2010.12.21 SKI SCENES FROM MOUNT HOOD

After making the decision to move to Oregon, I started looking into the skiing scene that would await in my new playground. Sure, Oregon has gigantic monoliths for mountains and Mount Hood alone has 5 ski resorts operating on its flanks, but I wasn't sure how I'd adapt after experiencing the immense possibilities (in both resort and backcountry access) available throughout the mountain ranges of Colorado. Based on the recommendations from friends, I decided on a season pass for Mount Hood Meadows this year while I research and become familiar with the surroundings. Here's some photos from a half-dozen days around Mount Hood so far:

Timing is a big part of the perfect season pass picture:

Devon is all smiles during a powder session on Meadows opening day Nov 20th:

During a rare break in the clouds, Mount Hood rises spectacularly above the resort:

Devon skinning on our lone semi-backcountry trip:

Devon enjoying Pacific Northwest powder:

Rob riding the soft stuff:

So far, so good. With the new year should also come some increased explorations of the backcountry areas around Hood and mountains of the southern Cascade range.

2010.06.27 Tabeguache Peak (#49)

I've been planning to climb Tabeguache Peak at the southern end of the Sawatch range for months, but the weather never seemed to cooperate whenever I had the chance. I even had my doubts this past weekend, when dark, ominous clouds started developing around 9 am after reaching the summit of Mount Shavano.

Devon on the upper slopes of Mount Shavano:

Tabeguache Peak seen from the summit of Mount Shavano:

Fortunately, with the exception of some minor hail and thunder, I made the quick hustle across the one-mile ridge connecting Shavano to Tabeguache and was able to summit #49 on my list of Colorado 14ers.

Tabeguache Peak summit - 14,155 feet; #49 on my list (Photo - Devon S):

Devon and I on the Tabeguache Peak summit:

Only four Colorado 14ers remain on the list, with plans coming together for the finale party on August 7th at the 14,073 feet summit of Mount Columbia.

2010.05.23 NORTH MAROON PEAK

Just outside of Aspen, North Maroon Peak is among the most photographed and recognizable mountain in the world and remains a classic route for any ski mountaineer. I've climbed this peak twice previously in the summer (once via the standard northeast ridge and another time via the Bell Cord couloir and ridge traverse from South Maroon Peak) but I always felt the urge to take on the north face. North Maroon has been on my 'must-do/ski' list for 2-3 seasons, but conditions or timing with partners just never seemed to work out right. It seemed like the same might happen again this year, but I got in contact with a group that planning to give it a try the upcoming weekend. After a few e-mails to make sure we were on the same page, Carl invited me along the trip. I have to say that I've extremely grateful to Carl, Marc and Ben for taking some risk inviting me along despite not having any personal experience with my skiing or climbing abilities.

The Bells (North Maroon peak to right) from Maroon Lake:

Carl put together an excellent trip report on 14ers. com that can be viewed here: Carl's North Maroon Peak report. Instead of re-writing many of the same descriptions, I've included some of the better (and most telling) photos from the day.

Keeping high spirits at 4 am despite a horrendous bushwhack after losing the trail above Crater Lake (Photo - Carl D):

Carl pausing the take in the north face:

Climbing up the north face included some steep bootpacking, traversing, and breath-taking views (Photos - Carl D and Ben C):

On the summit at 14,014 feet, ready to ski (Photo - Carl D):

Making turns off the summit, Pyramid Peak providing the picturesque background (Photo - Ben C):

Ben taking off through the Punk Rock Band at 13,800 feet. A fall here might be the last one you ever take (Photo - Carl D):

Good turns await down the north face:

Linking some turns on the upper face, Snowmass and Capitol Peaks in background (Photo - Carl D):

Ben traversing back to the central couloir:

Carl banking some turns in the narrow couloir:

Getting in a few more turns before the final traverse (Photo - Ben C):

The line:

2010.06.04 ITS OFFICIAL...MOVING TO OREGON

Its been very busy the past few weeks with graduations and vacation, but I'm slowly putting together some more posts to recap these events and perhaps my last Colorado skiing adventure for a while.

