Tag Archives: Molas Pass

The Snake and The Naked Lady

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On Thursday Brian, Rick, and I got a 4am start from the Camp Bird gate closure, intent on giving the Snake Couloir on Mt. Sneffels a go. Any hope of getting a reasonable amount of sleep was dashed when we tried to plow through a snow bank blocking access to Angel Creek Campground a few hours prior, resulting in a high centered vehicle and a ninety minute effort to free it. With a day like the Snake ahead of us we knew we could’t afford to push back our start time, so we did our best to suck it up and began the long zombie walk up the dry road on schedule. Read more…

Losing Track of Time in the San Juans

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Ben and I had been mulling over a return trip to the PNW this spring for some unfinished business on Adams and Hood. Well mother nature and the snow levels in Washington and Oregon put the kaibash on that idea real quick. Plan B were the Tetons, but we couldn’t find enough sane lines to combine for an extended trip – all of them seemed unreasonably dangerous and the snow seemed to just stop falling once the New Year rolled around. After a huge dump in late February down South, we decided to pull the trigger on the San Juans to hopefully replicate the success we experienced in 2013. Rick, fresh off a sweet heli-trip up north in the Canadian Rockies, rounded out the group at 3 and we were off. Keep reading…

Kicking Things Off in the Southern Mountains

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Brian, Rick, and I decided to load up the car with gear and drive down to the San Juans this past weekend. We were not entirely sure what we’d find in terms of snow stability and coverage, but we managed to talk ourselves into taking the plunge. Tracking the CAIC reports and weather the week prior to our departure helped somewhat, but it’s nearly impossible to drive 350 miles to go ski steep terrain in March and feel totally confident about your decision. That said, we did have some reliable local beta that seemed to be giving us a green light. Keep reading…