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.

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.