The San Juan Solstice 50 miler down in Lake City has had a rough couple of years. In 2019, the historic snow and avalanches in the San Juans rendered the course un-runnable (not to mention the threats of flooding in town), which cancelled that year’s race. The 2020 version was scrapped again, unfortunately, as this time we had COVID to thank. Keep Reading….
Last week Brando, Brian and I set off from the Gore Creek Campground and once again made the long approach up into Deluge Creek. This time, the objective was to climb “Snow Peak” (13,024 ft) and hopefully ski off its south side down to Gore Lake. I had gotten a look at Snow’s south face from the summit of “West Deming” the week prior, and after flipping through some old pics of the face taken in past ski seasons to compare snow totals, we decided it’d be worth going to check out. Read more…
A few weeks back Brando and I took the morning off from work to climb and ski “The Fly” (12,550 ft) up Booth Creek. It’s a somewhat reclusive Gore peak with a bit of an approach to get to, but the neat climb up its summit ridge and the south face ski route are well worth the price of admission. For me, The Fly had long been on the wish list and was fun to finally pay a visit. Read more…
At the tail end of winter Brandon, Dylan and I made the long skin up Booth Creek and climbed/skied “Peak P” down its long west-facing chute, known by some as the “Piney Plunge”. It was the sort of long, committing day out there that we dream of all winter, and given the current state of things in the world and local community, it might be one of the only such big days we get to experience all spring. I guess we’ll see… Read more…