Upper Hidden Valley 052210

Greetings Friends,

The hot weather in Denver did not deter us from carving some velvety corn snow at RMNP.

Naoki, Cathy, Cheryl, and Wendy at the trailhead.

Cheryl, Cathy, and I met up with Naoki and Wendy in Boulder at a leisurely 7:30 for the drive up to Estes Park. We paid the toll and continued up the road past the turnoff for the old Hidden Valley lodge. Naoki guided us to the parking spot on the newly cleared portion of Trail Ridge Rd at the curve below the upper slopes. Hopping out of the car, the baking sun had already raised the temperature to 48 degrees as we switched from sandals to tele boots.

Naoki led us straight up the bowl to about 11,400', where the slopes alternated between good snow coverage and melted off rock piles. We managed to keep a firm grip on skins, hats, and ourselves as gusty winds intermittently pelted us with ice pellets that had been lifted from the softening surface. 

Wendy and Cathy hang on to their hats, and

Naoki ducks to get out of the wind.

 The upper slopes had about an inch of white corn, with some abrupt transitions to deeper brown corn where the dust layers were exposed at the surface. This variability in the steeper sections combined with the gusty winds had some of us working on our equilibrium, but eventually we got dialed in to the conditions and started linking turns in earnest. Halfway down, we decided to head up for a second run on a more north facing aspect, zigzagging our way towards the top. 

Cheryl steps into her bindings.

A quick snack before the second descent.

Cheryl is ready to drop in.

Photo by Naoki.

Wendy, Tom, and Cathy frame the scenic view.

Photo by Naoki.

Tom heads down as Cheryl watches.

Photo by Naoki.

Again pelted with sporadic winds and pellets, we stopped at 11,300' and enjoyed additional corn depth on the wide, unskiied slopes. Again stopping halfway down, the temptation to do a third run was at odds with the clock, so we finished the descent to the trailhead. At the bottom, we were pleasantly surprised by the applause of tourists gathering along the highway.  After straightening out some footwear confusion, we hopped in the cars.

Footwear choices abound in the spring.

After slogging through the swelling traffic of Trail Ridge Rd, we stopped in Estes Park at the appropriately named Sushi Yama 山 (mountain), for udon noodle bowls and Staggering Elk lager.


Stats: 2 mi / 1300' / 2 runs / 3 hours.


Maps attached, and pictures / movies at the link below:


http://picasaweb.google.com/tbrez53/HiddenValley052210/

Topo slopes map.

3D topo slopes map facing west.

Next week Cheryl and I are off to the desert to visit Canyonlands, and we are looking forward to more skiing in June.


Happy turns,
Tom

Current Creek 051510 - Upper 110s

Greeting Friends,


With the storms arriving late last week, we had our hopes up for some good skiing, and we weren't disappointed.

Bob and Wendy at the trailhead.

Joel, Bob, Cheryl, and Tom met at 4th and Union at 7:30, and we flew up I-70 to Downieville to meet Judi and Wendy at 8:00. The weather was fair and warm at the unplowed trailhead, where we found a few inches of powder sitting on a deeper base. 


We quickly skinned up and headed up to the Upper 110s at the saddle between Current Creek and Second Creek. As the altitude increased, the top layer improved to 6 - 8 inches of new snow, though the warm temperatures turned it to a heavier consistency. We did hear some whoompfing on the flats below the aqueduct, but the slopes remained stable.


Once we reached the saddle, we climbed higher up the ridge to the south. Despite the calendar claiming that it was mid May, the weather was more like winter with gray clouds, swirling snow, and gusty winds. 

Bob, Judi, and Wendy de-skin at the saddle.

Judi, Wendy, and Cheryl in the wind and snow at the saddle.

We quickly de-skinned and gingerly pushed our turns through the heaviest snow of the year. At first the snow was grabby, with turns resembling short straight lines instead of smooth curves, but by the end of the first run we had the conditions dialed in, and Joel broke a new up-track to get us straight to the ridge. This time we headed further south, but stayed in the trees below the top of the ridge to avoid some of the winds. The steeper slopes through the trees were more of a challenge, because there was no way to make quick turns with the heavier consistency of the snow. With a compensatory fudge factor for the turning radius and a heavier foot at the crux of each turn, the lines opened up and the smiles reappeared. 

Joel skins up as the snow falls.

Judi follows suit with her skins.

Bob skins up as Wendy demonstrates 

the correct way to strap on her beacon.

