While this spring has been one for the books in terms Colorado’s snowpack, finding decent weather windows for skiing has been a tad challenging at times. Despite a few failed outings which didn’t go as planned, mostly due to unforeseen weather and funky avalanche conditions, the stars did align for several fun days in May on a handful of local Vail/Summit County peaks. Read more…
September 10, a fine fall day, and I was visitin’ my cousin, Steve for a few days in Denver, and so decided to tag with him on some type of mountain traverse. This here’s Cletus, and Steve’ll be mad as a badger to see i done commandeered his email account. So we get to Montgomery Reservoir and head up the jeep road. There’s a sign, “No camping,” and then there’s no more signs for miles. I account this a failure on the part of the Forest Service… Read more…
Time in the mountains has been difficult to come by for me so far this year. Between selling and buying a pair of homes, preparing for Anna-Lisa and I’s move out of Denver, and training for a series of trail races in June/July, it’s been a thin year for ski descents. I haven’t been particularly broken up about it though, because it’s also been a thin year for the Colorado snowpack. Conditions have seemed rough up high for the better part of a month now, not helped by the fact that our base was disappointing to begin with. Keep Reading…
The north face of “Drift” had been on my radar for years, even since before Brian included it in our guidebook. The route is wind-prone and can be finicky to get in good condition. But when it’s in, it’s tough to find a better bang-for-your-buck line in the entire state. Paved road access, a short approach, and a straightforward climb all lead to an aesthetic summit and over 2,300 ft of skiing right off the top. Read more…