The last two days have been awesome spring days in Summit County but if you get up high the snow pack says different. I didn't have a car until noon, I new if I went out by my self I would have to be careful with all the warm weather, I decided to head up high. As you go into the Eisenhower tunnel (summit county side) the drainage to your left (north) is Straight Creek. Coming from the summit county side you have to drive threw the tunnel, turn around at the Loveland exit, drive back threw the tunnel and then you can park in a semi chain up / rest station. Within twenty minutes from your car you have so many ski lines, steep bowls to mellow rolling hills. This drainage puts you at the bottom of Coonhill and Golden Bear Peak. With it being late in the day I knew going up the wind blown, east facing, Coonhill by my self wouldn't be to smart. Also CAIC reported a wet slide on the east face of Coonhill one day ago too, I decided to go for the west face of Golden Bear Peak. I decided to ski a 30 degree gully on the west face. I was able to skin right to the bottom of it with no problem. Then with some tricky route finding I was able to zig zag up through rock piles, avoiding big steep faces, and keeping my skins on to the top! I now know why no one skis this peak, there's a chairlift up the other side. As I was getting ready to top out I see a rope-line and two ski patrols. I took shelter in the rocks, got some water, geared up for my decent, and took off. The snow on top of the line was very wind blown and winter like. I skied a gully that had a little wind ridge down the middle, I stayed on the high side of the ridge sending the majority of my sluff into the gully below. Ten minutes later I was back at the car. This is one of my new favorite places to get in a quicky, 3.5 miles, 1,500 vertical, just under two hours! |
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AuthorConor McDonald Archives
May 2015
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