Cheryl is ready to climb.

After a quick bite for lunch, we scooted up the skin track for the third run, this time taking a more northerly route through the trees on the opposite side of the open space. 

Judi, Joel, and Wendy at the top of the third run.

Our target was to stay above the aqueduct until reaching the up-track leading to the Middle 110s near Teacup Bowl. Finally we dropped down the slopes one-by-one, enjoying the variety of steep and gentle slopes, trees and open spaces, until we wound our way through the short luge run to the trailhead.

Bob, Judi, and Joel scope out their lines above the highway.

Judi heads down to the aqueduct.

Cheryl, Judi, Bob, Joel, and Wendy contemplate

the final slope to the trailhead.

Stats: 3 runs / 1800' / 3.5 miles / 5 hours


Pictures and movies are posted here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/tbrez53/CurrentCreek051510

Simple topo map of the trip route.

Next Saturday I'm taking a break from leading, but not from skiing. A new (to me) locale is the planned destination.

Current Creek 050810 - True Corn at the Middle 110s

Greetings Friends,

There was just enough sun at the Middle 110s for a great corn day on Saturday.

Naoki is looking good on the way up to the Middle 110s.

Springtime means later meet times, and I met Dave and Norm at the 4th and Union lot at 7:30.  The light rail bridge over 6th Ave rolled out successfully last weekend , but construction on the tunnel under Union made access to the lot a bit slow.  I love the I-70 traffic at this time of the year, because there's hardly any, and 30 minutes later we were in Downieville to meet up with Diane, Judi, and Naoki who carpooled from Boulder.  It was only at Downieville that we finalized our destination at the reliable Current Creek, but this time we chose the Middle and Lower 110s to start, hoping the east-facing aspect would favor us with good conditions.  The sun was shining at the trailhead, with some dust on crust on the few cars parked sideways in the parking lot.  The valley route paralleling the creek had already been "broken" earlier in the morning, but the firm crust supported our skis with just enough softness to give our edges something to hold on to.  We headed north to 11,721', with a brief stop for a snow pit.  The dust layers lurked a few inches below the surface, and they slid easily with some light pressure.

Diane, Tom, and Judi enjoy the sun during the climb.

We finished the steepest parts of the climb and eased into the gentle rounded portion at the top.  Upon reaching the unassuming rocks jutting a few feet above the snow at the summit, we de-skinned and headed down to the east.  

Diane, Naoki, Dave, Judi, and Norm get ready for the descent.

The upper section was still rather firm crust with an inch or two of give to make the turns easier, but things really got good in the steeper section just above the aqueduct.  The extra slope must have been more perpendicular to the rising sun to soak up the warmth, and the lower elevation out of the wind reinforced the effect.  

Diane and Naoki make some turns.

Naoki makes his turns.

We descended 150' below the aqueduct for a total of 500' below the peak and stopped, while Norm, Judi, and Diane explored another 100' of the lower section where the trees got a bit tighter.  

Dave makes a turn in the trees below the aqueduct.

The rest of us snacked in the sun and re-skinned, and we all headed up to the top for a second run.  By this time the high clouds had given way to ones of the heavier variety, and the winds cooled down the upper gentle slopes enough that they provided less purchase than on the first run down.  However, the steeper slopes were out of the wind, thereby maintaining the same 4 - 6" of corn that we had seen the first time.  At the bottom we were all grins again, so after a few bites to eat, we headed up for another one, stopping short of the summit to focus on the lower slopes.  Again we enjoyed a great run with stable corn conditions, and that was enough for most, but not all.  After the fourth run, we gathered at the bottom and picked our way down through a couple of nice open gullies below the rocky cliffs.  Unfortunately, we were too low and below the elevation of the trailhead, so it was a slow, side-stepping slog through the tight trees back to the cars.  Still, it was totally worth it to hit the Middle and Lower 110s.

It's pretty melted out at the trailhead.

Stats: 3 - 4 runs / 3.5 miles / 1800 - 2000'  / 5.5 hours.

Pictures here:
  http://picasaweb.google.com/tbrez53/CurrentCreek050810/

Maps and 3D attached.

Uptrack to the left, yo-yos and down track to the right..

3D view of today's trip in red, 

older trip to Upper 110s in blue.

I have added another Leader's Choice Mod III to the CMC schedule for Saturday May 15.  The Middle 110s will be beckoning, but there are lots of good choices for Saturday.  Hope to see you on the slopes.

Tom