Coon Hill Ski - 4.28.2012

Since returning from Alaska a week and a half ago I've stuck around the Front Range to look for jobs and spend some time with my family. As a bonus, I've had the chance to ski a couple lines that I've eyed for years. Coon Hill is one of these lines.

At 12,750 feet, Coon Hill is barely a bump on a topo map, but its relative relief from surrounding terrain, interesting north face, and proximity to Loveland Ski Area made it something that I have always wanted to ski.

On Saturday, Brennan, Grete, and I parked at the West Portal of the Eisenhower Tunnel and headed to the basin below Coon Hill. The almost instant access to this basin, available mid-winter as well, is one of best parts of Coon Hill. Brennan on the mini-approach:


After a quick skin up the valley, we headed west towards the south ridge of Coon Hill.


Just like the skin up the valley, the skin to the ridge line was quick, but the forecast of high winds had me anxiously awaiting its arrival. Luckily, the winds were just strong enough to keep us cool in the bright April sun. Soon, we were finishing off the short ridge to the summit.


The summit brought the usual beautiful views of any bluebird day in the Colorado high-country. Buffalo Mountain in the foreground with Mount of the Holy Cross anchoring the horizon:


Brennan enjoying the views from the top:


After a blustery break on the summit we headed towards one of the many lines available on the north face. As the chute directly off the summit was not in, we dropped into the prominent chute just to the west.

Concerned about wind loading from the previous day's storm I ski cut the slope, finding 10 inches of well bonded creamy powder. Brennan dropped first, and watching him ski the upper 1/3 of the line I was stoked, the snow looked incredible.




Grete followed, skiing past Brennan into the gut of the line:


As Grete passed Brennan we could hear the unmistakable sound of ice. The next 1/3 of the line was rock hard.


But, somehow, by the bottom 1/3 of the line, the snow had turned back into creamy spring pow:


Any day in the mountains is a good day:




Protected from the consistent summit winds, we ate a quick lunch and enjoyed the beauty around us:


Then headed back up:


Just like the descent, the snow on the climb alternated between deep drifts of soft snow, and nearly impenetrable ice. As none of us had bothered to bring our crampons or ice axes, these hard sections slowed us down a bit. Brennan did his best to avoid the ice completely:


Despite the hard snow, we soon reached the upper chute:


Finishing the climb within the rock walls of the chute:


Back at the top we had 1600 vertical feet of creamy snow to look forward to. Because of the low snow year the main summit chute is barely in, but we found entertaining terrain just down the ridge:






After the upper pitch our routes diverged, I found a skinny choke to straightline, while Grete and Brennan picked this zone:


The snow and coverage remained great to the valley floor,


before quickly disintegrating (insert ex-stream skier joke here):


As always I'm happy to check out a new area, especially with two great friends. The access to Coon Hill is nearly unbeatable, and there is steep and interesting terrain on the north face, I'm looking forward to coming back here in the future.

Another Ski Day in the Anthracites

With the lack of new snow, exploring new terrain has been the priority lately. Yesterday Josh and I went farther into the Anthracites than I've been before, spending most of the day breaking trail through unsupportable facets. We didn't get much skiing in back there, but it was great to see some new terrain and go to an area that has been visited by only a few people this winter. On the way out we skied some steep trees that I've never skied before. Surprisingly, despite their proximity to the more heavily trafficked zones of the Anthracites, we only saw four or five other tracks there.

So, today we went back up for some more. First, we skied a run in the trees to the skier's left of Big Chute, followed by two runs in the trees of East bowl. The first run had seen enough traffic that most of the steep pitches had sloughed out and didn't ski very well. The runs in East bowl were a different story: we barely crossed another track through well spaced trees and supportable snow.

The snow to our north produced beautiful weather over us all day, clouds over the West Elks:



Josh:


Josh: 

Grete:


Josh:


Its great to ski new and relatively untouched terrain in an area that sees such high skier traffic. I was very impressed by the terrain here and can't wait to come back once we get some more snow.

Slate River Ski - 11.26.2011

As of Friday night at 6 PM I had been planning on staying on the Front Range until heading out for San Francisco, but after another mediocre day of inbounds day at Loveland, and discovering our touring plan for Saturday was a little bit out of reach we made a last minute decision to head down to CB.

Rachel and I left Boulder a bit after 8, picked up Grete at 9, and were in CB by 1 AM. Not bad considering we were driving through a blizzard for the majority of the drive!

In the morning we drove to the trailhead, and after a quick sled  we were at the beginning of the skin. This was by far the longest trandem we’ve done, and I’m happy to say it went quite well, especially as the upgraded ski rack can easily hold three pairs. Grete also acquired some unexplained, moist, long animals intestines on her skis over the course of the ride.

