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We encountered challenging snow conditions near treeline, but the warm weather held to soften the snow below treeline.

Tom and Nick enjoy the warm weather at the Halfpipe ridge.

Nick and Mike met with Cheryl and Tom at the HH section of the Woolly Mammoth parking lot at 7:30, and we quickly loaded up and headed up to Current Creek. The warm weather during the past week and the forecast for powder later in the weekend ensured low traffic, even around the Idaho Springs Twin Tunnel detour for the eastbound widening construction. The snow stake showed a snow depth below 6 feet, and at the trailhead, the parking lot was down to dirt with temps in the mid-30's.

Down to dirt at the trailhead parking lot.

We skinned up and headed up the trail. It was tough to decide on a destination. Would the sun come out and soften the south-facing slopes? Was there a chance of preserving the powder in the trees on the north-facing slopes despite temperatures of 45° during the week? The clouds looked pretty thick, so we headed up the trail past the Peter Rabbit cabin.

Still some snow at the cabin.

Lured by the appearance of powder in the trees, we ascended the gully to the aqueduct, then up the steep slope to the Halfpipe valley. 

Leveling out at the top of the steep above the aqueduct.

Heading up the Halfpipe valley.

Once we got into the Halfpipe valley, the snow was mostly crusty, with a little bit of softening with the sun and warm temperatures. The predicted snow was pushed back to the afternoon, so we enjoyed the weather while it lasted.

After coming up to the top of the Halfpipe ridge, Cheryl and Nick went down the valley, while Mike and I skied down the ridge to find the "hidden" gulch that we saw on the climber's left on the way up. We were hoping to find some old powder lurking in the shade, but we had to break through some crust to find it.

Cheryl climbs out of the valley to Halfpipe Ridge. 

On the second run, we all skied the valley, though Mike and I went higher up the ridge. I shouldn't have watched "Your Inner Fish" on PBS last week, because I turned into a flounder on the valley floor crust. I totally forgot how to ski on breakable crust. Everyone else adjusted to the conditions. Mike put on a great crust clinic below.

Mike gets ready to ski off the ridge. 

Mike shows us how its done.

After 3 runs, we were done and headed down towards the aqueduct. At the lower elevation, the temperatures were warmer and the snow had softened. Mike took this rare picture of me actually skiing.

I finally remember how to ski.

We made it down from the aqueduct, past the cabin, through the trees, and down to the trailhead and on to Tommyknockers. At least I got good parking.

Where to park at Tommyknockers?

Stats:

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A warm spring day until the snow came in gave us a pleasant run below the Continental Divide, then an icy luge run down the trail to the parking lot.

Crossing the tarn below the lakes.

I met up with Steve's trip at the East Portal at a decadent 11:00 AM meet time with Steve, Chris, and Scott coming in from Boulder. The parking lot was packed with AT skiers headed for Heart Lake, Haystack, and Rogers Pass.

Another big group gets ready to head up the trail.

The sun was warm and breezes gentle, but high clouds on the divide promised a change later in the day.

High clouds precede the storm.

The first 1200' of the climb to the meadow was uneventful until I started to get snow sticking to my skins, and I mean lots of snow. Steve rescued me with some Glopstopper, which I pressed into the orange part of the skins. It helped for a while, but I wasn't free of the problem until heading down.

At the top of our climb, we watched some AT skiers on a hill that Steve identified as Mt. Frostie.

AT skiers on the Mt Frostie uptrack to the divide. 

We deskinned on a knoll near the lake and looked expectantly to the east for our choice of runs.

Ready to roll.

We encountered some soft wind slab and powder in the open at the top of the run. Once we entered the trees, we found soft powder in the shade. The gullies were tempting with their open slopes, but the sun exposure was not favorable for preserving the dry powder, turning it to a heavy wet version of powder.

All too soon we were back at the upper meadow. The snow moved in, cooling off the temperatures. After a quick bite, we hit the track out, which had converted from wet to icy. Chris followed me into the drainage to avoid the ice, but after a warning from Steve to not linger in the creek, we made several nice powder turns before climbing out to the trail. The drop to the bridge at the creek was as harrowing as ever, and the rest of trip out was relatively mellow, but still fast enough.

Scott gets ready to glide down the trail after the bridge.



At the meadow with the trail junction, the signage was nearly buried, giving us a hopeful prediction for continued skiing through the spring.

Trail junction signs in the meadow are nearly buried.

Snow is really picking up in the meadow.

Back in the parking lot, we were packed up to leave when Svetlota approached us for a ride to her house in Coal Creek Canyon. Her husband was skiing to the divide and after waiting 1.5 hours, she was ready to head home and wait there.

Hitching a ride from the parking lot.

Not many cars left at 5:00.

Scott and Chris in the parking lot.

Stats: 7.3 mi / 2000' / 6 hrs.

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