Loveland Pass Ski #2 062015

After a traffic holdup affecting the northern Front Range participants, Joe, Chris, Bob and Tom met up at HH and went straight to Loveland Pass, to connect with Candace coming over from Breck.

​We strapped the skis on the packs and hiked to the saddle. Snow coverage was down significantly from last week, but still skiable, especially as the day went on.

Leaving the parking lot.

Heading for the saddle.

Bob blends in with his snow-camo tennis whites.

After a challenging first run on a steep slope in the early cool temperatures, we moved to less steep slopes as the day warmed up. 

​Ready for the first run. Candace and Chris got squished by the Google Panorama.​

Group photo at the top, without Photoshop thanks to a friendly passerby.

Due to temperatures heading for highs in the 70s, we stayed on the higher altitude slopes, which meant 4 shorter runs instead of 2 longer runs. The smooth snow surface of last week had transitioned to deepening sun cups and incipient runnels, but the warm temperatures softened them enough to let our skis slice through the ridges. 

​Bob demonstrates his sun cup crushing technique.

​https://goo.gl/photos/dzrQpbz91qhEKysG7​​

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The skies stayed sunny the whole time through our 2 pm exit up the summer trail on a mix of snow and bare ground.

Wildlife sightings: Dogman entertained us with his ski traverses over bare ground and snow and some occasional howling. His dogs remained quiet.

​4 runs / 5.5 hrs / 2000'​

​GPS Track map.

3D view looking south.

Trip profile.

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Loveland Pass Ski 061315

Buddies Phil, Bob, Scott, Joe, and Ken joined Cheryl and Tom on a CMC trip to Loveland Pass. We met at Wooly Mammoth HH at 7:30. Dave F and Vaune were scheduled to join us but were foiled by evil new phone alarm clock settings.

Traffic was relatively heavy on the drive to Downieville and up to the Loveland Pass exit. We stopped for a survey of conditions at Loveland Ski Area where the Valley runs had a lot of bare spots and the base of the Loveland Basin runs were also without snow. We finally decided to take a chance on the weather and head higher to the Pass. There was plenty of parking at the pass at 9:00. We strapped the skis to the packs and hiked up the usual route to the saddle at the top of the bowl. From that point, we could see the snow conditions at 4 ski areas: Loveland, A Basin, Keystone, and Breckenridge.

Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to ski we go.

Getting ready to ski from the saddle.

Snow coverage was excellent with lots of runs for us to try. We opted for the usual run down the gully for the first run, and the snow conditions were primo. In the lower gully, the snow just kept on going, and so did we. 

Cheryl pauses mid-run to watch the next skier descend.

Some other skiers opted to ski out to the road, but our group stopped after descending 800'. 

Skinning up below tree line.

The climb up was grueling in the hot sun, but we finally made it to the top an hour later. At lunch, Bob commented how soft his skins were, no doubt due to his patented skin protectors available from his eBay site. Phil probably commented about how his skin protectors also had this feature.

Are your skins "Oh so soft"?

Scott and Ken took a run further to the climbers right, while the rest of the group chose another popular run just a bit north of the first run. By this time it was already noon, and the snow surface was getting softer and less supportive. At each turn, the deep corn formed giant bowling balls that threatened to take out the unwary skier as they passed below on their next turn. Several skiers found the bottom would drop out from beneath them without warning. At one point, Scott ended up waist deep into the corn. 

At the bottom, interest was high in doing another half a run, but interest waned within the first minute of climbing. We had to climb up to the usual out track, and found that we could skin all the way to the terrain park just below the pass. On the way we found all sorts of treasures including shovels, keys, golf balls, and a Samsung phone, not to mention an incredible amount of aluminum.

Skinning back up to the pass. Lots of snow!

On the pass the tourist crowds surged, including one guy wearing a pink horse costume. We packed up the cars and rolled down the hill to Tommy's.

A rare Pink Pony sighting at Loveland Pass.

2 runs / 1600' / 5 hours.

Parking is at right, approach is the southern track.

3D looking south. Parking at the pass at left.

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Sundance #2 060615

Buddies Phil and Bob met Cheryl and Tom and the CMC parking lot at 7:30, and at the west Rock Cut parking lot by 10:00. The snow cover still reached to the parking lot, but now you can see the fence and there are sun cups and bare spots. Bob, Cheryl, and Tom skinned from the car, and Phil hiked to the usual start of the slope.Sundance Mountain still had sufficient coverage, so we crossed the drainage and climbed almost to the top of the same point as last week. The snow was a little dirtier, a little wetter, and a little grabbier, but still a pretty good ski down to the grassy Rock Island that we usually stop at. While we attached the skins to the skis we heard several rounds of thunder, which prompted was worrying. Skies were dark, and we were pelted with several rounds of graupel and five minutes of rain (ugh!). At the top of the slope skies were still dark, so we decided to head back to the car for safety sake. At the car we started getting rained on, and as we sat in the car eating lunch, it really came pouring down.

Tom Bresnahan's photos

A Google sphere panorama on top of Sundance Mtn.

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1 run / 1300' / 3.5 hours.

 

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