Sawatch Range (Pt. 1)

---

We slogged up a very easy South Elbert Trail, up the summer 4WD road, up a well-packed snowshoe section of the Colorado Trail, through the Aspens and eventually the meadows to treeline.

We skinned all the way up the SE ridge in very light winds which never exceeded 15 mph. For January, it was a great treat. While the coverage was marginal on a small portion of the SE ridge around 12,800 – 13,200’, the rest of the peak had excellent coverage for January.

When I reached the summit that afternoon at 2pm, I had awesome views and could see an approaching storm system clear to the southwest towards the San Juan's, and it was just approaching the deeply snow covered peaks of Snowmass, Capitol, and the Maroon Bells. I’m looking forward to getting into that range later this spring when conditions settle.

After some summit photos and a snack, it was time to ski. I veered to the east towards the NE ridge then wrapped around the upper portion of Elbert to the south to make sure I could stay on snow the entire way without removing my skis.

Then to avoid staying on the rocky ridge, I chose an alternative couloir, the south facing chute that drops directly into the basin to the west of the SE ridge. This 700’ couloir is no steeper than 40 degrees and the avalanche danger was very low since it had not snowed for a week.

Carving some fun turns, I dropped all the way into the basin then skied a contour back to the south Elbert trail that I had skinned up. Once into the woods I enjoyed a few glades of powder and then sped down the snowshoe packed trail and quickly skied back to the trailhead by way of the 4 WD road. Looking back up at Elbert from the road at the South Elbert trailhead, I was really satisfied by the day and the strong effort to get this project started. One down and 57 named peaks to go! (I will try to ski the 58 named 14er peaks showcased in my Sleeping on the Summits Book from 2012), I’ll try to ski 5 peaks in addition to the 54 official Colorado 14ers (Both Maroon Bells Included) that Chris Davenport skied in 2006-2007.

Special thanks to Tara Nichols for coming and skiing up the trail part way and motivating me to push the summit and get this one done!

After a couple days of snowstorms, I headed down to Mt. Yale further south in the Sawatch. I had heard a few reports that Yale was pretty bare of snow and I had seen how the snow coverage on peaks to the east like Sherman, Quandary and the Front Range have been scoured from strong winds all winter long so far. My goal for now is to get as many peaks done as I can between now and April. I will ski peaks that have enough snow, and choose as many classic lines as possible. Patience will be a virtue, but my hope is that I can get enough peaks done in the next three months to put me in the position to finish the peaks when we get enough snow that historically sticks to some of the barren peaks in April in May.

Not knowing what to expect on Saturday, a starry departure with early morning alpenglow at temperatures around zero is what greeted me as I headed up the Denny Creek Trail for Yale.   Winds stayed light all morning, and once again a snowshoe packed trail helped make the ascent to timberline relatively quick and easy. Getting above the timber I broke trail and the views became impressive.

As the sun rose higher and I gained the tundra, the winds stayed reasonably low – probably 20 mph. The sun helped keep the hands and feet warm, and the fresh powder covered the usually barren ridge. If I could summit and come down before any winds picked up significantly throughout the day, then the snow would hold its place, and I’d be rewarded with some excellent powder turns!

The final 500 feet of the southwest face got difficult in post holing powder and the final 200’ on the ridge for several hundred yards proved to be pretty tough, but before long I was strolling in ankle deep powder and arriving to the summit.

Winds weren’t too terrible, just frigid to -20 wind chill and sometimes the surrounding peaks were shrouded in snowy blizzard clouds. As I began my descent, the clouds started to break but the winds picked up a bit. There was a small tower on the ridge I had to actually skip around on my skis, but I managed to make it down to the small shoulder and the start of the SW face and sloped.

From here is it was all powder. I only hit a few rocks and as I got closer and closer to the treeline, the snow was awesome and the winds died down. Once in the trees it became a tedious process to ski the narrow trail, but the sun was out and I was happy that I had Yale in the bag.

The bottom 2 miles of the trail were very fast and before long I skied right into the parking lot and was happy to have made it down safe and sound. Two down and many more to ski!

Special thanks to Anna Marie Migl for skinning up the peak and shooting some of these photos of me skiing!

Migl and I summited  at 2pm or so in a great weather window and we filmed a Tomer’s Trails episode.

I was grateful to have my strong friends come on a cold and snowy winter’s day for our attempt on Harvard. Fortunately we were able to drive to within 1.5 miles of the summer trailhead on our approach to the Horn Fork Basin Trailhead. It had snowed several inches over the previous couple of days, and as the wind continue to blow, I knew that the key was to just get to timberline and see if the forecast for a brief weather window would materialize.

Around 11am, we skinned to about 12,000’ and as the wind continued to howl, the sun came out fairly well, and I was certain that things would clear. Tomer bid us farewell and good luck, as he had to get back home to Denver for some reason, and so myself, Anna, and Torrey continued on and up the mountain.

Around noon as I crested the south ridgeline along the continental divide, I had a great view to the west and the winds died down. This was our chance to get up to the summit. Approaching 14,000’ I knew we had to be efficient. But the snow and the conditions were so soft, making the final 400 feet really tough.

Post-holing for about an hour and pushing to the summit block, I knew we were gonna make it and the approaching storm from the west still was a few hours away. 

It was awesome to stand on that summit in the winter. It also brought back memories of my summit bivy from 2011 when I almost got struck by lightning up on that summit! 

After a few minutes to relax, it was time to descend and ski. Earlier on the approach I had spied the “South K Couloir”, a nice narrow and steep chute to skier’s left of the summit, so I skied a couple hundred yards on the rocky ridge until I was at the top of the couloir. I couldn’t wait to drop in! It was a different line than I had skied in 2013, and it appeared to be filled in just enough. Winds increased and I took several jump turns down the couloir. It was solid. The couloir skied well and before I knew it I was back down on the basin meeting up with Torrey and Anna who both selected a face near the south ridge to ski and then meet me.

We felt great about our ski descents and by now it was pushing 3pm, so we started moving back towards timberline. Before long we were back on our skin track on the trail through the woods and by almost 6pm in the waning light and stormy windy conditions we had made it safely back to our car at the trailhead. Almost a 12 hour day, and we covered about 17 miles round trip, what a rewarding day with awesome friends!

Jared pulled me to Summer trailhead on snowmobile. Then I soloed from 9am-2pm up unconsolidated powder and 1ft of depth hoar w 2 ft of powder. Summit 2pm, then skied down and made it 9 miles past Winfield to car on road back to car by 5pm. Long day!

Huron was an adventure. A clear and calm Colorado winter day to a tucked away corner of the Sawatch. It’s true that in Calendar winter, Huron sees probably less than 10 people per season. I know for sure I was likely the first person to climb in during 2016 this particular year.

My brother Jared was generous to follow me to the end of the dirt road about 7 miles from Winfield where we unloaded his snowmobile and I had a fun ride up to Winfield. He pulled me with a rope on his Sled and by 830 we were up at the summer trailhead. From here my brother forged ahead a bit to explore a good way to ascend the north slopes to timberline.

The snow here was about 3 feet deep. It was 2 feet of powder and then a bottom layer of depth hoar. As it turned out, we could go no further on the snowmobile, so I said goodbye to Jared and startd to break trail though the woods. It was tough! I would sink in the powder then break through the hoar layer below.

After a couple hours of this I only made it about a mile, but finally broke out to timberline. The peak was in front of me and so I ascended gentle slopes to the ridgeline. The day was gorgeous with endless views including the Apostles in the distance.

The summit ridge was quite windblown. Originally I was going to try the Southeast face of the peak, but had to opt for skiing down the way I came up instead. After an hour on the summit I dropped in in perfect conditions and made my way back down the basin towards the Huron Summer Trailhead.

But once I reached the summer trailhead I had a nice long 10 mile journey following my brothers snowmobile tracks to get back to my car. The way to Winfield was downhill, so I got back there around 3pm. After an hour and a half skate down the main road on rolling hills for 7 miles, I was back to my Car and headed home before dark, no problem! After an hour and a half skate down the main road on rolling hills for 7 miles, I was back to my Car and headed home before dark, no problem!

On to the San Juans!

La Plata was a great day.  After the week I had skiing Uncompahgre, Wetterhorn, and Culebra, it was my 4th peak in 4 days and I got a much needed boost from awesome friends that came and helped break trail some of the way, as well as encourage me all day long. The day began in the darkness at about 6:30, but the morning light was coming fast.  We began from Highway 82 skinning up towards the peak in the woods.

The first couple of hours were tough, the snow was difficult, and the snowshoe tracks from many winter enthusiasts made many wrong turns.  We opted to make our own tracks into the basin that headed south towards Sayre’s peak, a bicentennial 13er.

Eventually the sun came out and we took a break in the basin before circling around to the southwest ridge of La Plata. We chose the scenic route so that we could skin most of the way. La Plata’s southwest ridge is scenic, and very high, leading to Colorado’s 5th highest summit. I’ve skied La Plata twice before, but it was fun to climb and ski from this route.  The mid-day winds were a bit brutal, but we made the most of the sunshine, everyone topping out a bit after noon. 

After some snacks, photos and enjoyment on the summit, it was time to ski.  We skied down the northwest ridge for about 400 feet to gain access to the North Bowl. With stable snow conditions we skied a couple thousand feet down into the bowl and then headed north and back down some tricky trees to eventually find ourselves back at the trailhead.

La Plata was a fun day to wrap up a great week of skiing the 14ers! So very grateful for Scott, Torrey, Anna, and Chris for pushing me on this one.

See you on the next peak!

I had a little Tiger inside me and I let it out with a fun solo day on Princeton in the southern Sawatch. My alarm in Vail went off at 230 am and I was on the road cruising down south in the dark by three after a nice breakfast. Pulling into the Mount Princeton Road I was able to drive about a quarter mile to where the snow started and so I turned around on a flat spot, parked, and was skinning up the road in no time.

In the darkness it was actually quite warm and not very windy at all. The usual magical hour came and went, a decent sunrise, and the lower reaches of the road turned from half melted out to full on snow making for a fun warm-up for the climb.

In early dawn light I reached the radio tower at 10,800’ and pushed on. For awhile the winds howled and I wondered if the day would turn out to be another battle in high winds. Near timberline I left the road and followed the summer trail west to get my first look at Princeton.

The morning sun was warm and between 8 and 9 as I climbed toward the peak in the basin and scoped out my ski line, the winds died down and it became quite pleasant! Luckily the peak has some reasonable snow, enough to make something work. Not having to essentially run for my life like last week in the winds, I took a 20 minute snack break about 500 feet from the top, sat and just enjoyed the views. It was so nice!

Before long I got in a good rhythm, up a few portions of snow on the ridge and at 10:30am came to the summit wind rock shelters. #11 was a long morning, but I felt great and it was nice to get this one done on nearly a spring day in the Rockies!  This was the second time in my career I’ve skied Princeton, and I have been to the summit at least a half dozen times before (1997, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 & 2016).

Views to Shavano and Antero concerned me a bit. I hope we get some snow on those peaks! (Usually April and May deliver to make them skiable enough) The northern Sawatch has plenty, and so does the Elk Range and San Juans, which I could see plastered in white apart from the nice blue sky. Still plenty of days ahead!

After some snacks and photos it was time to ski. I left the summit on Princeton’s eastern and northeastern ridgeline, and fund the top of my line that I had seen on the way up. Besides and few rocks near the top, it was clean all the way into the basin!  I descended and made some nice turns in the softening snow that had been warmed by the bright sun. Near the bottom I crossed paths with some goats who crossed the chute.

We’ll call it the East “Tiger- Goat” Chute on Princeton! Soon after a short upclimb from Dry Creek Basin I was back on the summer trail that wrapped around “Tigger” peak and back to the road where I was able to ski nearly back to my car by 2pm.

