Backcountry skiing Independence Pass, Colorado, Geissler Peak. Good corn snow conditions for late May.
Maps
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Tony had gotten a brain scan a few days before we skied Hayden last year. As it turned out, while he was up there getting 6,000 vert on a big Colorado mountain, the scan interpreter noticed a blood vessel in his brain was ballooned out in a large and potentially deadly aneurysm. It the thing had ruptured, even in civilization his chances of surviving would have been rare. Up on a mountain? Zero percent. In a word, it is miraculous Tony didn’t stroke out (as in permanently) during our Hayden Ski, what with the dehydration and raised blood pressure of hard endurance athletics.
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It’s not skiing, it’s snirting. The new sport. Just have a place to dunk your skis afterward, and get ready to load up the washing machine once you’re home. But a day in the mountains, no matter how close to a laundry soap commercial it comes, is still a day in the mountains. So yesterday myself, Nick Thompson and Dave Downing ended skiing what I call the Teeny Couloir (left) on West Pearl Mountain. But not before a small detour as well as a pastry alert. Check it out.
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Gear list for the Silvretta Traverse, what to bring for Silvretta Mountains backcountry ski trip.
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Being crafty ski mountaineers, the locals I ski with here don’t go for much super-alpine terrain in midwinter, as the weather and avalanche danger up high makes it tough to put together a quality excursion. But get a string of…
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PSA: I’ve been working with 10th Mountain Huts for a few months getting their online store up and running. It’s been a long process but now 10th Mountain Hut users can get maps and logo gear by web shopping rather…