skied out the gulch back to the cars. The dirt layer was pretty significant in the basin and on several aspects, but we were able to avoid it for the most part on the actual skis themselves.

Kristine on the ski out with the Geisslers behind

Back at the cars around 12:30pm, we packed up and headed back home to grab the dogs from our friend Kathryn. A great morning out for us on some new terrain with a good crew. I, for one, am so proud of Kristine and feel so fortunate to be able to do what we love together even while pregnant. Here’s a to a few more weeks of spring ski-mountaineering season!

Well, it seemed like spring was never going to arrive, especially on the weekends as snow and rain storms seem to come in about every weekend. But, last Sunday was more like the spring-type conditions for corn skiing we are used to seeing this time of year. It was hot and sunny most of the day (I think Denver even reached into the 80s) and so we probably should have been skiing earlier than we did. Nonetheless it was a super fun day with Kristine, Shawn, Mike, and the dogs (Kona, Fitzy, & our adopted dog for the day, Gus) on some new terrain for all of us. I rarely venture east of Eisenhower Tunnel (except to go to DIA or some special event), but the ski of the 13er Pettingell Peak was worth the short drive east of the Continental Divide.

Mike, Shawn, & Kristine skinning up Herman Gulch. Pettingell Peak looms in the distance

Our plan was to park at the very accessible Herman Gulch trailhead and skin the 3.5 miles or so up Herman Gulch and see what we see. There was the prominent peak dubbed The Citadel (13,294′) with its steeper east-facing chute known as Snoopy’s Backside Chute rocketing down between its two summits. We saw several parties trying to climb this chute, but all made the smart decision of aborting the climb due to wet-slide activity from the snow that fell the previous few days.

The Citadel (13,294′) as seen from upper Herman Gulch. Two parties can be seen – one down lower in the center of the photo and another traversing towards Snoopy’s Backside Chute

Then there was also the mellower southeast slopes of the highest 13er in the area, Pettingell Peak, that looked pretty fun and safe from any wet-slide activity. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to be up high and because of all the noticeable wet-slide activity on the steeper slopes over maybe 35 degrees, we chose to continue on up Pettingell. We left the Herman Gulch trailhead around 8:15am, shouldered our skis for only a half mile, and then started skinning up the beautiful Herman Gulch on a well-groomed skin track.

It was a special day not only because it finally felt like spring skiing, but also because Kristine and I were so very pleased and proud of her performance up to 13,553′ being 19 weeks pregnant! Yep, as we’re not ones to send out mass emails announcing our pregnancy and I’m not even on facebook to post everything that goes on in our lives, but we’ve just told people over the past few weeks as we’d normally strike up conversations with friends. However, I guess its about time we put it in writing at least. Baby Chalk is a boy and is due October 12 and we couldn’t be more excited! Despite being a bit more tired and winded than normal and the fact that she is carrying another human being, Kristine has been doing superb in the hills. We’ve figured out a good night’s sleep the night before is more key to a better day in the mountains than anything for her during this pregnancy. So, Kristine would want me to say that when you see her in these pictures please do not think she is just getting fat. She is pregnant.

Kristine skinning up to Herman Lake with Herman Gulch behind her

Kona and the southeast face of Pettingell

The crew skinning up to Herman Lake, which drops a few hundred feet beyond the next rise

Anyway, we made our way up to the frozen and snow-covered Herman Lake at around 12,000′ and put together our remaining route up the southeast flanks of Pettingell. We were able to lay a zig-zag skin track up a steeper chute right above the lake and then it was mellow skinning up and up to about 300′ below the summit ridge. We then again set a zig-zag skin track to the ridge from where it was only 50 yards to the summit.

Gus observing Shawn, Mike, & Kristine below skinning up to the ridge

Shawn & Fitzy on the summit ridge

The Gus Dog

Kristine on the summit ridge

A nice fellow named Rob from Boulder was on the summit when we reached it as he had taken the more normal path to the summit via the west ridge. It was a bit windy on the summit but overall very nice.

Kona peering down Pettingell’s north side

The Silverthorne Massif in the Gores (center of photo). Left to right: East Thorn, Mt. Silverthorne, & Rain Peak, which we skied the weekend before. Zodiac Ridge can be seen to looker’s left of East Thorn as well as Mt. Valhalla’s two awesome east ridges to looker’s right of Rain Peak

Buffalo Mountain and its northern Silver Couloir looking very “in”. Mt. of the Holy Cross in the far distance

Pettingell Peak summit (13,553′)

Kristine & Kona on top

The Chalks (minus a Rainier) on Pettingell’s summit

As the southeast face was baking, we swapped into ski mode fast and began our descent. I believe we started skiing down at around noon, which was a bit late for this hot and sunny day as the snow was pretty soft and grabby. Yet, it was still a very fun ski.

Shawn and Fitzy dropping off the summit

Shawn & Fitzy and a gorgeous backdrop

Even though still a young pup, Fitzy will be a great ski-mountaineering dog

Shawn & Fitzy lower down on the southeast face

Mikey and his tele turn

Kristine in great form

Kristine & Kona almost back down to Herman Lake

The dogs were pretty hot and panting pretty good, so we stopped a lot on the descent for them to catch their breath and cool down. We observed a few larger wet slides come down on the surrounding steeper terrain on our descent, but they stayed clear of us. We skated across Herman Lake and down to the valley to pick up the well-trodden skin track.

Kristine skinning across Herman Lake. A few wet-slides came down on the steeper faces behind her as we skied down the southeast face

Shawn & Fitzy

After a bit of lunch and a good rest for the dogs, we took our time skinning and skiing out the 3.5 miles to the trailhead.

Kristine, Mike, & Shawn on the ski out Herman Gulch with our route up/down Pettingell’s southeast face shown in red behind

We arrived back at the cars at about 1:45pm and were soon on our way since we left Rainier at home. Total stats for Pettingell from Herman Gulch trailhead is about 9 miles roundtrip with 3,300′ of vertical gain. It was a great day on some new terrain for us. We will definitely be visiting the peaks of Herman Gulch for years to come.

It was fitting that we climbed Rain Peak on a rainy weekend around the state and skied its Graupel Gully while being pelted with graupel from the stormy skies above.

Rain is an elusive 13er in the Gores that is actually more difficult to see from roads/highways as well as from other Gore summits. Its shape doesn’t stand out as say Mt. Valhalla, Peak Q, or even Mt. Powell. Rain sort of blends into the connecting ridge with the Silverthorne massif and Mt. Silverthorne. Nevertheless, Rain has all the makings of a classic Gore peak – a lengthy approach, a class 3/4 west ridge to its summit, a near vertical west face, a very steep north face, and some interesting ski lines on its southeast face with the prominent couloir from the summit dubbed the Graupel Gully. The weakness in attaining Rain’s summit is its east ridge and while mellow, it sure is indeed lengthy. I think we estimated the total stats for the day were about 15 miles and 4,500′ roundtrip from the Willowbrook trailhead in Silverthorne. Brian Miller was already planning on Rain for Saturday with his buddy Marc Barella as the weather window for the entire weekend looked to be Saturday morning up until about mid-day. Then, the snow squalls would start with hopefully nothing heavy until Saturday evening. I had never met Marc before (though we traded a few emails about he and Carl’s trip to Mont Blanc), but it was great to spend the day with him in the Gores and I would think this day would be great training for his upcoming trip to Denali. Plus, Marc had just finished snowboarding all the the 14ers, which is a heck of an accomplishment, but it was about time he get on some 13ers. Ben Conners & Rick Thompson switched their plans for skiing Cathedral Peak near Aspen to Rain (weather in the Elks looked to be even worse than the Gores) and J and I jumped on board to round out the team of six. Even in less than ideal weather, I’d rather be in the Gores than anywhere else and with all of us having never climbed Rain Peak before (except for Brian), we were excited to see what adventure we could get ourselves into.

We all got to the Willowbrook trailhead at around 6:45am and were booting up the North Willow Creek trail, which had a few fresh inches of snow, at around 7am. After about 30 minutes, we slapped the skins and skin on as the snow appeared to be consistent enough to warrant not carrying our skis anymore. Now the skinning wasn’t exactly easy. We were taking turns breaking trail in very heavy, sloppy snow that globbed onto the bottom of our skins every chance it got. The heavy snow was definitely taxing on my quads. Add to that we lost the trail for a long while and some interesting skinning ensued around, over, and through deadfall, side hilling over rocks and tree trunks, and about every other kind of obstacle you can imagine in the woods. It took awhile. We finally found a trail of sorts that led up to the east ridge and took it. From the east ridge (though still in the trees), we knew if we stayed on the ridge crest we would eventually break out of treeline and be on Rain Peak’s east ridge proper. We could actually make out Rain Peak in the distance through the trees, which definitely helped to keep us motivated.

