Welcome to Louis (Lou) Dawson's backcountry skiing information opinion website and e magazine. Lou's passion for the past 45 years has been alpinism, climbing, mountaineering and skiing -- along with all manner of outdoor recreation. He has authored numerous books and articles about
backcountry skiing and is well known as the first person to ski down all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, otherwise known as the
Fourteeners! Books and free back country news and information here, and tons of Randonnee rando telemark info.
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Great shot. You have the peaks of “Little Alaska” labeled differently in this entry: http://www.wildsnow.com/1119/ants-in-your-pants-yule-creek-colorado/
Missed you on top of Treasure Sunday. Great skiing with you on Sopris though!
Hi Frank, you dog, you got to the top of Treasure! Where did you ski? Lisa and I were up there, but just skiing the mellow stuff then breakfast at Groovin BBQ.
As for place names, this one is more accurate, the other were nicknames. Still questions. Thing I have marked as Chair might be Cleaver, for example.
Lou
P.S. I’ll label the Blob.
Thanks for posting the pano Lou. And yeah, it was packed up there this morning. I think we saw zero people, other than ourselves, unless you count the quarry truck driver.
Nice panoramic Lou. A couple of landmark corrections:
The highest peak in the cluster marked “Ruby Peak” is actually Mt. Owen. Ruby is barely visible along the skyline just lookers’ right of Owen (It’s 500′ lower than Mt. Owen). Purple Peak is the apparent sub-peak just to the left of Owen, then Afley stands as a sharp horn, then the rounded summit is Oh-Be-Joyful, with Hancock barely visible behind the Justice ridge.
You could add West Beckwith (the prominent peak w/ the cliffs below the summit ridge) to the right of East Beckwith.
As you suggest, it’s not Chair Mtn. It is pk 12,118′ (on the W side of Milton Creek), which from your vantage is one ridge in front of the Cleaver (which sits to the West and lower at 11,856′).
Thanks for sharing the photo – a great resource!
Thanks Ben, I made some changes per your comment, perhaps a few more additions when I have time.
Wow. Really cool photo Lou. That clears a few things up for me. Thanks.
Kinda liked your other labeling better, Lou. None of my maps have Anthracite peak anywhere near there, too. I think all 3 peaks between Purple and Justice have no official names in any case.
On this photo, we skied Purple, Blob, Ant, Treasure, and Purple again on Sunday. Great day! Needless to say, access is still incredible from the CB side right now.
You’d be happy to know I even used my Dynafits… which broke. Continue to call me unimpressed.
Lou:
Great panorama that should be added to your wildsnow sale stuff. The Colorado Springs Gazette (newspaper) sold a panorama of the Front Range Peaks that I have on my wall.
Frank, yeah, no official names for those. I have an old map kicking around somewhere that I got the “Ant” name from, and it’s at the head of Ant Creek. I’ve seen the one labeled “Anthracite” also called “Yule” which might be a better name.
Envious of your access, for us it’s a bit of a slog in and out of there.
You and Dynafit bindings just don’t mix. Forget ‘em! You’re too strong to need them anyway (grin).
Will Louie be providing a post like this for the Joffree area? This is great coordinates, panorama, poaching secret stashes has never been so easy!
Um, who said any of this was secret?
Man, what a fantastic view! Thanks for the photographic inspiration.
Beating a dead horse I know, but I was writing up a TR for my tour in this zone last week, and the head of Ant Creek goes to what you have labeled Anthracite in this post, but Ant in the original one. So I’m sticking with Ant, darnit! And informal or not, any name is better than the proper UN12,655′.
He he, I guess my work isn’t over! (grin) I’ll fix.
Keep beating it.
Lou
Frank, thanks, I did some more work on the pan…