It was a bluebird day in the high country of Colorado...but freaking cold. 12 degrees with gusts up to 50mph... felt like -16 according to the NWS Wind Chill index. 
The Pilot, DV8 and myself headed out for a tour to look for safe turns in the backcountry behind DV8's house. I had a route in mind, but wasn't sure if we'd get there. The first destination was a view of the skier-triggered slide that happened the day before above the lake. Five foot crown, ran 50x400ft, the entire path really. Lots of recent snow + strong winds have made some pretty serious avalanche conditions in many places above treeline and has swept off all the snow off west and northwest facing slopes above treeline to Kansas. You'll be skinning and cross pockets of 4 feet deep powder (wind deposited mostly) and then be scraping on rocks and grass a few feet later. It is truly nuts, but such is the backcountry life in the Front Range.
Wish we had taken one run on this low angle gully...but we got a late start so had to push on.
The second destination was this Hut. We've all passed right by it on MTB rides but never seen it somehow. A 'rustic' hut compared to the 10th mansions, it sleeps about 7 and isn't that well maintained. We took a safety break (sans spliffs) inside to get away from that freakin wind.
Windy alley picture....this looks nice, but it was pretty miserable for a few minutes there. I also lost my camera for about 15 minutes...found it where I took the below shot as it sat precipitously on the edge about to cascade down the 45 degree slope to its demise.
The last picture: On our way out...it was a slog on flat terrain. We just made it before it got too dark. Deep snow and sloped enough so we didn't skin-up but wish we had wax on. The hill we scrambled (survived) down is seen in the background to the left just inbetween the exposed open area and the sunset. For me on teles, it was a treacherous descent with about 10 good deep turns in the entire 1100ft descent. But it really was the only area with soft snow between wind-exposed 45 degree scree fields.
On the way down the main trail, packed and fast from so many snowshowers, the Pilot took a pretty nice faceplant coming too hot into a left-hand turn that hit a rock garden. He scrambled up the trail like the boogey-man waving his arms for us to slow down so we didn't experience the same fate. He bloodied his cheek and scratched his skis, but he was no worse for the wear.
All smiles, we skied all the way back to the metal coffin in one piece, if worked. Today felt like a true adventure. Not the best turns, but a great 10 mile tour!
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