Independence Pass Ski Touring Party Picnic 2017

Indy Pass Party 2017! This usually happens on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Got delayed due to weather, to this glorious spring day of June 3. An informal annual event. Near as we can remember this was about year 30! Photo by Pat Bingham, used by permission.

Touring up to the Geisslers. Can a morning be more glorious than this?

Mr. and Mrs. WildSnow, working off the pancakes.

Heading to Geissler 2.

Al Fiorello in his element.

Getting ready for lap 1, and viewing the ‘scape for the next outing.

Al, farming the corn crop.

Cruising the lower west flanks of Blue Peak back to the car.

Spring skiing brings out the smiles, especially for Lisa, who loves an early morning ski in the sunshine. Photo by Pat Bingham.

(Note, folks were asking Lou where they could find info about skiing Independence Pass now that his guidebooks are all out of print. He’s ported the Indy info to BackcountrySkiingCO.com, check it out.

10 Responses to “Independence Pass Ski Touring Party Picnic 2017”

1. Pete Anzalone June 5th, 2017 2:07 pm

   To very generous Lisa & Lou … Thank you!

2. Lou Dawson 2 June 5th, 2017 3:34 pm

   Anyone leave that Playmate cooler visible at lower right of group photo? Lisa and I have it here in Carbondale if you want it. I don’t need another lunchbox at this point in life (smile).

3. Tom Gos June 5th, 2017 5:34 pm

   Looks like there was a pretty good overnight freeze up there, which I’m a bit surprised at given how warm it was this past weekend. Is it accurate that the snow was still freezing at night up there?

4. Shawn June 5th, 2017 7:48 pm

   Cooler was ours. Please donate to anyone who could use it, as we already drove home to GJ. Thomas thanks you for the hot dog.

5. Lou Dawson 2 June 6th, 2017 6:21 am

   Ok Shawn, or perhaps you can grab it next year, same place (smile). Good to see you up there, you going to make a few more ski trips before hanging them up? Lou

6. Lisa Dawson June 7th, 2017 6:15 am

   Thanks everyone for getting together. It’s always so nice to mingle with our backcountry community.

7. slcpunk June 7th, 2017 8:33 am

   Looking for beta on road status for this coming weekend. Lincoln creek road? any tips for first timers from the wasatch? Reading the info on backskiingco.com – the hardest part is it is overwhelming. too many choices! We’re willing to put in some work for long steep runs, but prefer to be on snow and avoid dirt walking, especially down hill.

8. Lou Dawson 2 June 7th, 2017 9:04 am

   Hi SLC, I’m pretty sure you can call the USFS, White River National Forest, and they’ll know the status of the Lincoln Creek road. To avoid dirt walking, as always your best bet is to drive to the higher trailheads. You can still get on snow close to parking on Independence Pass, and Road 505 off Fryingpan Road is also a good bet though will involve some dirt hiking by now. Outside my home ground, another excellent bet this time of year is Loveland Pass. Let us know how it goes.

   I’m glad you found backcountryskiingco.com, apologies for not porting more of my books there. Am working on it but it’s pretty time consuming. I’ll do more this summer.

   Lou

9. slcpunk June 7th, 2017 9:11 am

   Thanks – I’ll definitely call the USFS before we head out. Appreciate all you do and your willingness to share, no apologies required.

10. Shawn June 8th, 2017 8:20 am

    Lou,

    We won’t be back your way until August. We’ve moved on to liquid water sports for the rest of the summer.

    Shawn