On J’s 36th birthday, we went skiing. Yes, it was June 13, but the skiing up high was just most excellent. Kona and I picked up J at 6:30am and we all rocketed down to the Kite Lake Trailhead (well, maybe 3/4 mile short of Kite Lake) and made a beeline for the centennial peak Mt. Buckskin at 13,865′. We began skinning just after 8am from where we parked (approximately 11,800′) and it was already warming up pretty fast with the sun’s rays.

J & Kona beginning the skin

J skinning higher & higher. Kite Lake can barely be seen frozen far below

J approaching the summit ridge. 14ers Mt. Democrat, Quandary Peak, & Mt. Lincoln (left to right) can be seen behind

The northeast face of Buckskin is a great skin with a few pitches of maybe 30-35 degrees, but all still totally skinnable.

J & Kona skinning Buckskin’s summit ridge

After a fairly casual pace for 2,200′ up in probably 2 miles or so, we topped out on Buckskin’s summit after an hour and 35 minutes. There is still plenty of snow up high above 12,000′, that’s for sure. If you can find access that gets you close to this elevation such as the Kite Lake area, you should be good to go for the next week and have minimal carting your skis on your pack.

Mt. Buckskin summit (13,865′)

After 20 minutes on top at around 10am, we were off down the wonderful northeast face of Buckskin. Creamed corn turns ensued for 2,000′.

J off the summit

A little further down

Our turns on the upper northeast face

J & Kona on a steeper pitch down lower

Happy birthday, J

It was tough for Kona down low as she was definitely punching through, but she persevered. We contemplated heading up Democrat for some turns on its south face, but the snow was just getting too soft. Back at my truck by 11am, we noticed a Denver family in their SUV driving right by us heading for the snowdrift that blocked the road. This wouldn’t end up working out for them. You could’ve seen this coming from a mile away. Trying to plow through the 12″ of snow/ice, they slid partially off the road and were stuck.  J and I ended up using our avalanche shovels to help dig them out and after 30 minutes they were able to back up and out of the snowdrift. Having done our good deed for the day, we headed back home for a pool party all afternoon with Kristine, Sawyer, Megan, Rainier, & Kona. It was a nice birthday for J who continued his fun activities into Sunday where he, Kristine, and several other friends rafted from Avon to Eagle. Sawyer, the dogs, & myself met them at Wolcott for their lunch stop and said hello. A little quick video of J carving some birthday turns on Mt. Buckskin:

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