Rain Peak finally shows its face through the trees

It was hours upon hours of breaking trail in the freshly fallen wet snow below treeline, but we finally got the views we came for as we crested treeline. Across the valley to the south was the absolutely stunning What Big Eyes You Have Couloir off of East East Red Peak which Ben & Brian had skied a year prior and was featured as one of their fifty class ski lines in their awesome book Climbing and Skiing Colorado’s Mountain: 50 Select Ski Descents.

The absolutely stunning What Big Eyes You Have Couloir on East East Red Peak to the south

East East Red Peak and What Big Eyes You Have Couloir. Photo by Brian

It was great to see such a stellar line up close and personal, though it was a bit intimidating. It looked steep, but then again everything does head-on. The weather was really holding for us and the sun was out. We continued the long skin up, up, and away.

J and Marc above treeline looking back to the east

J and I skinning along with What Big Eyes You Have Couloir looking on. Photo by Brian

Me plugging away up Rain’s east ridge

We could feel Rain getting closer and closer though we still had maybe 1,500′ and 2 miles to go to its summit.

Ben & Rick breaking trail up Rain’s east ridge

Skinning up Rain’s east ridge

The mighty East Thorn was always standing guard to the south (by the way, a great looking couloir there)

Rick motoring ahead

It was getting closer to noon and the good weather window was starting to collapse.

The remaining route up to Rain’s summit

Ben and crew full steam ahead

We finally crested Rain’s summit ridge and made a beeline for its summit trying to beat the incoming snow squalls and wind.

Left to right: Rick, Ben, & J making their way up to the summit

Deteriorating weather

Even after all of these years of Gore adventuring, Brian still is lovin’ life in this range

We topped out around 1pm in cold and windy weather with a bit of snow. Thankfully, the visibility was still decent and the actual air temperature wasn’t too cold. Rain Peak seemed to have two distinct high points and the southern point seemed to be higher. Everyone then proceeded to scramble over to the southern summit except for Brian. He seemed to know better.

Scrambling to Rain’s southern summit

J on Rain’s southern summit with Mt. Silverthorne (right) & East Thorn (left) behind

The five of us on Rain’s southern summit. Photo by Brian

The five of us up close on Rain’s southern summit

When we arrived at the southern summit and looked back at Brian he definitely seemed higher than us on the north summit. Yep, he definitely knew better. I’m sure he was saying in his head, “Bunch of silly gapers I’m with here”. So, we scrambled back to the north summit, enjoyed the views in deteriorating weather, and shot some pics.

The six of us on Rain Peak’s true northern summit (13,130′). Marc (far left) looks like a ninja

J and I on a new Gore summit for us

Mt. Valhalla in low visibility from Rain’s summit with its two east ridges trending down and right in the picture. Asgard Ridge is the right (northern) of the two east ridges

Time to roll

We then stripped the skins, stepped into our respective ski/board setups, and got out of there. There were a few gullies to choose from, and while the easternmost gully looked mighty fine for a ski, we all descended the steepest gully right off the summit cap. This gully was probably the Graupel Gully anyway, so I’m glad we skied the steeper line. Brian & I skied down a bit to take pics of the others.

The boys ready to drop off Rain’s summit

J off the top

Ben slashing his way through the variable snow

As far as the snow was concerned, well it could have been worse and it could have been better. There was probably close to a foot of fresh powder in the gully and the sun all morning had warmed up the top inch or so. With the incoming weather and clouds, that same top layer had solidified making for some interesting slab skiing. It would have almost been better had the sun not come out at all the entire morning. Then, at least maybe there would have not been that top slab above 6-8″ of powder. The rest of the fellas seemed to blow through this slab seemingly effortlessly, while me and my teles got pushed around quite a bit. It was tough skiing for me. I hate having to resort to alpine turns, but I certainly had to in order to not fall on the relatively steep terrain much less break my leg. We also had to be a bit careful with regards to avalanche conditions as that top slab was moving a bit. Nevertheless, it was an awesome setting and the weather got better as we descended. Because we were skiing the Graupel Gully, we almost didn’t mind that it was graupelling on us the entire way down. Some ski shots:

Brian shooting me shooting J skiing the Graupel Gully with East Thorn rising in the distance

J skiing The Graupel Gully

Marc

Rick

The Graupel Gully is definitely an aesthetic line

Brian

Ben

J, Marc, & Rick (Ben is much further down) about halfway down the Graupel Gully and all smiles. We went skier’s left of this snow ridge from here on down to Salmon Lake

We eventually made it down to the frozen Salmon Lake at the base of East Thorn, had something to eat and drink, and regrouped.

