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.
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.
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.
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.
2 runs / 1600' / 5 hours.
Parking is at right, approach is the southern track.
3D looking south. Parking at the pass at left.
Pictures at the usual places:
