The Snow Lions

This is the Aspen Valley Ski Club group that I ski with every Saturday. Our team name is the Snow Lions, which we voted on at the beginning of the season, although after last Saturday we may forever after be called the Powder Lions. The boys are 1st and 2nd graders that live in the Roaring Fork Valley. Standing L to R are Vaughn, Garion, Jackson, Me, David, and Bryce; sitting are Anton, Parker, and Will. Next week is the final day - Race Day, which should be a huge BBQ with parents and ski racing. Our team is built upon a foundation of respect for each other, the motto that we will never skip a jump, and our frequently yelled mantra - "No Pizza!"

Quandary Peak Ski Descent

It has been a busy week at Snowmass and I have been teaching the kids every day. Luckily the snow and the weather have been fantastic. This morning I was e-mailed some pictures from Dakota and Jason, friends from Boulder, whom I did a ski descent of Quandary Peak with in January. This picture is Quandary, which lies just South of Breckenridge, taken from the Monte Cristo trailhead. Our line follows the ridge coming at the camera straight down from the summit to the cleanest couloir which drops off to the left. This is the same line which Chris Davenport took during his fourteener quest, and formed a really awesome and interesting adventure. The avalanche danger at the time was very low, and it is obvious that the wind had been scouring the peak for weeks.

I met Dakota, who is one of my best friends, and his friend Jason, a tele-er whom I had never met before, at the trailhead at 9:30am. These two have been skiing together a lot this season in the backcountry, but for me this was day one. Needless to say I was excited. All season I have been dreaming of skiing from the tops of peaks, and this day was my first chance. We began skinning up through the trees in spectacular sunny and warm weather, soon gaining the classic East ridge, a route I had climbed once before with my mom when I was about 12 or 14. It was really nice to have such pleasant weather, a far cry from two previous attempts of mine to climb Quandary in the winter, which were both thwarted by heinous storms.

We made short work of the ridge, but as we neared the summit the wind picked up to gale force, making us stagger as if drunk, our skis acting as sails attached to our backs. We had the opportunity to watch many other skiers make turns of varying quality down the East Bowl, but we were psyched on our South facing line. Here is Dakota and I on the summit, where we removed our skins and mounted up as fast as possible, intent on getting out of the wind, and really excited for the 3,400ft. descent that awaited us.

We were able to ski straight off the summit, and headed back down the ridge to the top of the couloir. The coverage was thin and we were forced to take our skis off a couple of times, but usually for no more than about 6 feet. This is me at the wide entrance to the couloir. The snow was extremely hard and compacted windslab; not ideal but pretty much what we expected. The view down as we skied was deceptive, and what looked like a reasonable pitch actually went on forever. Numerous times we switched leads, heading towards the bottleneck, and the unknown, at the bottom.

As the slope pinched down it turned into some fantastic tight turns through cliff bands, shown here. Below is Jason assessing our options through the hidden cliffs below. We went left and made some exposed turns before having to take the skis off to down climb a 15 foot section of rock. From there it was a little bit of willow weaving and then a two mile cruise along the snowed in summer road back to our cars and the beer. All in all this was easily one of the best days I've had this season, great friends, great weather, and a really great run.

Birthday Bouldering

Yesterday was my birthday, so Jill and I decided to take the day off from skiing to enjoy the sun. We figured we'd check out Unaweep canyon, just south of Grand Junction, both to look at the granite walls and also do a little bouldering. We spent a couple hours hanging out in the beautiful setting and enjoying the warm temps. The Dakota Sandstone boulders were seeming endless, and I couldn't help but think that if this area were within an hour of Boulder there would be hundreds if not thousands of problems. We finished off the day by eating Nepalese food at one of our favorite restaurants - Narayan's between Glenwood Springs and Carbondale.

Epic Powder on Highland Bowl

Yesterday might have been my best powder day of the year. Tuesday when I went to bed I told myself I would do three laps in Highland Bowl the next day. I woke up yesterday morning and checked the Internet to find that it had snowed overnight. Yes, this was gonna be a good day!

Highland Bowl is certainly the jewel of Aspen Highlands ski resort. It rises to 12,392 feet, 750 feet above the summit of Loge Peak, the top of the highest lift. Then it drops for around 1,450 feet, meaning you get twice as much downhill verts as you have to earn hiking uphill. It's also blessed with a Northeast aspect, meaning with the prevailing winds it can get nice and wind loaded, making for some deep powder some days. Like yesterday.

I arrived at around nine, with plenty of time to take a warm-up run in the Steeplechase area before the bowl opened. My friend Tyler called, and I told him to meet me hiking the bowl, but I never ended up seeing him. No friends on a powder day I guess. I caught the first cat ride up, which takes you about a third of the way up if you catch it, and started skinning up the ridge in a white-out. The hike went quick, and I had first tracks down G-8, one of the longest runs straight off the summit. Man was it good. So good.

One lap finished, I headed back up the ridge, but from the bottom this time because that cat wasn't running. The sun was poking through a bit by now, and the dream of a nice blue-bird powder day was on its way. Thirty five minutes later I was ready to drop off the left side of the summit down Ozone, which in a super thigh burning push I took all the way to the lift. Needed some rest after that one.

After resting for a few minutes I got back on the cat with my friend Amy from ski school, intending to bail early on this lap and jump in well before the top. But as my luck would have it, right as we stepped off the cat a patroller strolled by, saying he was opening the North Woods as soon as he got there. My thighs muscled up for one last push, and I almost ran myself into the ground trying to keep up with the patroller. From the top we skied down the East Ridge to the North Woods Gate. The North Woods cover an amazing flank of the bowl with perfect glades, steep open pitches, and today - epic powder. About seven of us rushed hooping into the woods for fresh tracks all the way down. No more bowl left in me after that run.

What a day - and they're calling for more than a foot again tomorrow!

Skiing Huntsman Ridge

Left slightly bitter about my inability to get work skiing with the kids on Sunday, I resolved that I surely wasn't going to waste my Monday simply by driving to Snowmass and back for nothing. So I decided to go exploring in the back country a bit, and since both of the potential partners I called couldn't go, I was left to travel alone.

I decided to tour up to Huntsman Ridge and do some skiing around Bears Point, which lies just on the north side of the summit of McClure Pass. I had never been here before, but it seemed like a good place to go alone since it is mostly dense aspen forests. I was especially excited to ski some of the fresh powder that had fallen the night before, as we haven't seen much of the new white stuff in what feels like many weeks. Also I was really hoping for some extra inspiration. I have been skiing almost exclusively within the resorts this season because I really don't have any reliable back country partners in the area, and since I just moved to the Western Slope in August, I don't really know much of the skiing in the area, either. I find that inspiration always comes when I go looking for it, and so I figured that just exploring a new area would reveal many lines that I would just have to ski in the future thus fueling my psych.

After driving through the town of Marble just to enjoy the views, I headed up McClure Pass and stopped at the top. The tour up to Bears Point was through a really pretty aspen grove, but the fresh snow was of the wet and sticky variety and I had major problems with snow sticking to my skins. No skin wax, of course, so I just powered through. Eventually I made Bears Point and enjoyed the views of Riley Bowl and Elk Bowl, shown here. I had originally planned to ski in these areas, but due to the problems with my skins and the poorly bonded fresh snow, I decided to ski the "Boyfriend Ridge" back towards my car. This option was low angle and pleasant glade skiing through aspens, one of my favorites.

Although I wish I had a partner in this venture so I could do some higher angled skiing, the peace of traveling in the mountains by myself, and skiing outside of the resort, was more than worth it.