TR/SR: The Colorado Front Range in May

[jordan]

Ok, so I also posted this on TGR, but I thought I would post it here too, just to bring some life back to this board

 

So, I had about a month with nothing to do after finishing classes before I go home to my summer job. My buddy josh just works a few nights a week at the movie theater in boulder. So we decided to do quite a bit of skiing this may/early june.

 

Sorry about the sub-par photo quality at times...Pictures were never really our priority

 

what: Quandary Peak- cristo couloir

Crew: me and josh

when: 5/11/10

 

We did not really get many pictures this day as it was cold and windy, but josh managed to snap a couple of me skiing down

 

 

 

 

What: Arapahoe Basin (east wall)

Crew: Me and Josh

When: 5/17/10

 

So, the east wall had been open for a couple weeks already, and we had failed to ski it until now. I think the east wall has some of the best in bounds terrain in the front range. It did not disappoint on this day, and was smooth and buttery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, there were no pictures taken of josh (but that will change as we progress), my camera is broken

 

During the day, we were eyeing up Shit for Brains.. It looked pretty good to go

 

Shit for Brains Couloir

Crew: Me and Josh

When: 5/18/10

 

We decided to go for the direct approach up shit for brains on this day. It was a good thing we did, because it was really hard, and we had to wait a while to ski it. We may have not known that if we went up the ridge. We got to the top at 10AM, but had to wait until around 1PM to ski down.

 

Me waiting at the top

 

Looking Down

 

Josh, killing some time

 

Me again:

 

time to ski?

 

 

View up the couloir from the bottom:

 

Marjorie Bowl

Crew: Me and Josh

When: 5/21/10

 

We did not get any shots of skiing today, but I thought I would throw some pictures that were taken in here

 

 

 

 

 

Loveland Camping Trip

Crew: Me, Josh, Nick>Jesus, Mike_Records, Ethan (Tough Gosey's Roommate (TGR)), Rachel,

When: 5/21/10 - 5/23/10

 

Camping at the ski area is a lot of fun, especially when you have a nice warm deck to pitch your tent on:

 

On saturday morning, me, josh, and nick made an attempt at skiing porcupine ridge, however gale force winds forced us to turn around and ski porcupine saddle. No shots were taken this day.

 

On saturday night, the rest of the crew arrived and on sunday, we took another shot at porcupine ridge, this time the weather was a lot nicer

 

me:

 

Rachel:

 

Josh:

 

Mike_Records:

 

That night, mike decided it would be a good idea to build a jump-to-snowman-tap down by Eto:

 

 

Ethan:

 

Mike_Records:

 

Josh:

 

 

Before going home, me and josh decided to take a few runs on the south chutes

 

me:

 

Josh:

 

 

 

Citadel (Snoopy's Collar)

Crew: Me and Josh

When: 5/25/10

 

I ski at loveland all year, and stare at this thing every day. It was time to ski it. We opted to go up dry gulch

 

Up:

 

 

 

Hagar:

 

putting on some crampons to boot up the collar:

 

at the top:

 

We got to the top too early (around 10), and had to wait about two hours for it to soften up, but eventually, it was time to ski:

 

 

me:

 

Josh coming down the apron:

 

Josh really likes figure 8's for some reason:

 

 

Mount Hagar

Crew: Me and Josh

When: 5/26/10

 

This is another one that I stare at every day from loveland, it was nice to tick this off the list as well. We contemplated accessing this one from the west side of the tunnel, but since we didn't have two cars, and didn't want to hitch-hike on I70, we decided to access this from dry gulch as well.

 

 

Going up:

 

Time to ski, Me:

 

 

Josh:

 

 

Me: I thought this shot was cool with the citadel in the background:

 

Mount Evans

Crew: Me, Josh, and Eric (Skibum193?)

When: 5/28/10

 

So the road to the summit of mount evans opened today, so me, josh, and eric decided to go up and do a couple of car laps. There was not too much snow up there this year, and the down-climbs to get to the north facing stuff wasn't very appealing to us, so we decided to ski the east facing stuff. I'm not

 

really sure what any of these lines are called. Me and eric got 1 lap each, and josh got 2 (eric had to make it back to boulder for work)

 

Me (1st lap):

 

Eric (2nd lap):

 

the two lines taken from the parking area at summit lake:

 

no pics of josh today, but he got to ski 2 laps, so I'd say its even...

