Mt. Powell South Face Ski

Skiing Mt. Powell’s broad south face on March 31st. Click photos to enlarge.

The backcountry skiing around Vail has been good lately. Really good. The snowpack finally settled down enough to green light steeper lines, and coverage in the Gores and Holy Cross Wilderness is about as good as it ever gets. After a fun ski of Bald Mountain’s northeast face this past Saturday, Rick and I pored over ideas of what to hit next and ultimately landed on Mt. Powell, the highest peak in the Gore Range.

For years I have gawked at Mt. Powell (13,580 ft) from the Vail and Beaver Creek ski areas. The peak dominates the northern skyline and its broad south face, the big strip of white that’s obvious from many miles away, just begs to be skied. Thinking back to our summer hikes of the peak we were confident the route would be relatively easy to access from Kneeknocker Pass via Piney Lake.

After zipping up the road on in the morning on Rick’s sled, we were making final preparations to start the day when we heard another sled fast approaching. Three guys piled off it and said they too were going for Mt. Powell, and it didn’t take long to realize it was Dave Bourassa and his friends Mark and Markian. At that point it was obvious we should all just team up. Dave and I had been trying to get out all season, and the fortuitous meeting at the ranch at 6am with a common objective made it seem like fate anyway. I mean what are the odds right?

Breaking treeline with Mt. Powell’s west face towering above. That’s Kneeknocker Pass to the right. 

Dave did an excellent job of navigating us all through the trees and into the drainage below Kneeknocker Pass. This was his 3rd attempt at skiing Mt. Powell, having made it to the pass on every prior attempt, and his experience with the area really showed. But then again what area in the Gores isn’t Dave experienced in?

Skinning up the west side of Kneeknocker Pass with “East Corner Peak” (12,626 ft) in back. 

After the big grunt up to the pass the day turned from Jekyll into Hyde as we were hit by sun for the first time and temperatures soared. With skins ripped we took turns skiing off the east side of the pass to the base of Powell’s south face, then threw the skins back on and resumed the ascent. “Peak C” and “Dwarf Pyramid” towering above made it difficult to focus on the task at hand.

Mark skiing off the east side of the pass below the spectacular north face of “Peak C”. Photo by Dave.

Getting higher with the views only continuing to get better.

Eventually the south face gave way to the relatively flat summit plateau, and a short skin east landed us all atop the snowy summit. The views from the top of Mt. Powell very well may be my favorite in the entire state. The Gores are just awesome. There’s no other way to put it.

Rick nearing the summit with C and the Ripsaw Ridge behind him.

On the summit looking southwest towards Vail. The south face drops left from the far end of the flat summit plateau. Photo by Dave.

After eating lunch and taking a lot of pictures, we clicked in and skied on down to assess our options. Dave and Mark dropped into the east couloir first, and after a good portion of the line sluffed all the way down to the bottom leaving a hard bed crust underneath, Rick, Markian and I decided to split off and ski back down the south face in search of better conditions. I’m not sure the snow was any better in our line to be honest, but it certainly wasn’t bad.

Dave dropping into Mt. Powell’s east couloir. I’d like to return and ski it in pow conditions someday.

Rick dropping into the south face, the top of which is only about a hundred yards from the east couloir.

Turns high on the face.

Another shot of “Peak C” on the descent.

Finishing things off.

A quick hundred foot climb had us back to Kneeknocker pass, where we waited for Dave and Mark to skin around the corner from the bottom of the east couloir. In Dave’s estimation they added around 400 ft to their day.

The south face line seen from below.

After rendezvousing with Dave and Mark we enjoyed decent turns off the west side of Kneeknocker Pass and worked our way through the woods back down to the long Piney Creek drainage. Thankfully on this day, the colder temps and partial overcast kept the long flat back to the sleds cold and supportable (very much unlike Brian and I’s afternoon slog across this section a couple years ago).

Mark making turns off the west side of Kneeknocker Pass. This pitch held some of the best skiing of the day.

Out of all the available options, I’m glad we chose Mt. Powell 🙂

Back at the ranch we exchanged high fives before Dave, Mark and Markian loaded up and motored away on “Large Marge”. Rick and I decided to stay awhile and enjoy a few cold ones at the ranch as the monarchs of the northern-Gore drifted in and out of the clouds. Eventually we said our goodbyes to this special place and enjoyed an event-free ride back to Red Sandstone, with another Gore Range classic under our belts.

The exclamation point.

Thanks for a great day up there guys. Here’s to a great spring!