We went to bed tired from the last few days of climbing and hiking but i was up at 7 oclock ready to go. Called herny and told him about this line miranda had seen last year just outside of loveland ski resort. He was in, so we got in the truck and drove to the Herman gulch trail head. We took off at 8:45 and we were both tired and had no idea what was in store for us. We skinned the summer trail to the bottom of the shoot. We where confident with the snow so once again we skinned up the side of the shoot to treeline. We stopped at treeline and bundled up, we new it was going to be windy and we would be exposed for the next hour. I have found out that the short easy looking hikes are always the hardest and longest feeling hikes. This was the first trip where i honestly messed up. When we left treeline i put my head down and started to go. Next thing you know i was up top and Henry was no where to be seen. I knew nothing bad had happened to him but we had just gotten separated while hiking. I know this is like the biggest jobob / asshole move ever and when Henry got to the top he let me have it!!!! I had never seen him so mad! We regrouped and skied the face one by one! First ski above treeline all season and it was well worth the wait! We timed it perfect and had some great turns. We got back to the bottom and found out we had just skied 2,500 vert, hiked / skied 4 miles in 2 and half hours. WE WERE SPENT AND READY FOR SOME R&R TIME!!!!!!!!!!!
0 Comments
After having a great day in the K shoot yesterday Henry and i decided to go out and ski the Y. We met at 8 and started to skin at 8:15. With the snow packing being like yesterday (hard like spring) we voted to spread out 150 ft apart and go straight up the y. Even if an avi would have happened we both would have gotten taken out, so the spacing didn't even matter but its the thought that counts. When we got to the split we decided to go to the lookers right side of the Y. Also at this point Henry was telling me how he is gonna become a skinning yoga instructor, so he worked on a few moves to loosen up. It took us about 1hr 45mins to get to treeline. The top part skied great at a nice 47 degree pitch. After about 40 turns it mellowed out to 35ish degrees for a long ways. It was such a fun open line i was able to just rip some big fun acres like i was doing a gs course in the back country. Henry and i leap forged down the shoot getting into safe zones and clearing each other until we got to the flat bottom part that is about 25 degrees. We exited the shoot, skied the summer trail back to the cars and where back at home before 11. Woke up today around 5 tossing and turning. After a little while i decided i should go do something, i wanted to go ski so that's what i was going to do. Woke up, made a cup of coffee, checked CAIC, drove to the bottom of "SKY" shoots, booted up and was off on the trail at 8:25. I took off on the summer trail till i was at the bottom of the K. I was planning on skinning up the trees like i did for gasoline allay, but i started straight up the straight part of the K. I made this call because there was a good freeze thaw ice layer on top of the snow pack that i was not penetrating. So straight up i went just like spring time. Bottom part is narrow and over grown but a mellow 25 degrees, half way up it gets about 35 degrees, then the top its around 40 degrees, i made it to the top in just under 2 hours. The top part of the shoot was very wind blown so i went into the trees. THE TREES WHERE STEEP AND DEEP 55 degrees and some nice fluffy north facing cold smoke! I dropped back into the shoot and had AWESOME spring corn skiing!
We are staring to get a lot of snow and having some historical avalanches here in the county. When i have gone out lately i have seen some scary results in my snow pits. The deep slabs are not to be messed with YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE ONE! With this in mind Henry and i set out to ski in the trees on gold hill. Super easy skin up mayflower gulch then there is normally always a skin track up into some fun glade skiing! It was a beautiful day to go relax and play on the mellow stuff! GREAT TO HAVE LITTLE RUSTY OUT THERE WITH US TOO!!!
After busting my ass to get up peak 4 yesterday i decided i should make the most out of the skin track before it fills in or melts away. So i took off this morning with my eyes set on skiing the trees again or skiing gasoline alley! i was all by myself and had training at 12 so i had to hurry and not make any bad calls. I made it up to tree line in 84 mins and dug a pit. I found that the deep slab problem was 130 cm deep.This meant i had to be careful because i could trigger that leak layer if i found a shallow spot in the snow pack. I new that if i could get into the alley by hugging the treeline and not set anything off then the ally would flatten out and be safe. I made it in there and had some awesome turns on a mellow 28 degree pitch! I got back to training and told henry about it! He was super jealous so he said we would have to go do it again, i said i have no problem with that! The next day we went up and skied it again it was great!
Like i said before "i love this place", such a cool, fun, easy place to explore. I picked my buddy Shneeb up, went to taco bell, and then headed to meadow creek trail head. Shneeb had just gotten back from Australia yesterday so we where not trying to set the speed record up Little Chief. Finally after a little while we got up top and once again the views from here are so cool! We started skiing right off the top, skiing the top 300 yards of the north facing glades. The snow was deep and solid so we decided to go look into the chutes. GOOD THING WE DID IT WAS EPIC!!!! Knee deep pow all the way down with fun cliffs and pillow lines to be had!
|
AuthorConor McDonald Archives
May 2015
Categories
All
|