 

 

Torrey's Peak (The Emperor)

Crew: Me, Josh, and Scott (Spthompson)

When: 5/30/10

 

Scott posted a thread about doing some skiing and I responded. I have never skied with or even met scott before, but I am glad I did. I origonally had the idea of skiing the dead dog couloir, but scott suggested the emperor on the north face. This is the line on torrey's most easily seen from I70. It is a lot of fun and has a ton of vertical.

 

We met scott at 6AM in bakerville. Scott left his car at the base of grizzly gulch road (there are large snowdrifts still at the bottom of the road), and we drove up to the stevens gulch trailhead.

 

the crew at the summit:

 

me:

 

Josh:

 

Scott (Spthompson)

 

Skiing:

 

Me:

 

Josh:

 

Scott:

 

The line from the bottom:

 

 

 

 

Coon Hill (Southeast Face)

Crew: Me, Josh, and Ethan (Tough Gosey's Roommate (TGR))

When: 5/31/10

 

This is another line that is clearly visible from loveland that I have always wanted to ski. Access doesn't get much easier than this. We simply parked at the west portal of the tunnel and the summit was a short 2 mile, 1200 vert climb from there. There was still snow almost all the way to I70, so we were able to skin most of the way.

 

ethan skinning:

 

Josh hiking:

 

ethan took some really nice shots on this one..

 

Josh:

 

 

 

 

me:

 

 

Ethan:

 

Grizzly Couloir

Crew: Me, Josh

When: 6/3/10

 

So, I saw this line the day we skied Torrey's with Scott, and I really wanted to ski it, just because it looks so cool. I knew that there was a cornice on top of the line, but was unsure how big it was, and if there was an easy way in around it, so we thought it would be better to just boot up the thing.

 

Since we really didn't want to walk 3 miles in on the grizzly gulch road, we decided to try and get my stock jeep grand cherokee up the road as far as we could go. It was an interesting drive to say the least. The very beginning of the road was a sheet of ice angled downhill towards the creek, but after that, it was mostly clear, so we decided to drive down a very steep incline to get onto to the road past the ice, it was quite the project getting back up at the end of the day, but we made it. The creek crossings were no problem. There was another bad ice section that we got past by shoveling dirt onto the ice to give us traction, but other than that, the road was in pretty good shape. We made it up to the tuning forks, and after that, we were stopped by trees going across the road. We walked from there.

 

the line:

 

Up!

 

 

 

The snow was not very good, and the line was runneled to hell, but it was still a really fun, and steep ski

 

me:

 

 

Josh:

 

 

 

me:

 

 

 

and FINALLY:

Gray's Peak (Lost Rat Couloir)

Crew: Me, Josh

When: 6/4/10

 

Lost rat is a line that me, josh, and another friend set out to ski last year, but we got lost in the fog. We decided it was time to go back and tackle this one once and for all. We were also thinking about doing dead dog, but dead dog was crowded, and we were pretty tired, and this gave us an excuse to not summit either gray's or torrey's

 

We started at the stevens gulch trailhead, and hiked the standard route for gray's most of the way.

 

The top was melted out, so we had to downclimb about 100 feet to get into the couloir:

 

Looking Down:

 

Me:

 

Josh:

 

 

Me, skiing out the apron:

 

The Line:

 

We were able to ski almost all the way back to the car by following a lone strip of snow running along the creek

 

 

It has certainly been a fun month, and a fun ski season in general. I leave for the for Pennsylvania on tuesday to go be a sailing instructor for the summer. I may get another day in this weekend, but I am pretty much done for the year. Maybe I'll catch some of you all next ski season.

 

Sorry this was so long, but I didn't think each TR was worthy of its own thread, but all together, maybe it is. You tell me.

 

Jordan

Edited June 5, 2010 by jordan

[OutCold]

Nice tr I'm jealous.

[Barb]

So glad you posted this. We needed some good pictures to look at.

[RidgeRacer]

This thread is just what the Doctor ordered (and further proof that I'm living in the wrong part of the Country. )

[Johnny Style]

Great photos, it looks like you guys had a great time. I have been back from Colorado for a month now and all I have done is cut my lawn in the 90 degree heat while you guys are going out and getting some. Awesome!

[JFskiDan]

very cool. thanks for the pics.

[toast21602]

nice work.

[Johnny Law]

Quandry, Torrey's and Shit for Brains sounds like a hell of a spring, super jealous. Any thought of doing the 14er thing ?

[jordan]

Any thought of doing the 14er thing ?

Climbing them? maybe...skiing them...HELL NO. There are quite a few that I can safely say that I will never have the desire (or probably the skiing ability) to ski..capital, pyramid, north maroon, longs, little bear, crestone needle, and probably more I am forgetting.