Near Gould, Colorado

Mountaineering vs Skiing

Last year I met some good people to get into the back country with. The only problem was I had both of my knees scoped on April 18th so I wasn't able to take advantage of all the spring skiing/mountaineering. With no new snow for awhile and warm temps I called on Jeff and Jason W from the squad to take advantage of it. We ended up hiking Mount Guyot (a 13er in Summit with three others Bud, Joe and Christian.

Although it didn't soften up as planed it was still a good day in the woods and above. We wanted to Summit but exhaustion and skiing won. At 400 feet from the top I asked Jeff and Jason if we are skiers or mountaineers. They replied skiers.

Getting ready

Sweet shades and headband

The objective in sight

Jeff and Talus with the Gore Range ( more possibilities) behind themAfter skinning for a couple hours Jason (The leader of the day) took to boot packingMe and Talus on talus Back on the skins


Jason still leading

Talus
Don't leave your skis base up, I caught them just in time
Jason on the down

Jeff and Talus who out ran everybody

I tried to outrun Talus and had him for a second and then blew up

Tenmile Range
Greys and Torreys

Bald Mountain and future descents

Crested Butte/Berthoud

So I went down to Crested Butte with Val to meet the family for my little sisters Bday. Feeling sick, no snow, not wanting to pay 80 dollars to ski Val and I went to do some Back Country. The breakable death crust tugged me down several times the result was breaking one of my dads poles. The forward lean on Val's boots were too much so her calves were cramping. But we did have an awesome family hot tub session that afternoon. The next mourning Val and I were taking off and I ran into my little sisters car so that cost me 750 dollars. I guess every weekend can't be filled with awesome lines. It was great to see my family though, definitely the highlight of the weekend. Making three turns at a time in CB

The next weekend was beautiful and it was time to get some sun baked wind blown crust on Berthoud.
skinning to the pump house bench

On the way down some crusty stuff

Val just before she hit a small tree (she was definitely a trooper about it)

Hanging out on the deck after touring, its too warm for March

Might as well take advantage of it.. Hiking with Craig the next day with our descent No Name in the background

We gained the ridge and skinned up a pretty steep face from there



On the summit with the divide in the background

Perry and James peaks

Looking toward Butler Gulch

Looking down No Name Peak

Craig making some nice turns

Me skiing the variable conditions

One last turn

It was wind blown and consistent up top, inconsistent and punchy in the middle and soft at the bottom. It was finally good to get something steep now that the danger is low...A weekend filled with skiing with variable conditions is a good one, especially when your girlfriend asks to do it again....

No D Squad at the Gulch

Usually when the snow blows to the west as hard as it did last Friday the Gulch is the place that fills in nicely. I rounded up a few of the No D Squad members Noel-Hawk, SS-Shane, and Brandon-the Hippie) to take advantage of all the blown in snow. The day was beautiful and all of those that we ran into were respectful and laid back. Another good aspect of the gulch is it is rarely frequented by boot packers. We got a little late start because Noel and Shane got C blocked by tourist and big horn sheep on I-70.

The Skin up and in to the GulchNoel on our first run

NoelShane getting lowWe saw this shot on our first run and we all said (YEP)

Before

Safety First
Noel testing it out
Brandon making it look fun

After
A nice spot for lunch
Me with a nice shadow





Enjoy the show......