jordan

Mods, is some kind of ban in order? This is getting out of hand.

Years ago, there was talk of expansion to the skier's right of risk it. I got to ski some of it during the epic 02/03 PA season without hitting any rocks. There's some great, steep terrain over there, and potential for some large(ish) hucks if some of that rhododendron is cleared. Get on it Peak! I am sure blue ridge will approve, as they have no use for that land over there I am sure.

seriously, stop whoring for posts by posting "sickbird" after every other post on this board. Its annoying.. You probably dont even know what caylors are.

probably gonna pick up some caylors

honestly doug, shut up. Who are you to judge Ride Delaware, there are no broken bones, but there is likely ligament damage. She is going for an MRI this week.

So they other day I got a facebook message from Sarah, who is a friend of a mutual friend, Jeff. Jeff had suggested that she contact me about skiing midweek, because we both have some free time. We decided to go ski the Starlight Couloir on James Peak, just above Saint Mary's Glacier. We met in Golden around 6:00 and drove up to the Saint Mary's trailhead and were hiking by 7:00. The crew consisted of me, Sarah, and Sarah's cute puppy, Bailey. After a short 15 minute hike, we reached the base of the glacier, where we spotted a short, but steep line above the lake to ski after our main goal of the Starlight Couloir on James...more to come on this later we then proceeded up the glacier, and up the giant flat area between the glacier and James Peak where all the snow blows from to form the glacier: We spotted Grays and Torreys: and after a while, we made it to the top of our goal, the Starlight Couloir: the entrance: and now for some skiing shots of the couloir: sarah: Puppy stoke! From the basin below, we spotted Superstar Couloir. This is one of the most intense lines in the front range. The top pushes 60 degrees, and much of the time there is a cornice that one has to maneuver around or over to get into the line. This is a line I have yet to ski, but hope to do one day: after skiing, we had a small, short hike back out to the large flat area, and another ~2 mile hike over the flats to the top of the glacier. We skied on the glacier for a ways until we got to the top of the second line we wanted to ski today. This is where we had a little mishap. view of Saint Mary's lake from the top of the line: Me looking down: When I skied, I noticed that the snow was very different from the spring snow we experienced in the Couloir on James. This was hard summer snow. Summer snow is very different from edgeable spring snow. It is like skiing icy hardpack. On a steep line, it is easy to lose hold of your edge on the snow and go barreling down the mountain. Sarah dropped in after me: After this shot was taken, Sarah lost friction between her edge and the snow and completely lost it. She tumbled over some rocks on the left side of this photo and came to a stop on the steep slope just above a large cliff. She hurt her leg, couldn't even bend her knee, and was unable to walk or ski down. We thought for a little bit about what to do. We came to the conclusion that there was absolutely no way I was going to be able to safely get her down without assistance. We ended up calling 911, and the Clear Creek County Alpine Rescue team responded. They came equipped with ropes to safely belay her down in a "butt slide" position. They were absolutely fantastic, and I have no idea what we would have done without their help. they also brought an alpine stretcher and were able to wheel her all the way out to the car. I then drove her to the hospital. this is the line we attempted to ski. the photo is taken from down by the lake: This was a truly sobering experience, and a stark reminder of the dangers involved in summer skiing. Not only is summer snow hard to hold an edge on, but there are also many more hazards exposed this time of year, so if you do happen to fall, the consequences can be greater. I am truly grateful of the amazing rescue teams we have here in Colorado. Alpine Rescue is a group of volunteers, and victims are never charged for their services. Please consider contributing to this valuable resource by buying a Colorado Search and Rescue Card here: http://dola.colorado.gov/dlg/fa/sar/sar_purchase.html -Jordan

I look forward to having some new BC partners in you guys in you within a year or two

