|
 |
|
|
Skier's
Webcams Please help support our efforts with this website,
shop the links below: More backcountry skiing shopping links to help us with this blog and website |
Lou Dawson's Backcountry Skiing Weblog
May 31 - 2005
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
It stormed all day yesterday and we figured a bit of "dust on crust" might have resulted. Yes it was there this morning on Blarney (Louie skiing it in above photo), the peak just north of Independence Pass, Colorado. Blarney is bigger than it looks from the road, and provides access to quite a few good lines. Today was bittersweet, as yesterday a man died while climbing (not skiing) on the Maroon Bells mountains near here. There were at least 3 other parties in the Bells area that turned back yesterday morning due to weather and snow condition concerns. One can only wonder why the party in the accident decided to push it. We may never know, but as always the lesson is basic, "don't push it...the mountain will still be there another day." |
May 30 - 2005
Colorado Backcountry Skiing Reports
 |
| Poly crossing the Roaring Fork "creek" on the way to Independence Pass backcountry skiing. Kind of like the Khumbu Icefall on Mount Everest? |
A moderate weather system hit Colorado today, so backcountry skiing is out for us. We need a rest day anyhow since we're happy to report that Independence Pass lived up to our expectations the past few days. Yesterday we hit Independence Mountain for a couple of laps, then switched to t-shirt compatible recreation: sunny rock climbing on Grotto Wall. The ultimate Indy Pass day!
As always, bringing an extension ladder was the key to easy creek crossing of the upper Roaring Fork -- and made for interesting photos.
Andrew, Poly, Perl and Louie nailed a nice line on the North Face for their second run, while Lisa and I served up seconds in the big east facing corn bowl. The easterly was still excellent at about 9:30 AM, though we wouldn't have wanted to be there much later. Northerly might have been excellent all day, though late morning was prime time.
|
| It was cool to meet fellow valley residents Jim and Terry on top of Independence. Hats off to them for their successful spring backcountry ski season so far, including a beautifully executed descent of Mount Sopris Crystal Chute. We sure like making new friends on top of mountains! |
 |
| Andrew with a corn eating grin -- Independence Mountain backcountry skiing. |
 |
And then sometimes you
don't have a ladder handy... |
May 27-28 - 2005
Independence Pass, Colorado, Best Ever?
Reports filtered in yesterday. Skiers found a compacted and nicely frozen spring snowpack that yielded skiable lines all day if you picked your exposures. We skied up there today, and sure enough, we're able to leisurely ski various summits in the Geissler cirque, as well as sticking around after noon at the pass summit and messing around with some of Andrew McLean's kites.
Snowline is higher than normal, and some slopes avalanched big during the melting event last week, but on the whole you can find a huge amount of skiing and snowboarding. It might even last a while, with today's cold temps and clouds, and a cold front coming in Monday.
May 26 -- 2005
Good News -- Indy Pass Open Again
CDOT says the road damage is not as bad as first thought, latest is that the gates will open sometime today -- in time for a fine weekend of backcountry skiing!
 |
| I got in a nice solo dawn patrol this morning in the Elk Mountains of central Colorado, on Mace Peak out of Castle Creek. This is looking down a cirque known as the "Ear." This time of year Mace Peak is a perfect quick-hit. Not only that, but I got to shift my Cherokee into 4-wheel-drive for the trailhead approach, yes! (That extra 300 feet of driving really helped make the day go better, he he.) After a sweet little workout, my desk chair was graced with my presence by 8:30 this morning. Snow cover is still looking good, see below for another photo. |
Animal Planet: Andrew McLean reports that Canadian backcountry skier and randonnee racer Greg Hill has completed his "Odyssey" project of climbing and skiing one million vertical feet in one year! "It was something like 150 days," reports McLean about Hill's feat, "with a 7k per day average and 37 days over 10k...biggest day was 40 k."
 |
| This morning in Colorado: Looking northwest from Mace Peak toward Colorado fourteener Castle Peak, Elk Mountains. Snow cover still looks excellent for spring, though the snow surface is a bit sun cupped in spots. You can only see the upper part of Castle Peak's east face extreme line in this photo, while it looks to be in condition, from another vantage point I could see that the choke in the middle was melted down to bare rock. Too late for that one, but many more descents are in good condition. |
May 25 -- 2005
Aspen, Colorado: Independence Pass CLOSED Today.
Nope, it's not April fools -- a flood took out a bridge on the east side of Indy, and it's closed till further notice. Talk about having your spring backcountry skiing plans dashed! Not all is lost, however. Now the trick anywhere in Colorado is to look for roads that give you good access to snowline. Many of the moderate jeep trails can be good for this, such as the Pearl Pass road in the Elk Mountains. Also, Pikes Peak and Mount Evans roads should be totally open this weekend, and I'll bet there are still good turns to be had up on Red Mountain Pass in southern Colorado.