Although its been in the works for a few weeks, by signing an offer letter this morning I've accepted a postdoctoral position at Oregon State University. OSU is located in Corvallis in the western part of the state about one and one-half hour south of Portland. Additionally, the area is situated only about 1 hr from both the beach/ocean (west) and mountains (east).

At OSU, I'll be joining the Environmental Health Sciences Center with funding through the NIEHS training grant entitled, Mode of Action of Environmental Toxicants. I'll be working in the laboratory of Dr. Joe Beckman, a true pioneer in the free radical biology field. His research interests have focused in understanding the basis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease. More information on Joe's lab can be found here.

The decision to leave Colorado was a difficult as the last six years have been amazing. However, postdoctoral positions provide the opportunity to explore new avenues, both personal and professional, for a short (2-5 years) period of time that I wanted to take advantage of. The propensity for rain and lush green landscape of the northwest will take some getting used to, but hopefully I'll be hiking, climbing, and skiing the mountains/volcanoes of the Cascade range in no time.

Mount Hood rises above the Portland skyline:

For now, I have one month to wrap up work in the lab at UC Denver. Then I'm planning to use July/August for an extended vacation to enjoy Colorado and spend some time back east before making the move in early September. Of course, Devon will be making the journey as well as she has sought out her own postdoctoral position at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland. The distance between Portland and Corvallis presents some challenges, but we're confident that we can meet halfway, literally as we search for housing in the Salem area.

2010.05.22 GRAND TRAVERSE PEAK

Any visit to Vail will have one admiring the Gore Range mountains. While not as popular as other ranges throughout Colorado (probably because it doesn't contain any 14ers), the peaks are no less spectacular. Grand Traverse Peak particularly stands out and captures the view to the east from anywhere in town. Some friends in Vail Valley had been talking about this peak for a few weeks, so we finally put together a plan.

Ryan skinning towards the objective - Grand Traverse Peak southwest face:

J and Mike bootpacking up the steep main couloir:

The Vail boys - Ryan, Mike and J, who despite his small stature is threatening with an ice ax:

We encountered some strong forecasted winds all morning, and on the 13,040 feet summit we struggled to stay standing. We didn't like the idea of waiting around for snow to soften and coverage in the narrow main couloir was a bit thin at times during the ascent. So we decided to head south along the ridge and ski down a more appropriate line given the conditions. Frozen snow persisted in our descent down the face and we had a good teeth-rattling ride over a section of old avalanche debris. However, the apron provided some fun turns on perfect corn snow.

Ryan skiing down the couloir:

Ascent (red) and descent (blue) lines on the southwest face:

2010.05.16 A SPECIAL DAY ON LONGS PEAK

This post is going to focus on Jarrett Luttrell, who with the descent of Longs Peak on Sunday 5/16 became the 1st person to snowboard (and the 8th overall on some form of snow-sliding device) all of the Colorado 14ers. I had the chance to meet and climb with Jarrett on Culebra Peak last spring and I was immediately impressed by his snowboarding ability and humble, laid-back style. After conquering Capitol Peak, the most difficult of the 14er descents the week before (see Jarrett's intense trip report here), Longs Peak was the lone remaining hurdle. Luckily, I got a hold of Jarrett to pass along congratulations and managed to jump on board with his attempt on Longs.

After leaving a car at the Wild Basin trailhead on the south end of Rocky Mountain National Park, Jarrett, Brennan and I started off from the Longs Peak ranger station at 3:45 am. During the summer, this trailhead would be overflowing with cars and climbers going for the summit, but we didn't see another person until the end of the day. From year's past, I'm pretty familiar with the trail and we made quick progress towards the Chasm Lake turn-off and our first views of the impressive Diamond face.

Sunrise on Meeker and Longs:

We chose to ascend the Loft couloir (splitting Meeker and Longs), skinning up steep slopes before switching over the crampons to traverse on the narrow snow ramp to avoid the cliff band at the the top.

