We've been skiing for two months now in Crested Butte and were blessed with copious early season snowfall. Looking around town, you'd have no idea how much is already out in the mountains. A ten mile snowmobile ride (and hour skin) is all it takes to get the goods!
For Thanksgiving though, I decided to leave the snowmobile behind and put my post-ski conditioning body to the test. We drove to Red Mountain Pass early Thanksgiving morning to see what the San Juans had to offer. Touring through mining roads, trees, and then breaking out into open bowls below Red #3 was amazing. A quick shot from the top took us to a north facing aspect below US Basin with trees and untracked powder stashes. Surrounded by huge cliff strew peaks, I was in awe of the beauty and mass of these mountains. Towards the bottom of our creamy shaded powder shots I spotted a cliff zone that will undoubtedly turn into a sweet pillow zone as more snow falls. Definitely returning this winter!
After gorging on Turkey and pie Thanksgiving evening, we decided to head for Wolf Creek. Hot laps in the Waterfall zone made for my best resort runs yet this season! With about four inches of fresh to cushion the runs, it was a great day. Then, round two of turkey and pie. Yum.
Saturday we drove to Silverton and toured in the Minnehaha Basin. It's an easy skin on old mining roads with beautiful views of MacMillan, Velocity Basin, and the Silverton ski area. About half way up, we heard snowmobiles. I held the dog as they passed and wondered if we'd see them again that day. Yep. They lapped us skinners, twice, but we finally pushed up to the sub peak and powdery protected tree runs. It kind of made me wish I had my snowmobile, but then again, I skinned for two hours and felt great! Then dinner, turkey and pie, round 3.
Sunday we were back in Crested Butte. After experiencing the grandiosity of the San Juans for three days, it was time for an exploratory mission in Schofield, a townsite about 10 miles from CB. Skinning for two hours up Trailriders 401, we finally broke out about 20 yards from the northwestern subpeak of Bellview Mountain. High winds and cold temps over the weekend made skiing above treeline nothing less than heinous. After some forced turns through frozen slabs we made it to some trees that offered low angle light pow. Yay! Looking to our west, there were mountains that we didn't even know the names of, and that was humbling. To live in such close vicinity of all of this untracked inspiring beauty is really a blessing.
Thankful for friends and family. Thankful for the support of Grace Skis. Thankful for pre-season ski conditioning. Thankful for snowmobiles and skins. Thankful for mountains and snow!
-Alex R.
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