Ben at Salmon Lake on the way out with Rain Peak’s southeast face behind

Our ascent up the east ridge in purple and ski down the Graupel Gully in red as seen from Salmon Lake

Our plan was to essentially ski out North Willow Creek down from Salmon Lake back to the trailhead. Ben & Brian had essentially done this from maybe a mile down from Salmon Lake after skiing Big Eyes Couloir last year and said it worked out pretty well with only a few sections of uphill. Brian certainly made it easy for the rest of us plowing the way in the wet sticky snow. I can say now I trust Mr. Miller’s navigational expertise in the woods. J and I were dreading the ski out in the North Willow Creek drainage, but it actually ended up being more downhill than we thought. Brian did a stellar job of getting us back to the North Willow Creek trail from which we began to hike down in our ski boots once again for the last 45 minutes finally arriving back at the Willowbrook trailhead around 4:15pm.

Despite the not so awesome weather and snow conditions for skiing, it was a great day out in the Gores with a truly solid group of guys. I think we were all a bit beat after this one and sleeping in Sunday and drinking coffee until noon definitely felt good.

Jacque Peak has played hard to get for me this winter. My first attempt was thwarted by Copper Mountain ski patrol back in February. More on that escapade here. Nonetheless, that day back in February turned out to be a fun day with me snowshoeing up to the summit of Copper Mountain just outside the ski resort boundary and taking in the views. Ski patrol turning us around was probably a blessing in disguise as we were just intent on snowshoeing up Jacque’s northeast ridge and not skiing. Without that bit of rejection, I doubt I would have wanted to go back to the peak much less put in the effort for a ski descent. However, Jacque is a beautiful, pyramidal 13er that marks the southern terminus of the Gore Range (if you consider Jacque a part of the Gores) with a perfect looking east face just begging to be skied.

Jacque’s east face looking fine as seen from across Highway 91 on Mayflower Hill in mid-April

With a nice looking forecast for a mid-week skin and ski of Jacque hopefully allowing us some fine corn, I rallied some of my fellow engineer buds and we made our way to the north gate of the Climax Mine off Highway 91 just south of Copper where I had parked before back in February. Little did I know that the authorities at hand would again attempt to thwart our fun plans for the day only this time it was Climax Mine itself and its security forces. We parked on what we later determined was actually public property just yards before the entrance to Climax Mine only to be told to park across Highway 91 by the Lonestar Security rent-a-cop fellow as we would be parking on private land. We told the fellow we were heading up into the Copper Creek drainage from which the rent-a-cop vaguely arm-waved the area in which we should stay in order to avoid crossing the Mine’s property. I explained that I had been here before and accessed the drainage just fine without any issue as hundreds of others have over the years not to mention countless Copper Mountain skiers skiing down to 91 during ski season. He kept to his extremely vague arm-waving of “stay in this general area” scheme. We parked our cars across 91, the rent-a-cop went back to his booth, and we motored on up the Copper Creek drainage on skins keeping to the side hill as far out of the way of the Climax Mine area as was reasonably possible. We found the tape markings on the trees up the drainage (which helps skiers skiing out from Copper during the winter find their way down to Highway 91) and made it up to the ski resort boundary and continued on up the cat track at the base of Copper’s back bowl lifts.

Left to right: Jake, Zac, & Shawn skinning up the Copper Creek drainage with Pacific Peak and the Tenmile Range behind

Jake passing the base of Copper’s Blackjack lift with Peak 9, Peak 10, & Crystal Peak behind

It was a beauty of a day and some high clouds kept the sun from baking the east face too early in the day, which was a good thing for us as we still had a few hours before we reached Jacque’s summit. It was peaceful actually being in the normally busy back bowls of Copper Mountain ski resort with only the five of us and Zac’s pup, Mia.