And not to be too regional -- it's reported that corn season in the CA Sierra has been excellent, and Mount Shasta always looms on the mental horizon of any committed backcountry skier or snowboarder.
As for backcountry politics: Now is when we need the Backcountry Skier's Alliance, to ask CDOT to open the Independence Pass Road for recreation on the Aspen side. Anyone listening?
Meanwhile, an ATV or small motorcycle would work well for travel on the gated and paved Independence Pass Road that we the public have paid our hard earned tax money to maintain and open. As far as I know, using an ATV on the "closed" Independence Pass Road is legal. Please let me know if you find out any different.
May 24 - 2005
Independence Pass Open Today in Colorado!
The famous Pass opened a few days early! Thank you CDOT! Now for a few weeks of prime backcountry skiing at one of the best locations in the western United States for spring ski mountaineering. And remember, if you head up, my guidebook has all sorts of details.
May 22 - 2005
Colorado Spring Backcountry Ski Conditions
It's been a WARM couple of days, but Colorado backcountry skiers are still getting it done by starting early in the morning, and going for high altitude on anything but northerly slopes (which have not been well compacted). NOAA weather is predicting significantly cooler temps by Tuesday night, so Wednesday morning might be one of the best yet, and the days after that should be fine for a while. Independence Pass above Aspen will be officially open Thursday morning. If you want to chance it, try the gate Wednesday morning -- you never know! (And don't forget that ATVs are always legal on the Indy road when it's closed to regular automobiles.) As for other Colorado access, the Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park is open ahead of schedule, and Red Mountain Pass out of Ouray is also a good bet.
 |
| On the road today with my mom, pulled over for a pit stop on Black Mesa and the door handle comes off in her hand! Sometimes life is just too hard...and funny. |
May 20 - 2005
Torreys Peak Backcountry Skiing
 |
Bob Perlmutter backcountry skiing on The Tuning Fork, Torrys Peak, Colorado. |
Had a nice backcountry ski descent today, big 3,000 vertical foot snow face on the north side of Torreys Peak, Colorado. Known as the "Big Old Stripe Of Snow" or the "Tuning Fork," this is a classic descent that's been popular for years. That's Bob Perlmutter skiing in the above photo, about half way down, looking west.
 |
| Bob starting down looker's left arm of Tuning Fork. A few spicy turns here, then it's moderate, and amazingly long, classic! Click image to enlarge. |
Snow today was a bit suspect because of warm temps, so we started early, got to summit at 8:30 in the morning, then skied the run while the snow was still fairly hard and safe after its nightly cooling. Turns out we were correct in our assessment. A few hours later a person was killed in a big slide at Arapaho Basin ski area, just on the other side of the mountain in the photo!
For those who know the 'Fork, we did the lookers left arm, continuous from exact summit down into the trees in Grizzly Gulch. The snow wasn't the best we'd ever skied, but the line makes up for it -- and was avalanche safe when we skied (though who knows what happened after we left!)
May 19 - 2005
Second Look -- New Naxo STOMP Bindings
Back in February we blogged about our first look at the new super-beefy Naxo backcountry skiing binding when it was introduced at the Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake City. It's now named the "Stomp," and appears ready for play -- perhaps even play of the rough variety.
 |
New 2005/2006 Naxo
Stomp backcountry skiing binding. Click image to enlarge. |
A few days ago we received our production samples of the Stomp (for our work with Couloir Magazine and this blog). With the popularity of the Fritschi Freeride, it's obvious a market for this sort of randonnee AT binding (strong, weight a lesser issue) exists -- if for no other reason than having such grabbers allows you to own only one pair of skis for both backcountry and resort. I know that because I stood at the top of the lift at Alta last winter and counted how many Freeride bindings I saw. Not only were hundreds of skiers using them, but most had no backpack and appeared to be resort skiing with their "one rig" setup. More, with the market appeal these days of the "backcountry" image, in some circles it's hip to march around with randonne bindings on your skis -- even if the extent of the march is from bus stop to ski lift.
 |
 |
d-lock
open |
d-lock
closed |
| One excellent feature of the Stomp is a mechanical catch called the d-lock that holds the tour/ski latch so it absolutely can't go into touring mode while you're skiing downhill. This occurrence is an issue with some other AT bindings, and while not a problem for the average skier, it can result in nasty falls for aggressive free skiers and extreme skiers. We won't be surprised to see this feature appear on other one-rig bindings such as the Freeride, if for no other reason than the confidence it inspires. | |
 |
| Our binding slop comparo setup. Click to enlarge. |
An issue with this genre of AT binding is how solidly it sticks your boot to the ski. We're in the midst of a new bench "flex" test and we'll report that here soon. (Preview: the Stomp appears nearly identical to the Freeride in lateral flex). Then we'll go ski 'em on the bountiful harvest of spring corn snow that Colorado is blessed with this year. After that, a few more comments in this blog, then the "official" review in Couloir Magazine next winter. Meanwhile, the Stomp backcountry skiing binding appears to be an excellent contribution to the rando AT binding family.