Me, My roommate Mike, and our friend from loveland, Matt decided to head up to Beartooth Pass Ski area In Montana/Wyoming for the big mountain comp and free on3p demos this weekend. There is still an incredible amount of snow up there Some Wyoming Mountain Range: a really cool mountain...I wonder if it is ever skiable from the summit.. a really cool waterfall on Beartooth Pass: Matt Livin' on the edge... The ski area has 2 Poma lifts and some SWEET terrain. The pitch up top pushes 45 degrees if not more: Me trying out some 191 on3p Wrenegades: Coming down the other side of Beartooth Pass into Red Lodge, we saw this... One day i hope to go back and ski that.. It was a great time. The big mountain comp was awesome. Mike got 4th. The on3p demos were awesome, and I am definitely going to purchase some Caylors next year. Matt wrote a complete TR of our trip on Newschoolers. It can be found here: http://newschoolers.com/ns/forums/readthread/thread_id/629093/ So, When I got back, i really wanted to get back out into the CO backcountry because the snow is melting quick here in Colorado...unlike in Montana and Wyoming where they still have an incredible snowpack. I have wanted to ski the north couloir on Quandary for quite some time. I skied the Cristo couloir on the south side of the mountain last year. I found no one to go with me, so I decided to go climb quandary solo and see if I could make a safe ski decent down the couloir by myself. If I was uncomfortable with it, I always had the option of just skiing the mellow east face. I left my house at 5:00, got to the main east ridge trailhead at around 6:45 I left the car at 7:00 On my way up, I ran into two climbers who had ascended the North Couloir. They reassured me that the couloir still went all the way to the valley floor and the snow was supportive and not too wet. I summited at 9:30, 2.5 hours after I started, where I met this guy: An Aussi at the summit was kind enough to take my picture: Looking North from the summit into McCullough Gulch and at the Tenmile Range (which includes Breckenridge) Looking West towards the Holy Cross Wilderness: Looking back towards the front range...starting to look more like summer: I was able to ski off the true summit... Looking down the North Couloir: Looking back up: My Tracks: The whole couloir is visible here....there was a small section in the apron melted out that I had to walk across: An unnamed lake in McCullough Gulch: More of my tracks lower down in McCullough Gulch: A waterfall in McCullough Gulch: Another line that looks fun off the north side of quandary: Atlantic Peak has a fun looking cirque: Driving through Breckenridge on the way home: My route:

My friend Matt put together a TR of our weekend at Beartooth. You can find it here: http://newschoolers.com/ns/forums/readthread/thread_id/629093/

Ill go ahead and suggest Royal Arch. Its like 3 miles roundtrip from the chatauqua trailhead and I think 1200-1500 vert. Great hike to start getting yourself in better shape for some of the bigger hikes in boulder like Green and Bear peaks. I'd definitely be down to do some hiking with you in the coming weeks!

So, even though no one reads PASR this time of year, I thought I would post some pics for the few stragglers left around here. Yesterday, my buddy Jeff and I set out to ski the Vader Couloir on South Arapahoe Peak. This is a line to the lookers left of Skywalker Couloir which I skied last week, and posted some pics of in the random ski stoke thread. It is a breath of fresh air to get out of the Loveland Pass area that I am so familiar with at this point, and into some new territory (the Indian Peaks Wilderness). The vader couloir is not an easy line, and there is some major route finding involved. Some appealing looking paths will lead you to get cliffed out. Our only safe option was to boot up the thing to ensure us a safe route down. Here is a picture of the line taken in May 2005 by a friend of ours from a nearby mountain. I had to use his pic because we never got a good view of the line. We left the trailhead at 6:00 thinking it would be a 4 hour approach, or 5 tops. Boy were we wrong! 2 days earlier it had snowed about 6". That 6" had insulated the snow below it, keeping it from freezing solid. After it was too steep to skin, we were treated to punchy snow all the way to the summit. Sometimes, we would sink all the way up to our knees after taking a step. Needless to say, It was slow going. We topped out at around 12:00, a mere 6 hours after we left the car. jeff nearing the top of the couloir: We spent very little time at the top of the couloir, and didn't even have time to gain the true summit of South Arapaho. The sun heats rock quickly in the mornings. Because there is so much rock on this line, we needed to get down quick to avoid wet slide activity of the lower layers. We already knew that the top layer of new snow would be sloughing on the way down. Jeff skiing down near the top: We were skiing very cautiously from safe zone to safe zone. The top layer was sloughing as expected. Every couple of turns, we had to stop and wait for the slough to pass. Roller balls were forming, some of which were about the size of a washing machine. This snow was saturated an heavy. It would have been very bad news to get caught up, as the slough would send us over very large cliffs. The moving snow was a little beyond my comfort level, but we were able to manage our slough and we both avoided getting caught up in it. Another skiing shot of Jeff on the first half of the line: In the middle of the line, there was a small section that was melted out that we had to downclimb. Jeff Making his way to the apron: Home Free: the route: I needed a nice short day today because I was so worn out from yesterday. My friend Andi just got back from a semester is Germany and is not in quite the best ski shape, so we decided to ski Coon Hill. Coon Hill is a small, but prominent mountain just west of the eisenhower tunnel. It involves about a 2 mile skin and only about 1200 vert. It was a good choice for the day. We met at the west portal of the Eisenhower Tunnel at 7:30 and we were hiking by 8:00 Going up: Coon Hill comes into view: photo taken to the west from the saddle. Mount of the Holy Cross is visible on the right side of this picture with the prominent Cross Couloir visible across it. Apparently, this mountain used to be a pilgrimage site for many Christians due to the prominent cross across it. It is definitely a cool line that I would love to ski one day. almost there! tenmile range, Quandary, and Breckenridge Grays and Torrey's We summited at 10:00 AM, about 2 hours after we started. Andi at the top with Grays and Torrey's Ready to ski! We skied the east face, the top was already perfect corn when we dropped in at 10:00, and it was past prime lower down, but still fun! Near the bottom: Our Route: Its definitely been a fun couple of days. I'll get back out into the CO backcountry next week....STILL SOOOO MUCH SNOW Anyway, I am going up to Beartooth Pass ski area in Montana this weekend for a couple of days of lift served skiing up there. They have MUCH better terrain open that A-Basin. Ill definitely post some pics when I get back... Oh and GOOD NEWS guys, I got a job in Denver starting on July 11th! So, I get to stay out here! So excited!!!!!