Mikey skinning up the catrack. Jacque looms in the distance left of center

The crew makes their way to the base of Jacque’s northeast ridge

Jake skinning along with Copper Mountain ski resort behind

We made good time up to the base of Jacque’s mellow northeast ridge, which afforded great views of the remaining route up Jacque and the surroundings.The route up Jacque’s northeast ridge is completely skinnable and makes for a very nice ski tour.

Jacque’s northeast ridge

Mikey skinning up the northeast ridge with the Tenmile Range behind

Shawn and the Gore Range as a beautiful backdrop. Shawn reminded me all day of Dan O’Callahan from Hot Dog: The Movie

Mikey & Shawn skinning up Jacque’s s northeast ridge

Making progress, Dan O’Callahan

A gorgeous day

We topped out on Jacque’s summit around 10:15am for about a little over 3 hrs from Highway 91 and our cars. We tested the snow on the east face and it was still a little hard for our liking so we took our time on the summit.

Shawn reaching Jacque’s summit

Jake topping out

Jacque Peak summit (13,205′)

Mt. of the Holy Cross and its Cross Couloir from Jacque’s summit

The 13er Homestake Peak, which we skied in late January, dead center in the picture as seen from Jacque’s summit

Looking north to the Gores from Jacque’s summit

We started down around 10:45am and just had perfect corn down the east face of Jacque Peak. It was just plain fun skiing.

Dan O’Callahan looking better than he did in Hot Dog: The Movie

Zac & Mia charging the face

Jake making the tele turn look solid on Jacque’s east face

The Tenmile Range serves as a nice backdrop down the east face

Mikey perfecting his tele turn down Jacque’s east face

Teleing on soft corn just doesn’t get any better for me

In an effort to catch me, Mia goes horizontal. Hilarious

Jake dropping a knee on Jacque’s lower east face

It was perfect 30 degree corn skiing down such a fun east face. We regrouped after skiing about 1,500′ of perfect corn all giddy about the ski descent.

Our line down Jacque Peak’s east face as viewed from Tucker Mountain

I had originally thought of descending all the way down into Tucker Gulch below Jacque’s east face to the Climax Mine access road, but after our “run-in” with Lonestar Security earlier that morning, we decided we should exit the way we came in. We were able to traverse over to the saddle between Tucker Mountain and Jacque Peak after skiing Jacque’s east face proper and from there we had a decision to make about what we wanted to do. As it seemed only the east facing slopes were really warming up and wanting more corn skiing, we decided to hump it up and over Tucker Mountain (12,337′) and ski the easternmost Fremont Glade chute (part of Copper Mountain ski resort) we viewed on the way into Copper Creek drainage. This turned out to be a solid plan as the corn skiing off Tucker Mountain was phenomenal.

About to drop off Tucker Mountain

Jake

Highway 91 and our cars at far left can be seen down below

Jake lower in the Fremont chute

Shawn (left) and Jake stoked to have harvested some awesome corn this May day

The Fremont Glade chute we descended off Tucker Mountain as seen from the Copper Creek drainage

We regrouped back in the Copper Creek drainage and made out way out to the cars mindful to stay as far away from the Climax Mine access road on as was reasonably possible. Upon arriving back at our cars on Highway 91 around noon, we were all so happy with how the morning unfolded despite our brief encounter with the rent-a-cop. As we probably should have just thrown everything into the cars and be on our way, sure enough Mr. Climax Mine supervisor security man came up in his truck and told us to please stay put as the deputy was on his way. Oh boy. Here we go. The supervisor was actually very nice and asked us how the skiing was and whatnot. Fortunately, the rent-a-cop from earlier that morning did not show up. Apparently, Climax Mine was charging us with trespassing even though we told the supervisor what the fellow rent-a-cop told us earlier that morning. We assumed we would be just fine if we parked across 91 as he instructed (which we did) and stayed as far away from the access road and Climax Mine property line, which was not marked well if at all (especially in the Copper Creek drainage). Nevertheless, the Climax Mine personnel would not have it, and the Summit County cops showed up. These guys were super nice and honestly looked a bit frustrated with the fact that they even called here for this trespassing incident in the first place. There are certainly bigger fires to put out than writing up five engineers out backcountry skiing on a gorgeous Tuesday morning. However, Climax Mine was charging us with trespassing and even though the cops actually didn’t see us trespass, they were required to cite us and write us a summons to appear in court on the charge of Third Degree Criminal Trespass. Unfortunately, we couldn’t simply pay a fine and are all required to appear in court. Depending on what the judge decides, the cops told us we will have to pay around a $100 fine or be let off completely. I guess we’ll see what the judge thinks of our incident. Well, I haven’t been really written up for anything since college (oh yeah, my speeding ticket on the way to Durango to take my Professional Engineering exam in April 2009), but there was some pretty fun banter back in forth between the five of us about how we were such hardened criminals nowadays.