 |
| Detail of Stomp heel latch. Everything is reinforced, with nice billet aluminum caps on both the toe and heel release spring barrels. |
May 16 - 2005
First Ski Descent on Cathedral Peak, Elk Mountains, Colorado
Bob Perlmutter had been looking at this line for a while -- we'd talked about it many times. Today was the day!
 |
| East face of Cathedral Peak, Elk Mountains, Colorado. New ski route shown with red dotted line. At the choke it's still wide enough for turns, and is continuous snow from summit to base during a good year such as this. Other routes are the Pearl Couloir just out of photo to right, and the Lisa Couloir on opposite side of peak. Click photo to enlarge. |
After checking NOAA weather radio, I figured we'd have a weather window on Monday morning, after a weekend of beautiful high pressure had matured the snow. After doing a few "ski fitness hikes" this past week a big line was all I wanted, so I called Bob on Sunday afternoon and told him there was only one place I felt like going. It would be his third day in a row of alpine starts and sleep deprivation -- but a first descent on this beautiful mountain was all the motivation he needed. The trip was on.
 |
 |
| Lou near the top of Couloir, entering steep section. Click images to enlarge. | Bob just a bit lower, making a transition to another pitch. |
Cathedral Peak is about as close to being a Colorado fourteener as you can get without it having official status. Per the usual state of affairs for our 14,000-foot peaks, the lines are big and steep, but doable. We had a fantastic day. Weather doubts kept the adventure alive, the crampon climb up steep firm snow was alpinism at its finest, and the ski down worked out super well. The line goes from the exact summit down the ridge a few feet, then over a scary steep entrance to the couloir. It averaged about 45 degrees steep, with a couple of sections that were around 50 degrees but short and easily handled. Perlmutter was excited to complete this route, as he'd known the line for years. Ditto.
Bob has a history with Cathedral Peak. Along with Kirk Lawrence, he did the first ski descent of the peak in the late 1970s, via a stunning line that I named the "Pearl Couloir" in my guidebook, as a way of honoring Bob's long term contribution to backcountry skiing in Colorado's Elk Mountains. In 1999 Bob and I skied another first descent on the west side of the peak, down a diagonal couloir we'd also gawked for years (I named that one after my wife Lisa). With our new line today, Bob has possibly been in on the first descent of every line that's been skied on Cathedral Peak. Perhaps we should change the name to Mount Perlmutter? (Just kidding).
One of my favorite things about alpinism is the friendships that go along with it. I loved skiing this great line, but equally special was spending a day with Bob. He's a great guy and a superb mountaineer. We've shared ski descents for years, starting with an early descent of the Crystal Chute on Mount Sopris, Colorado in 1979, and then skiing fourteeners together. Bob and I always seek the "aesthetic line." Thinking back, that all started with the Crystal Chute -- to culminate 25 years later with today's East Face of Cathedral Peak.
Welcome to Louis (Lou) Dawson's backcountry skiing information and opinion website. Lou's passion for the past 35 years has been alpinism and back country skiing -- and all manner of outdoor recreation. He has authored numerous books and articles about backcountry skiing and snowboarding, and is well known as the first person to ski down all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, otherwise known as the famous Fourteeners! Books and free back country information here, as well as tons of Randonnee rando telemark backcountry skiing info. All material on this website is copyrighted. Permission is required for reproduction, electronic or otherwise. That includes publication and display on other websites by whatever means. For more about this, PLEASE SEE OUR COPYRIGHT INFORMATION. Backcountry skiing is a dangerous sport. You may be killed or severely injured if you choose to do all forms of randonnée and randonnée skiing. The information on this website is intended only as general information for a variety of aspects of backcountry skiing and outdoor recreation. While the authors and editors of the information on this website make every effort to present useful information, due to human error the information contained within this website may be inaccurate, false, or out-of-date. By using the information provided on this website, you agree to absolve the owners of WildSnow.com of any liability for injuries or losses incured while using such information.
Always go backcountry skiing with a partner, and learn about avalanche safety before you ski outside of ski and snowboard resorts. The best season for this sport is late winter and spring, when the snowpack compacts and avalanche danger is more predictable. The Colorado wilderness backcountry skiing season reaches its prime in May and June. Maritime snow such as that of the Pacific Northwest may be less avalanche prone than continental snow of that such as Colorado and Wyoming. The California Sierra also provides a relatively reliable snowpack for backcountry skiing, snowboarders, snowmobilers, telemarkers and the like. Backcountry skiing is a wonderful sport, but it can transition in moments from wonder to tragedy. You agree to use any of this website's information, maps, photos, or binding mounting instuctions or templatates at your own risk, and waive Wildsnow.com its owners and contributors of any liability for use of said items. Keywords: Ski Information, Info, Outdoors, Wilderness Skiing, Randonnée and randonnée, Ski Mountaineering, also Ski Alpinismo and Backcountry Skiing. |
|
|
|