Fun, Fast, and Efficient day in the Mountains for Peak #11 of the project!

Once I made it to the bottom – I put my skins back down in the basin at around 12,900′ and made my way towards Belford and Oxford. (Check out the Oxford Page to continue.)I left my house around 4am to head down south and get a good jump on Missouri, Belford and Oxford on Friday. The forecast was for light winds and sunny skies so I knew that a little effort could mean getting three peaks in a day. As I drove up the dirt road to the Missouri gulch trailhead I was pleasantly surprised at how much the road to the trailhead had melted out. In January I had come up the same road by way of snowmobile to access Huron. I didn’t expect to drive through some frozen sections of snow and then dirt road and reach the summer trailhead. Wow! It was going to save me some excellent time to be able to start from the normal trailhead.

In early morning light around 5:45am I got moving skinning quickly up the switchbacks and into Missouri gulch. A nice snowshoe track from folks a few days earlier allowed me to reach timberline in the basin below Belford, heading towards Missouri in a quick hour and a half. The occasional gust greeted me, and I was soon skinning up the basin and into the throes of the northeast aspect of Missouri and above 13,000’ in the sunshine. A short break to put sunscreen on and then I put my skis on my pack and booted up to the north ridge.

When I got to the ridgeline, I had nothing but about a mile of short ups and downs on a fun and windblown ridge. The sun was nice and warm, and the snow was firm, so I enjoy my stroll to the south and the views were impressive.

Near the summit there are a series of sharp points on the ridge, in the summer the trail passes to the west of them. The snow was firm enough to kick steps in the steep sideways incline, so I pushed across a short 150 yard section and was up on the summit by 10:15am.

The north face couloir drops almost directly off the summit and into the elkhead basin below. After a ski cut or two, the powder conditions felt perfect, so I pulled out my camera and filmed part of my descent.

When I got to the bottom of Missouri, in the basin at 12,900′, I took an angle to the southeast and began my ascent of Belford In order to head towards Oxford.

The top of Belford was very windblown and dry. I was hoping to find a line off its west aspects later on in the day, but for the moment I bypassed the summit to the south and got my first glimpse of Oxford. Oxford looked bad, but I did see a long line of snow from the top down to the saddle of the ridge, so I knew if I could climb up to Oxford, I would be able to ski back towards Belford and get it done.

The winds began to pick up ever so slightly, but I made good time across the long flat ridge to Oxford’s summit. Looking south Harvard and Columbia Looked very dry. We need more snow! Fortunately I already skied Harvard in better conditions, but the southern Sawatch peaks that I have remaining definitely concern me.

After a short rest and some food and drink, I clicked in and skied the ridge back to the saddle towards Belford. I basically went from two of the best skiing peaks of the entire project (Castle and Missouri), to the worst peaks with conditions yet (Belford and Oxford). Honestly, I just wanted to go home at this point. It was a long day, and yet I did enjoy it a great deal.

I climbed for another 20 minutes or so to head towards Belford’s summit (Please see Belford Page as the story and ski continues there.)

Next I arrived on Belford’s summit after coming from Oxford and was greeted by a Russian woman named Natalie who had climbed Missouri and had come back across the valley to bag Belford. We both agreed that the ski descent of Missouri was excellent and thought we could probably piece together a reasonable line on Belford’s west side.

We skied past some small towers and made the most of some great turns in the warm afternoon sun. Then the fun part was cruising down the basin back towards Missouri Gulch and the trailhead above timberline on fast slopes in the creek bed.

The only thing slowing me down now is that I broke one of my bindings in deep snow in the trees on the way down…luckily I have a bit of time to get if fixed this week as this Colorado storm system moves through, plus it should help with more snow!

As I entered the trees I started to take stock of the project. Feeling amazing so far and off to an excellent start through about the first quarter of this endeavor.

I appreciate the support from many so far. I have had a handful of great partners to join me, and I’m sure there will be more on the horizon. On to the Sangres for a bit next!