The plan was to hit “Big Bad Wolf” Couloir from Willowbrook based on a brief report mentioned in Stan Wagon’s site from a couple years ago. I hadn’t seen much posted about this line anywhere and was intrigued. I knew the snow conditions would be solid, with moderate/low avy danger due to the recent storms, so another Gore slog was in store. After the Silver 2 weeks ago and CC Rider on C, figured I’d keep the momentum going. What I learned was, in a range full of potential ski lines, Red Peak is near the top of that list with regards to diversity, aesthetics and fantastic consistent skiing. Hugh, Jon and I met around 4:30am in Morrison, made it to Willowbrook TH around 6am and were skinning soon after. The first couple miles flew by and we reached the Gore Range Trail junction, where we continued to follow the summer trail, till it made sense to follow Willow Creek in a more direct line to the base of Big Eyes. We were granted a few solid panos of the Willow/Salmon cirques early on in some open marshlands. After 2.5 hours, we popped out of the trees almost directly at the base of Big Eyes Couloir on EE Red and took a prolonged break. Keep reading…
The CC Rider on Peak C in the Gores had been in the back of Ben’s and my mind for a couple years now, obvious setback being the access. Earlier in the week we decided to send our old friend Elliot a quick text to see what his plans were. Oddly enough, he and his buddy “MVP” (Brian) had 2 sleds and were headed for C. Its not everyday where all you have to do is show up to a TH with 2 sleds at your disposal, so the decision was pretty simple. Read more…
On Memorial Day I was able to escape the city and check out another Front Range ski route that had long been on my wish list – the Northeast Face of Bald Mountain A (13,684 feet) outside of Breckenridge. Partners for this superb day of spring hiking and skiing wound up being David Yarian and our resident member of the “I Snowshoe with Skiers” club, Dillon Sarnelli. We met at the Trex lot and motored up to French Gulch, following the TH directions Brian laid out in our guidebook (he skied this route in 2011 and included it as the first chapter of the Front Range section). Once at the parking lot we geared up and began the long ascent up the French Creek drainage. Keep reading…
With ski conditions starting to deteriorate up high and a good amount of summer driving on the agenda, I knew I wanted to keep things local this past Saturday. My buddy Jason Fruh and I talked about going for Pettingell Peak which resides at the head of Herman Gulch only an hour’s drive from Denver. We knew it was in (thanks to beta provided by Brandon Chalk and Co who had skied it a week and a half prior), and with the good possibility of a sub-par freeze the night prior we liked the idea of going for a low-angle route. Read more…
