The north face of Crystal Peak (13,850 feet) can be seen in full as you pass Copper on I-70 and has been on my list of must-do ski descents. Based on reports from previous years, I knew that a continuous line from the summit existed through a narrow couloir. So with hopes for decent coverage in a lean snow year, Andy and J joined me along with the dogs, Rainier and Kona for an attempt on the peak.
Crystal's north face from Highway 91:
There is no official trailhead on the north side of Crystal, so a car was left along highway 91 around where we estimated that we would emerge at the end of the day, then shuttled back up to the Mayflower Gulch trailhead. However, we quickly realized that we actually started at the Clinton reservoir trailhead, one gully to the north of our intended start. Fortunately, this didn't put us too far out of the way and we quickly found our way into the correct area which required only about a 600 vertical feet and 0.5 mile detour.
J climbing into the sunrise:
First views of Crystal Peak and its false summit in the far distance:
Despite already reaching an elevation of over 12,000 feet, we still had to travel for ~2.5 miles across several gullies before finally reaching the summit. The constant traversing was frustrating as we had to reclimb to gain any lost elevation and progress seemed slow. After a steep skin up the final pitch on quickly softening, yet sticky snow, we reached the summit around 12:30 pm.
J bootpacking a short section with the impressive north face of Pacific Peak as the backdrop:
Without a cloud in the sky, the sun was blazing but a light wind kept the temperatures cool. We hoped that the shady north face would soften up enough to avoid skiing hard- and wind-packed snow.
Peering down the north face of the summit:
Fortunately, the conditions were much better than expected (at least on the upper portion of the route), as a few inches of soft snow remained from the storm earlier in the week. Andy and I started down the route to ensure safe passage before giving J the okay to descend with the dogs. Although we skied cautiously to avoid any variable conditions, Rainier and Kona charged downhill with little hesitation.
Myself starting the descent (Photo - J W):
Rainier charging down the steep slopes:
Andy skis soft snow in a gully before funelling into the tight couloir:
Andy and J admiring our route down the north face:
A closer look at the line:
After staring repeatedly at Crystal Peak over the past years, this ski descent more than exceeded my expectations. Good snow, a steep fall-line, and tight coulior all contributed to the high quality of this route. We skied through the basin and down the river bed with soft, collapsing snow while taking our best guesses as to where the car was parked. Surprisingly, we emerged pretty close, with only a 1/4 mile downhill walk needed to reach some cold beers and the end of an excellent and much anticipated day.
A complete view of the route (courtesy Google Earth):
Many more photos, including some great shots of the dogs, can be found here:
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