Some odds and ends from the past few days: Skywalker Couloir 6-15-11. This is on South Arapahoe Peak in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. The entrance was approx 50-55 degrees (estimated because i didn't have an inclinometer with me) Today, I did an early morning solo mission up to the Citadel, which is a very aesthetic mountain on the border of Dry Gulch and Herman Gulch near Loveland Pass. I have skied this mountain before, but never the North facing couloir, which I skied today. The weather forecast called for partly sunny skies, but it was quite foggy. when I dropped lower down into Herman gulch, the visibility improved, as the fog was only up high. This made for some cool shots. In order to avoid hitch-hiking on I70 from the herman gulch trailhead to the dry gulch trailhead, I needed to climb back over a saddle to get back into dry gulch Skiing out...I knew the forecast said partly sunny! back out near the trailhead...the citadel is the pointy one in the distance. After skiing the Citadel, I headed over to A-Basin to get a few lift served laps in My friend Tyler, shralping some contraption in the park. It turned into a nice day for a little while! The Sleigh Baysin Infamous Pond Skim, i managed to get across it width-wise, but the snow was too slow to attempt length-wise A thunderstorm rolled in later in the day closing the lifts down at 2pm. I saw a lightning flash while riding up the lift on my last lift ride of the day. It was quite scary to see that.

I'll give you that early season is BS skiing (its about the same as it is ALL SEASON in Pennsylvania). However, late season (May/June) is probably my favorite time to ski. Big lines start opening up that blow away anything you can find in bounds at any ski resort in the world.

hmmm...skiing 2 days a week October through June + ~2 weeks vacation. That's about 80-90 days you could ski out west.. I'd say you'd get more days in living out here...

My roommate, Mike, did a nice write-up about the day if you are interested in reading..more pics are available there too: http://powdergucci.blogspot.com/2011/06/tr-torreys-peak-6112011.html

I just got back from skiing by far the most awesome (and exposed) line I have ever skied. I have also never skied a line that involved this much route finding to avoid skiing over a 100+ foot cliff. Some lines only come into the picture every few years. This is one of those lines. After about 600" of snow near Loveland pass this winter, the east face of Torrey's was filled in enough to ski this spring. I have never seen a line go on the east face all the way to the valley floor (except for the prominent dead dog couloir) since I have been living in Colorado. Me, Mike, and Conor set out to ski this line this morning. Gray's and Torrey's viewed from Steven's Gulch: After about a 2.5 hour hike, we reached the summit of Torrey's...Mike and Conor at the summit Skiing down...the snow was perfect corn except for close to the rocks where it was a little bit wetter than we would have liked. We were, however, able to adequately manage the sluff. Conor: Mike: Panoramic of Steven's Gulch: The line, for reference, the Dead Dog Couloir is the prominent line to the right of where we skied: Our route:

My friend Jeff did a nice write-up regarding a line on Grizzly Peak that we skied yesterday...you can find it here: http://telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=76969

On Friday, Grete and I set out to ski the tuning fork on the north side of Torrey's. Normally, this time of year, the steven's gulch road is melted out to the summer trail head. Being that this is anything but a normal year, we could only drive to the Grizzly Gulch turn off. Instead of skinning up the additional two miles to the summer trailhead, we opted to leave a car at the base of grizzly gulch and access Torrey's from the top of Loveland Pass. Access from Loveland Pass involves about five miles, three distinct summits (including Torrey's) and their respective saddles, and about 3500' of vertical gain. We started hiking from the top of Loveland pass at around 7:30. Grete bypassing point 12,915' on the ridge: Once we regained the ridge, our first summit of the day, cupid came into view. Torreys is in the background with the tuning fork visible. The summit of Grays is just barely poking up beyond Torrey's Grete gaining the summit of Cupid: The south face of Sniktau. We skied this a few days earlier and we were able to see our tracks Once gaining the summit of cupid, Grizzly and the entirety of Torrey's came into view. Grizzly was our second summit of the day. At the summit of Grizzly: Grete working her way up to the summit of Grizzly: Skiing down to the saddle between Grizzly and Torrey's Climbing up Torrey's from the saddle...After 3000'+ vertical and 4+ miles, Grete started to get a little irked at me at this point...but she pushed through like a champ some scenics: FINALLY, at around 12:30, we made it to the top of the tuning forks...Grete taking in the view: Time to ski!....the top was a little bit hard, but still edge-able...Grete: Me: Grete making an awesome face: The bottom held some of the smoothest and awesomest corn I have ever experienced I used to be a 'Stream' skier,but then all these hacks started to invade my river stashes and made it passe. Now I'm an Ex-Stream skier. I've never been happier! Our route: All in all, an awesome day.. Torrey's holds quite a few extremely long and awesome lines. It was nice to tick another one of them off the list.

A Basin will have more/better terrain Edit: actually, if I were you, i'd hit snowbird

FINALLY some spring skiing! Corn cycle is now in effect! Mount Sniktau near Loveland Pass

Dude, you lived in Colorado for what? 3 years?....and you don't have one person here who is enough of a friend to be willing to help you out? Maybe you're the problem...not everyone else? In those years you lived here, you never reached out to me once to go skiing. Now that you're back, you ask to stay in my house and for a ride up to summit county. I am sorry, but I am not letting a complete stranger stay in my house just because you happen to post on the same message board as me, especially with your weird track record around here. About a week later, I go up to summit to go skiing. I didn't know where I was going until the morning I left, and you don't even have a phone, so i couldn't call you. You then call me out on here for going up without giving you a ride...well sorry. It's really not my responsibility to get you up to summit county. If you honestly were not able to hitch-hike in that time frame, I don't know what to tell you. I hitch-hike and pick up hitch-hikers in CO all the time. Its not that hard. Get off your ass and try it. You then take another shot at me, because you are mad. Well, of course I am going to respond to it and defend myself. I guess I just can't fathom how you can be angry at a complete stranger....a person you have never met...for not going completely out of his way for you. Especially when that stranger is busy as fuck right now trying to finish a masters thesis. Jordan

pretty good i guess..I cut my finger a couple of months ago and needed stiches, and it paid out over $1000 for me to get them. Why do you ask? Maybe they require at least a third grade understanding of the English language.

http://www.paskiandride.com/forums/topic/15579-trsr-the-colorado-front-range-in-may/ how many days did you ski this year?

what about mammoth?

Some shots from the Berthoud/Jones Pass areas from yesterday and today....Its been an amazing winter, but I am definitely ready for some spring skiing. Looks like we may get some nice weather this weekend..