From the get go it was clear Rachel's skins we not working. I'd rather not even count the number of times I looked back to see her sliding backwards down the skin track. 

But, somehow she kept going and we eventually reached the ridge. Purple in the late afternoon light:

The skiing wasn't as deep as its been lately, but its still hard to beat 1500' of soft snow through open glades. Plus, it certainly was better than whats available on the front range right now. 

Grete:

On Sunday we went up to the Anthracites to do LOTS of beacon practice, then skied a lap. Even in the trees the snow was some of the most challenging man-eating crust I've skied in recent memory. I was blown away by how much the snow had changed over the course of 24 hours and 10 miles. Can't wait for the next storm!

Lost Rat Couloir Ski - 5.30.2011

On Monday Grete and I set out hoping to ski the Tuning Fork or The Emperor Couloir on Torreys. The forecast 60 percent chance of snow and gusts of 55 mph didn't have us that optimistic, but after having both spent time away from the mountains the past week we were both just excited to get out.

The road from Bakerville is snowed in from about 100 yards outside of town, so we quickly parked and switched to the sled. In general sledding up the road went quite well, although there were several large dirt patches that we drove over. It was nice sledding on an established level road, as opposed to some of the silliness we have found ourselves on lately. We quickly had beautiful views of the sun striking Torreys.

The Emperor and Tuning Forks on Torrey 

As we hoped to ski a north facing line on Torreys, which would involve hiking back up the road from Grizzly Gulch, we parked the sled at summer trailhead and started the skin.

Parking Lot

The firm snow provided a fast surface, but we were quickly greeted by the strong wind gusts as forecast. I have never been in Stevens Gulch in the wintertime, so I had a great time enjoying the views as we were bounced around by the wind.

Grete w/ the north ridge of Edwards

As we got closer to the base of the Dead Dog we could make out at least 2 crowns high on the East face of Torreys. Although never in our trip itinerary, these served as a reminder of the recent avalanche death there and the slow transition to spring we have seen this year.

Torreys

As we began to gain elevation towards the saddle between Grays and Torreys the winds continued to increase. Figuring that we could always traverse back toward Torreys if conditions became more favorable we followed the mellow ridge south towards the top of the Lost Rat. As we skinned past 13000' we noticed that the freeze crust was getting thinner and thinner, this was enough for us to finalize our decision on Grays. At this point we felt a little silly for not just sledding right up to the bottom of the line, but in retrospect it was nice to get a bit more exercise and the rolling terrain below the couloir turned out to be a great runout. That being said, I can only image how fast this line could be skied if one were to sled right to the bottom of it...

Grete w/ Torreys

Entrance to the Lost Rat

We dropped at about 11:15, and not a moment too soon, as the clouds moved in by the time we were half way through the 800' chute. As usual, the winds that had kept the snow surface so hard outside the couloir were gone once we were in leading us with deep, but supportable corn.

Grete Gansauer

Little Mike

Below the line we enjoyed 1000 vertical feet of fun rolling terrain back to the sled. In all honesty I was really surprised by the Lost Rat, obviously its not classic, but considering the effort involved it was definitely a worthy adventure, and definitely a good backup for when bigger lines are off limits because of stability or weather.

Happy Mike

The way down was essentially a repeat of the way up, but with much nicer snow for the sled. That is where there was snow...

some sort of ancient ruin

too much of this

so glad this isn't mine

Monday marks a milestone in my short sled skiing career, this was the first day I did not get lost, stuck, delayed or break something. So, regardless of what I skied it was an overwhelming success.

Marjorie Ski - 5.14.2011

Yesterday Erik and I made the absolutely disastrous mistake of trying turn a quick morning sled-ski into and exploratory mission. Heres some insight into the good and the bad of how that went....                 

Stuck

Really really stuck

Today I was looking for something significantly more mellow, so we decided on Marjorie Bowl on the north side of Lenawee Mountain just northeast of A-Basin ski area. I had never skied this little zone before and was very excited to finally check it out, its cool and quick and I will definitely be back there. The climb involves a quick skin from the upper A Basin parking lot to the bottom of the Marjorie and then a hike/skin up along the ridgeline.

The Route

Looking up Shit for Brains Coulior

 

For the last month every time we have gone out something has gone wrong, this time it was Grete's ski carry system that failed.

A mountain goat observes some of the local wildlife...

Jordan Scheremeta

Grete Gansauer

Rachel Ertz

We weren't the only people who thought Marjorie was a good idea.

Rachel

Little Jordan in a big world...

All in all a cool little area with quick and easy access to fun terrain!