-- Tom's Trip Reports --: Sundance 070211

Beautiful summer temperatures, perfect corn snow, and great friends made for a fantastic trip to Sundance.

The lineup.

I gathered Cheryl, Cathy, Sandy, Phil, and Bob at the CMC, and we headed to Boulder to pick up Judi. After stops in Boulder and the visitor center, we made our way to the Sundance parking lot past Rock Cut. Traffic was moving but pretty heavy, as expected for the holiday weekend. We piled out of the cars and unloaded skis, packs, and gear. We strapped them all together on the sidewalk and headed up the path to the snowfields.

Hey, watch out with those skis.

The trailhead had bunches of wildflowers, including fairy primrose, forget me not, baby sky pilot, and cinquefoil.

Fairy primrose. Photo by Judi.

Will hike for turns.

On the way to the snow.

We reached the snow on the other side of the rocks at the end of the trail, and unstrapped the skis from the packs and slid our boots into the bindings. Ahh, snow!

Finally on the snow.

Ready to ski.

Take the picture so we can ski.

The temperatures and the snow were perfect. Sunny but 60's, good breeze to keep cool. The coverage was even better than last year on Jun 5.

Down the slope.

The snow had less dirt than last year, and the skis glided with ease. Before we knew it, we were at the turn-around point after a great 700' descent. Now, it was time to pay for all those great turns with a climb to the top. Some chose to boot pack, while others skinned up.

Heading back up.

Out of the abyss.

Getting closer.

Not as steep.

Smiles = Almost to the Top.

At the top we had a snack and a Spanish lesson (nos gusta esquiar). Hostilities broke out in the form of a brief snowball battle. Despite the underage reinforcements recruited from passing tourist families, the battle ended inconclusively.

Incoming at 12 o'clock.

We turned around and headed down again. Snow conditions remained wonderful. But we reached the bottom all too quickly and prepared to head back up.

Leaning into the hill.

Uptrack.

Lunch #2.

At our second lunch we hung out in the beautiful weather and views. Many headed down for a third run.

Gliding into the turns.

What's down below?

Picking the line.

Cinquefoil and ski boots.

Lots o' turns.

Even after the last brutal climb, we were giddy with excitement over the great skiing in July. We all thank Naoki for showing us this fantastic ski spot.

Everyone is happy after a great day.

On the way back to the cars.

After we loaded all the gear in the cars, we made a quick trip to the alpine visitor center, then crawled back to Estes park. We dropped Judi off at her car only 30 minutes later than her scheduled dinner, then drove to Golden and stopped at Santiago's for some super food.