Jarrett skinning towards the snow ramp serving as our exit from the Loft couloir:

As expected, we had some trouble finding the proper route towards Clark's arrow, which indicated the correct downclimb into Keplinger's couloir. Fortunately, both Brennan and I had climbed this route before which helped save some time. We did encounter two sections which required some class 4/5 moves including a sporty chimney that we debated about descending for a while.

Jarrett downclimbing on some mixed terrain:

This led us into Keplinger's couloir on the south side of Longs Peak, which we would climb for the next 1,000 feet. Heavy snowstorms had blanketed the area with two feet of snow earlier in the week, and we quickly encountered deep, heavy, unconsolidated snow that made bootpacking a chore.

Jarrett climbing the upper sections of Keplinger's couloir:

By this point, I was completely gassed and could only take a few steps before doubling over to catch my breath and rest my legs. Brennan recovered from a bout with altitude sickness earlier in the day and Jarrett pushed on with determination in the lead through thigh-deep snow towards the Homestretch and up to the summit.

Jarrett admires the snow-filled Homestretch to the summit:

We reached the summit at 2 pm, much later than anticipated, but the windy morning kept temperatures cool enough that warming snow and wet slides weren't a great concern. We extended congratulations to Jarrett and wasted no time clicking into skis and snowboards for the descent. We opted against a descent of the north face due to unknown snow conditions, instead retracing our path back to the south side and Keplinger's couloir which would provide nearly 2,800 vertical feet of quality skiing.

Jarrett making his last first turns down a Colorado 14er:

Brennan is all smiles:

Myself enjoying some open turns (Photo - Jarrett L):

Brennan banks a turn (Photo - Jarrett L):

Negotiating around rocks or linking up snow patches is the norm for this descent, but we enjoyed continuous snow on the upper sections thanks to the recent storm. The couloir seems to never end, as after every twist or turn, more snow lay beneath our feet. After enjoying soft, but heavy and tiring snow for the entire descent we reached the bottom of the couloir. The Wild Basin trailhead and our car shuttle lay 6 miles to our east, so we set off blazing a trail through the forest in that general direction.

Satisfied after an excellent descent on Colorado's most iconic 14er (Photo - Brennan M):

The ski descent off the summit down the Homestretch linking to Keplinger's couloir:

The south side of Longs and the Wild Basin area is among the least travelled areas of the park, but Brennan had previous experiences hiking, backpacking, and getting lost in the area, so he was able to guide in the general direction and follow the trail during some difficult turns. Exhausted and with aching feet we finally arrived back to the car at 7:30 pm, capping off a 14.5 mile and 16 hour affair with 5,400 vertical feet climbed.

Once again, congratulations to Jarrett on his amazing accomplishment and much thanks for inviting me along for the adventurous finale.

2010.05.01-02 MAY POWDER DAYS

Although the calendar turned to May last weekend, winter was in full-swing throughout Colorado. Despite a relatively light year in terms of snowfall, a series of spring storms has made up for previously subpar conditions, providing excellent skiing conditions which hopefully last for a few more weeks.

On Saturday, I met up with Joe and his friends for a circuit route at Berthoud Pass. We braved some strong winds on the ridges at high elevations, but the 4 north-facing couliors all provided deep powder and mid-winter conditions.

Joe getting deep & steep:

Touring towards the last run of the day, Chimney chute, after harvesting the slopes behind:

On Sunday, I made a solo trip towards a peak/line that caught my eye last spring: the southeast face of Hagar Mountain (13,185 feet). Fortunately, there was barely a breath of wind and the snow held off just long enough to provide enough visibility for the descent.

Hagar (left) and Citadel on the approach from Dry Gulch:

On the summit of Hagar Mountain:

Preparing to ski the southeast face:

I could just make out the terrain features through the flat light at the start of the line, but I unintentionally ventured from my intended route about halfway down. However, the snow was a perfect blend of powder and corn so I didn't stop to adjust and enjoyed nearly 2,000 vertical feet of skiing back to the creek bed.

My line down the southeast face:

With the ski descents of Crystal and Hagar complete, that's 2/3 of my goals completed for the spring season. Only North Maroon outside of Aspen still remains. Hopefully the plans will materialize in coming weeks to take on this classic!