Red Lady Bowl Ski - 3.8.2012

Yesterday, seeing that the avalanche danger had finally fallen to moderate at and above treeline, and that the weather was absolutely incredible, Josh and I were excited to get out for a tour. The question remained: where to go? We considered returning to Snodgrass where we skied wednesday, skiing some of the steep trees of Axtell, or dropping into Redwell Basin. After 30 minutes of flip flopping we decided to avoid steep trees with significant deep instability, and settled on Red Lady.

Josh misunderstood the forecast and started out wearing a thermal top...


...which didn't last long


through the aspens we went:






and before long we were approaching treeline:

Just like Wednesday, its amazing just how much of a difference a few miles makes for the views. A lifetime of lines:


East Beckwith:


West Beckwith:


After an easy, albeit, sweltering two and a half hour skin we were at the top, with incredible 360 degree views. Capitol and Snowmass to the north:


Owen (definitely on the wish list):


Ruby chute (also on the wish list):


It was hard to head down with the perfectly still weather and the amazing views, eventually Josh decided it might be worth putting his jacket on:


Josh dropped first:


and made GS turns down the upper bowl


Not exactly sure what to expect in terms of snow quality, and remembering that Josh makes even the worse snow look good, I dropped in tentatively, and quickly realized I was skiing the smoothest, creamiest pow I've skied all year. What a treat!!!


After the upper bowl, we skied the rolling lower pitches together, finding more creamy pow which gradually transitioned to corn as we reached the bottom. The large natural slide from last week's avalanche cycle is visible on looker's right:




Josh cranked out one last pitch above the parking lot:


This is one of the most fun tours I've done in a while, everything was perfect: the weather, the views, and the snow. Even if you have a sled you should ski this: the views are incredible and the run is long. If possible, I'd avoid doing it on a weekend when the masses converge on it, even on a weekday we saw some extremely sketchy backcountry protocol.

Snodgrass Ski - 3.7.2012

After many lovely, warm, bluebird resort days lately we were ready to head out into the backcountry today. However, this was complicated by two things: 1) The warm, windy weather lately has not been exactly conducive to producing good snow quality or healing the weak snowpack. 2) My snowmobile is still out of action after catching fire last week. So, with these limitations we headed to a closer zone that we do not normally ski. So, catching my sled on fire is a blessing in disguise right???

So, Josh and I headed out to ski Snograss Mountain, just northwest of the ski resort. Years ago Snodgrass was actually the first CB backcountry ski I ever did, and I haven't been back since, and I was excited to ski it again. Somehow despite the forecasted 80% chance of snow it was bluebird at the trailhead. The views from the trailhead are a bit different from what we normally see skiing west and northwest of town:

Josh with Snodgrass and Gothic in the background:

Gothic again:



Axtell:

Mount Emmons:


Mount Bellview

The beautiful weather continued to hold as we skinned up, Whetsone Mountain to the South:


...and the resort behind us:


After a quick hour and twenty minute skin we were at the top and ready to drop into 1600 vertical feet of protected north facing trees. Josh immediately found some creamy pow:


After the steep upper pitches, we ripped through some fun meadows lower down:






Before we knew it we were at the bottom and skinning the flat 30 minute road back to the car.


Overall, this is a great, easy tour that I would recommend to anyone, especially those without snowmobiles. There are lots of safe, well spaced trees that can be skied in relatively unstable conditions. However, because it is closer to the resort and farther east than where we normally tour, the snowpack is shallower and has the typical instability associated with it. Its important to be careful on the steep rollovers that exist here.

Starlight Couloir Ski - 5.14.2009

The other day while I was looking at some old pictures, reminiscing about memorable ski adventures, I came across my pictures from when Josh, Ethan, and I skied the Starlight Couloir on James Peak back in the spring of 2009. This line holds a special spot in my heart because it was clearly visible from my front porch growing up. I was surprised that I hadn't added it to the blog before. So here it is!

Like most adventures involving Ethan and I, we got off to a not so early start from the Saint Mary's Glacier trailhead:

A 20 minute hike brought us to the bottom of the glacier, and in another 45 minutes we were at the top. Ethan and Josh approach the top of a fat, springtime Saint Mary's Glacier:

After the glacier we crossed the long and very flat plain before reaching the base of the peak itself. This is one of my least favorite parts of James Peak: it is usually about half snow, half willows, and half grass(summing to 3/2), and so flat that skinning is not very efficient. But it provides beautiful views to the South. Left to right: Evans, Bierstadt, Edwards, Grays, and Torreys:

Fortunately the plain is only about a mile across and soon we were gaining elevation again.

The east shoulder of James Peak is generally about the perfect angle for skinning, and has great views into the Mammoth Lakes Basin and James Peak's eastern amphitheater. Ethan and I quickly reached the top of the couloir and marveled at the Superstar Couloir as we waited for Josh:

The top of the Starlight Couloir:

With the arrival of Josh we dropped into the couloir finding some great corn turns.

 

The top starts out nice and steep inside of tall granite walls. Photo: Ethan Vimont

 

Josh:

 

Before long we were down into the apron, and I was able to open up some fun GS tele turns. Photo: Josh Nunnamaker

 

Ethan:

 

Carving through some spring roller balls. Photo: Ethan Vimont.

Stopping in the basin at the bottom of the line, my breath was taken away by the amphitheater above us. There are several cool, big lines I would like to ski here, especially the Superstar Couloir. Looking back at our line:

 

From there we decided to ski further down into the mammoth lakes basin before climbing back out towards Saint Mary's Glacier. After descending about 500 vertical feet we found ourselves in a long chute filled with rapidly softening snow. This led to some interesting maneuvers to avoid triggering a wet slide in said chute: 

And some hasty straight lining:

It was clearly getting late in the day; time to get moving. So, we turned south and booted the 800 vertical feet back to the plain above Saint Mary's Glacier. Next time I'll avoid this, there are few things as challenging as hiking in ski boots uphill through loose scree. Its like walking up a down escalator in ski boots...for a long time. Ethan glad to get that over with:

From there it was a quick ski back down to the car. We diverged from the traditional route back down through Saint Mary's Glacier and instead skied down through the largely failed Eclipse Snow Park:

The route:

Overall, Starlight Couloir is a great ski that I would recommend to almost anyone: its aesthetic, steep, has relatively easy access, and is in a beautiful area. Its steep enough that its fun for most, but not too steep or exposed for an advanced skier. If I were to ever actually get out of bed on time, skiing from the Summit of James Peak, then dropping into Starlight would be an added bonus.