Lisa and Matt
Late spring snow storms, Lisa's Mom in town to watch Henry, road opened on Memorial day: all together they made it possible for us to try out Independence Pass again! I have ridden there once before with Matt -- and we wanted to do it again. Matt was up for it too.
The hike took us about two hours. With all the recent fresh snow we were somewhat concerned with the slush slide possibility, and wanted to get out there fairly early. I checked the local meteo stations and saw that the overnight temperatures were above freezing (33-34) for the past few nights, with highs in the day reaching 50's. I was comfortable with the snow underneath, but didn't know how much fell during the storms, and what shape it was in.
Heading for the same colouir we skied the last time, we decided to cut off some hiking time and get on the snow earlier -- by that time it was almost noon and the snow was getting decidedly softer. I scouted a route below a big boulder, and that's where Lisa and I started from. Matt dropped in from the ridge, right next to the same boulder. There was a big rock fin below us, with another big boulder to the right -- we couldn't see between them, and decided to make a big traverse rather than risk hitting a rock band. It was a good choice -- there was a rock band there, with some mandatory air to get over it :) Our traverse took us to the runout from the colouir we were shooting for, where skiing was very nice.
After all was said and done, it took about an hour and a half to reach back to the hairpin turn. We dropped our gear and I hitchhiked to the top. A very nice couple from Houston picked me up, thought we were crazy, but seemed to enjoy the idea :)
MOVIE
PICTURES
View of the destination ahead
Vista from the parking lot
Laika checking up on Lisa during the climb
Our goal, the colouir visible on the left just past the summit
Another climbing view
Tom on the move (photo: MM)
Lisa and Tom after the first turns (photo: MM)
Lisa by the mining cabin ruin
A few Google Earth screenshots showing path captured by my GPS. The first shows the overall path, the second zooms in on the actual ridge and our line.
The basics of our ski line
Matt and Tom at the bottom
Hike out from the creek
Lisa reviewing our lines from the truck