Video: East Vail

For all the complaining I did this year about the ski season, I actually had several great days of skiing.  I caught the upslope storm at Eldora, a few powder days at Vail, and an awesome day at Telluride, which is probably better than most people this year in CO.

The biggest frustration this year was the backcountry skiing.  The snow pack was horribly unstable and shallow for most of the season.  There have been 29 avalanche related deaths nationwide this year.  Consequently, I stayed very conservative for most of the season.  I skied some mellow, crusty snow in RMNP, dropped the trees in Loveland Pass,  found great snow in East Vail on Water-tower, but never made it to Berthoud Pass or Jones Pass.

The instability seems to be carrying into the spring, which is unusual.  It looks like there might not be much of  a ski mountaineering season.  I read an article about entire mogul fields ripping up in Montana.  You can read about it here: http://unofficialnetworks.com/massive-avalanches-close-bridger-bowls-upper-mountain-mogul-fields-ripping-ground-86882/
Scary Stuff!

February in East Vail was the highlight of the season.  Unfortunately it was only good back there for that short month.  Conservative lines were all I skied, due to the avy danger.  I constantly found my self looking into Benchmark Bowl drooling over the exciting but higher risk lines.  Next year I guess... I hope you enjoy the footage I got from this year's skiing.  Nothing crazy, but a lot of fun anyway. 

East Vail on Dwellable

Video: Telluride Powder Day

Laura and I skied Telluride on March 19th, in the middle of a storm that dumped over a foot of snow.  The snow-pack in the San Juans was deeper than other ranges in CO, so the new snow was sitting on top of a pretty good base.  After a mostly disappointing ski season, this was a very welcome blessing.  The timing of the storm couldn't have been better as we only had 1 day to ski on our way back from Moab.  The combination of great snow and Telluride's incredible terrain made for one of my best days of skiing at a resort.

Birthday on Sundance Buttress

I went out climbing last weekend with Anthony Riske for his birthday.  We climbed Mainliner (5.9) on Sundance Buttress at Lumpy Ridge, just outside of Estes Park, CO.  It was a great day with nice temps and lots of sunshine.  The route was stellar.  It was about 700 ft. (5 pitches) on good clean rock with fun climbing, great views, and comfy belay ledges.  It also made into Fred Beckey's 100 Favorite Climbs in North America, a new book put out by Patagonia.

Moab and Telluride

I just got back from an amazing road trip through Moab and Southwest Colorado with my beautiful wife Laura.  We camped in the desert surrounding Moab on Friday and Saturday nights which was beautiful.  We were put in touch ahead of time with some mutual friends, Eric, Darrel, and Dave who decided to share their campsite with us sight unseen.  They were tremendously hospitable and we became fast friends.

Laura ran the Moab Half Marathon on Saturday morning (Eric and Darrel ran too) and I managed to sneak in some mountain biking at Slickrock courtesy of Dave's guidance and Eric's bike.  After the half marathon, Laura was kind enough to play the roll of belay-slave for me that afternoon at Wall Street.  Sunday, we both climbed at Wall Street before hitting the road for Telluride in the rain.  Rain in Moab meant snow in the mountains: 11+ inches (Just when I thought ski season was over)! 

We poked around the charming little town of Telluride on Sunday evening while it was dumping and went to bed early at the Aspen Street Inn, in anticipation of powder turns the next day.  Telluride's skiing did not disappoint.  I had heard some intimidating stories about how steep the mountain is, but that's exactly what I want... Steep, deep, and gnarly.  It was probably my best day of in-bounds skiing ever.  Too tired to drive home after an incredible powder day at Colorado's best ski mountain we crashed again at the inn.  We  had a wonderful but long drive home today stopping at the Black Canyon on the way home.

Walking down "Park Avenue"

It was a little windy at our campsite

Delicate Arch in the background

Slickrock

Nice Job LC!

Didn't feel too bad about Laura belying me after the half since there was no approach!

"Another Roadside Distraction" 5.10b

Black Canyon

I'm hoping to edit and post some videos soon of the recent adventures, but in the midst of unpacking skiing, climbing, and camping equipment, and getting ready for a week of catch-up around the office it's unlikely to happen tonight.

Ski Season Over? (16 Months in a Row)

I hate to say it but I think the ski season might be over, here in CO.  A week of warm temps in the mountains and no end in sight means the snow is melting quickly.  At the very least it's time to put the powder skis away.  It even looks like spring ski-mountaineering season will be short to nonexistent this year due to coverage and a persistent weak layer of facets at the bottom of the snow pack.  According to the CAIC, the faceted layer is likely to create devastating wet slides through the spring.  Overall, it was a pretty disappointing season for the backcountry skier.  The season started 2 months late and ended a month early.  If you do the math that leaves February, which was actually decent (comparatively, my last powder day was in May last year!).  In February I managed to snag 2 great weekends at Vail and dropped East Vail several times.  I'm hoping to edit an East Vail video soon.

Without a spring ski season, it looks like my streak of skiing 16 months in a row will come to an end.  I was fortunate enough to ski Mt. Evans, Berthoud Pass, the Dead Dog Couloir on Gray's, and St. Mary's Glacier last Spring, Summer, and Fall.  In honor of my 16 month streak, I posted some footage from last June.

For updated backcountry conditions check out the East Vail Institute.  He's pretty good about his condition reports, and he's funny and witty which I enjoy.
http://eastvailinstitute.com/

Also check the CAIC:
http://avalanche.state.co.us/index.php

Video of Upslope Storm at Eldora

I finally managed to edit some footage of the epic upslope storm at Eldora.

Corrugation Corner Clip

Here is a video I managed to take on one of the belay ledges on Corrugation Corner.  It's right after the crux pitch (the 1st photo of Laura below) Sorry about the low sound levels. 

Survival Skiing and Winter Climbing in Tahoe

I just got back from a "ski" trip to Tahoe.  Unfortunately the legendary amounts of snow have failed to materialize this year.  "Survival skiing" was the name of the game with early November conditions in the first week of March!  Thankfully our huge group of 20+ provided wonderful company despite the conditions and the Tahoe scenery was stunning none the less.  After 2 days of survival skiing, a few hardy members of our group decided to brave the snowy approach and descent at Lover's Leap.  I was lucky enough to share a rope with my wonderful wife Laura, one of my all-time favorite climbing partners.  We climbed Corrugation Corner (5.7) in alpine-like conditions, but the climbing was spectacular.  Corrugation Corner is well deserving of the title "Best 5.7 in the Country."

Part of our great group AKA "The Fam"

Matthew Combs leading out on the first pitch of Corrugation Corner



Crux Pitch of Corrugation Corner



Me, leading just behind Jimmy who is cleaning for Matt.



Looking down from the top of Lover's Leap







North Table Mountain With Riske and Co.

I had the pleasure of climbing outside yesterday with Anthony Riske.  It was a great day up at North Table Mountain in Golden.  It was a beautiful afternoon, although quite windy.  It was my first time to this crag and I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of climbing and the quality of the rock.  The photo is of Anthony on Drinking Wine with the Chinese (5.9)