Criminal proof 🙂

The cops were super cool and I could tell they even hesitated to write us up as they probably thought it all fairly silly. We took it pretty good and didn’t let it ruin our day. It had been an awesome morning. I wish I had taken some pictures of the five of us on Highway 91 with three Climax Mine security trucks and two cop cars. That would have been a pretty funny and entertaining scene to witness. I think in order to avoid Copper Mountain ski patrol and Climax Mine altogether, the time of year and route to take to access Jacque would be after the ski resort closes and via Copper Mountain’s ski slopes. Basically, just skin up and over Copper Mountain and down into Copper’s back bowls. Sometimes you learn the hard way, I guess. Anyway, was the ski-mountaineering adventure on Jacque Peak and surrounding terrain worth the citation? You betcha! We’ll see you in court!

Despite a not so favorable spring ski forecast (cloudy and not much sun), this past Saturday’s brief outing up on the 13er Hoosier Ridge (13,352′) sure turned out to be better than expected. J, Kristine, Kona, and I met up with Derek, Maude, and Andy on top of Hoosier Pass and realized the lengthy ridge to the east which eventually wrapped north up to the summit Hoosier Ridge was pretty devoid of any snow. We wanted to avoid packing skis on our backs and walking in ski boots was not desirable. I spotted a small sliver of snow coming down from the false summit of Hoosier Ridge and realized we could stay on snow the entire way if we drove back down Hoosier Pass on its north side and park the cars along Highway 9. We parked at around 11,000′ and got on the move.

As seen from our cars along Highway 9

Our continuous snow line up to Hoosier Ridge

We skinned our way through glades and woods, bushwhacking here and there to avoid people’s backyards, and found our way up above treeline towards Hoosier Ridge. The wind was a little stiff , but the sun was out and we were happy.

The crew making their way up to Hoosier Ridge with the Tenmile Range behind

Kristine & Kona making their way up to Hoosier Ridge

A little steeper portion on the continuous snow line with Quandary’s east face looming behind

It was a nice skin up to the final 200′ below Hoosier Ridge where my skins decided to start sliding a bit. So, I put my skis on my back and booted up the rest of the way while everyone else was able to skin up. There was a decent rocky wind break on the false summit of Hoosier Ridge which provided some reprieve from the stiff wind.

Andy, Kristine, & Kona on the false summit

Kona is a lover

Andy relaxed on the false summit while Derek, J, Kristine, Kona, Maude, and I hiked over to the summit of Hoosier Ridge arriving at around 12:45pm. The views were nice of nearby 13ers Red Mountain C, Red Peak A, Bald Mountain A, Mt. Silverheels, and all of the Tenmile peaks.

Derek & Maude on the summit of Hoosier Ridge (13,352′)

J and Bald Mountain A

Hoosier Ridge summit (13,352′)

The four of us on the summit of Hoosier Ridge (13,352′)

Red Mountain C (13,229′) from Hoosier Ridge summit

We hung out for a bit and then headed back over to Andy, clicked into our skis, and began the descent. I was concerned with the incoming stormy weather and clouds not allowing for the snow to soften up, but after the top 200′ down our line the snow really got pretty soft and fun. It was a nice 1,500′ of solid spring skiing followed by sloppy mashed potatoes once we entered the Bemrose Creek drainage.

J with Pacific & Crystal Peaks in the distance

Kristine with Pacific Peak’s sharp summit in the distance

Good to get into the spring corn cycle

J laughing and skiing

Derek

Derek & Maude

I just love spring corn and the tele turn. Photo by Derek

We were able to keep the skis on back to the cars despite the fact we had some uphill at the end since we followed out an access road to the backyards of a few homes. All in all, a solid 4.5 hour outing. I think the total was around 2,500′ vertical and maybe 5-6 miles roundtrip. A little map of our route below:

Our ascent in purple. Descent variation down Bemrose Creek drainage in green.