Post by WildSnow.com blogger
Lou Dawson | April 19, 2008
Check out the view we got of Pyramid Peak east face with Landry Route. Yesterday we had a great day on Ski Hayden peak near Aspen — we played our cards right and got about 5,000 vert of quality backcountry skiing. Perhaps a trip report later. For now, after skiing Hayden I always enjoy bringing back a current image of what Pyramid Peak looks like, as the view of the ‘Mid from Hayden is stunning. Perhaps those of you aspiring to the Landry line will find it useful. (PM update, I heard it got skied today by some guys from Aspen.)
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| Pyramid Peak, Colorado, East Face, April 18, 2008. |
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Welcome to Louis (Lou) Dawson's backcountry skiing information & opinion website. Lou's passion for the past 50 years has been alpinism, climbing, mountaineering and skiing -- along with all manner of outdoor recreation. He has authored numerous books and articles about
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That’s a picture that can tempt any skier.
Did you get a picture of the tracks on Thunder?
Pete, I couldn’t see any tracks there, perhaps we summited Hayden just before Dav and Ted skied, or else their tracks were not that obvious. My camera/lens combo probably would not have resolved them anyhow unless they were lit with rack light in the afternoon. Too bad, as that would have been a money shot.
Hey Lou,
Me and 2 buddies from Ft Collins skied into Hayden on the 18th, camped near the lunch spot, skied Hayden on the 19th, and came out on the 20th. Were those your tracks on the Stammberger (sp?) Face?? They were nice :-).
Paul
Yeah, they were ours, and some blown over ones from friends the day before. We also hit the Devo chutes as our exit. Great day. You must have had fun campinig up there!
Sweet! We had a great time, not too cold, hardly anybody around. Only 2 other people came up on Saturday. Snow was a bit variable and challenging :-), but we had a great time. We got lost coming down (too far skiers right in the lower aspen) and came up to a nice Aspen shack :-). Luckily we found our way to the tricky log crossing, and one of our party with a sled just pulled it threw Castle Creek. Wish we had that on video! I took a DSLR all the way to the summit, and got some good shots of my buddies coming down.
Nothing like this up in the Ft Collins area. Looks like a long spring season.
Lou,
My name is John Minier. Matt Primomo, Jesse Durrance, and I are the one’s who skied the Landry Line on April 19th. Very intimidating and commiting, but also rewarding. For those aspiring to ski it, do not underestimate the severity and of the upper snowfields, and the line as a whole for that matter. In order to get around the rock bands on the summit ridge, you must make at least several mandatory jump turns on the 60 degree slope above the massive cliff. The only reason we went ahead with it is because we had a perfectly hot, windless day that allowed the snow to soften up enough to be forgiving. otherwise I think we would have down climbed it. Just because the snowpack is stable doesn’t mean the line will be safe to ski. The weather and current conditions of the day, as well as your timing, must come together perfectly. We also climbed the Landry Line in it’s entirety as well, which proved very useful for condition assessment. It’s a bit bigger day, but I would highly recommend it.
Lou, there was a group of 4 aspen skiers that pulled into the parking lot right when we returned. They told us they were going to attempt the Landry Line the next morning (April 20th). I believe their name’s were Paul, Brad, Ian, and some other guy. I was curious if you heard whether they made it or not, and more importantly, whether they are safe. I was above 12,000 again today and the wind was about to rip the contacts out of my eyes, I can’t imagine the snow on the upper snowfields softening up much with those winds. if they went for it, it would probably have been ice or breakable crust – YIKES! Hope everything worked out…
John,
Also, for those looking to nab the first snowboard descent, Matt Primomo already tagged it – in excellent style 🙂
Wow, way to go John and crew! Very smart of you all to climb the line before skiing it, and I bet it gave you all a ton more confidence. Hope you took photos.
Nice job John and crew!!! Climb the line before you ski it? Isn’t that kind of old school (grin)?
Hey John: glad to hear it went well for you all. Ian and I made it jsut about to the cliffs right below the summit, and didn’t ski the upper snowfield. We decided to call it there because of some gear issues on the way up that cost us about an hour and caused Brad and Chris to turn back right be fore the exit coulie. Since it was getting late we decided not to summit but a good attempt nonetheless. Quite a line, extremely committing, and the conditions were icy. The wind wasn’t that bad until we were down because it was mostly blowing out of the SW. It did switch to the S and then E which would have been an issue had we been up there longer.Anyway, we’re back safe- and congrats man.
Paul, I don’t know if we’ve ever met but thanks for the comment, and good to hear you guys are being careful up there. Serious place, isn’t it?
Hi Lou. A serious place indeed. I don’t believe we met but I’m sure our paths will cross.
Yea I was comfortable with our decision. It’s a bit of a letdown not to summit but the sun crust was beginning to soften very quickly- too quickly given that it was getting late- at the point of about the fourth red dot down in the picture you posted. Underneath the melting crust was rotten hoar. It kinda felt like a no-brainer with those conditions.
paul,
glad to hear that you and the crew made it back safe. If it is any consolation, you skied the most fun part of the line. The turns on the summit snowfield were more nauseating than they were enjoyable.
hope you had as much fun getting down into the exit coulie as we did.
Lou, as far as climbing the line that you ski, sometimes old’s cool. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Oh, by the way –
Right at the point when we were climbing through the dicy cliff bands on the summit ridge, a helicopter came raging by from behind the mountain and passed less then 100 feet from us. They were so close that we could see the people’s faces. I bet they were about as surprised as we were. We though the mountain was coming down on our heads and just about pooped our pants. Seems a little too weird to be a coincidence…
anybody know anything about that.
John
Hi Lou,
Thanks for all the great pics and info; that Landry Route pic is just spectacular.
Cheers!
Bill Hunt