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With temperatures soaring into the 70's in town, even Berthoud Pass had 40°+ temperatures to soften the slopes.

High clouds could not delay the softening of the snow.

Cheryl, Norm, and Tom left the park and ride at 7:30 with no other familiar faces in sight. With the warm temperatures discouraging the crowds, traffic was in spring mode with smooth sailing to Downieville. After the quick coffee stop, we headed for the Pumphouse parking lot. The lot was empty as we pulled in, and probably remained empty all day except for our trusty Xterra. The hike to the snow was slightly longer than previous trips this year, but we safely dashed across the highway and up the hill to the snow.

Old tracks were raised up due to the preferential melting of the uncompacted snow around them, but they still provided a guide to the Pumphouse ridge. We took a different route more to the west which caused some steeper climbing in places, even involving some undisturbed along the way. Powder was not part of the plan on this trip as we climbed above tree line up the sunny nose of the ridge.

Cheryl trudges up the nose of the ridge.

After reaching the top, the sun had not soften the slopes to our liking, hindered by the high clouds and smeared contrails. After a patient wait of 5 minutes or so, Norm and Tom decided to kill some time by making a run. Tele turns hard to coax on the hard pack, so we switched to a combination of parallel and snow plow (pizza-french fries) to get through the hard pack. As we descended, the snow softened a tiny amount, but enough to get the tele turns back in gear.

At the bottom of the run, we decided to explore further to the south where the aspect and slope definitely improved the snow condition. On our way up, Cheryl radioed that she was coming down and met us half way. She announced her intention to wait for us to return, then radioed that she was heading down the open south-facing snowfield. 

Norm summits the high point of the run.

For our second run, the snow condition was improved, and by the time we hit the south face, it was perfect. However, but the time we headed up, Norm found a place that collapsed into a pit, and we worked our way around the obstacle. 

Cheryl is thrilled to be at the lunch stop.

At the top, Cheryl and Tom stopped for some lunch, while Norm took an extra run to burn off the goo calories. We all descended the nose of the ridge for the final run, where the aspect, slope, and high clouds combined for perfect conditions.  

Norm heads up for a bonus run.

In the trees we found a combination of crust and a couple of collapsing pits near tree wells, and descended a bit further down the nose than usual. By the time we turned to the north to get off the ridge, we were already below the elevation that would allow us easy access around the gravel pit. Rather than climb, we descended into the pit and found a flat exit towards the parking area.

Norm offers helpful advice for Cheryl.

It's just one little drop, like a cornice jump.

Cheryl demonstrates her ski-glissade method prior to a more conventional descent.

We made our way through the trees with only minor snow collapse, crossed the creek at the pumphouse, and stepped out of the bindings for a short hike to the car.

Still plenty of parking at the trailhead.

We stowed our gear and rolled down the hill to Tommyknockers, where the IPA was still flowing from the beer engine.


Stats: 2.7 mi / 2 - 4 runs / 1400' - 1800'. 

Ski track in red with yellow highlight.

Pumphouse 032412