In honor of The Monkey and her endless energy to explore everywhere, I went out with skis to explore a new-to-me cirque around St. Mary's Glacier - Mt. Eva and Witter peak. I had skied Mt. Bancroft a couple of years ago but have always wanted to come back to this beautiful and relatively quiet area. The Bapamobile ('92 Toyota Alltrac with 230K miles) led me up the Fall River jeep road as far as it could without crushing the underside on rocks (i almost made it up to the reservoir!). I haven't skied since April 15th and my recently un-calloused heels noticed (blisters, I now have).
The hike started up past two reservoirs and to a natural lake where the dirty snow more or less supported my weight. No need for skins this time of year. I noticed right away that Eva had slid...and slid BIG. A wet slab had taken out most of the slope (see below picture). I continued up to see if i could grab a ski line on looker's right of the slide after a peak approach from the dry southeast ridge.
The closer I got, I noticed that the slide was much larger and deeper than I expected. The higher I climbed, it got increasingly windy, cloudy, cold (32 deg), and even snowy, so I was more-or-less forced to bail out of skiing Eva today.
The picture above shows what the peak looked like upon arrival - 50 foot visibility at most. I couldn't see where I wanted to ski so after putting every bit of clothing on that i had in my pack and waiting it out for a half hour freezing my nuts off, I decided to head over to Witter and ski something over there if the weather allowed, it was a few hundred feet lower in elevation and not on the Divide.
Some interesting contraption taken down by the wind on Eva...not sure what it is/was but it's pretty trashed now!
The sun never took hold today. Here's the view west over the Divide from the windswept saddle above Eva Bowl.
Just down from the top of Witter about an hour after topping out on Eva. Much nicer weather and hoping to ski a really aesthetic line that popped out on the approach. Looking past the skis is Berthoud Pass.
The narrow lil couloir on the left starting from the top was my first run and as it narrowed into slough and rocks I benched left and boot-packed up the right ridgeline to the first line of big rocks and dropped into the bowl. Really weird weather, and barely warm enough dirty corn snow as it never warmed up too much but any day in the backcountry is definitely a good day!
May The Monkey be with you.
I can always rely on a bike to make me feel like I don't have a care in the world. The narrow-minded focus of the front tire on the trail is meditative; grooving and carving the 69er around swervy singletrack at high speeds dispels any other thought from my head; the excitement of finding yourself airborn before even realizing you popped off a rock only to necessarily carve into a switchback before you blow right through it and go over the bars into the shrubbery; laughing out loud at the insanity of how fast you're riding and how fast you're riding alone. Good stuff.
The hike started up past two reservoirs and to a natural lake where the dirty snow more or less supported my weight. No need for skins this time of year. I noticed right away that Eva had slid...and slid BIG. A wet slab had taken out most of the slope (see below picture). I continued up to see if i could grab a ski line on looker's right of the slide after a peak approach from the dry southeast ridge.
The closer I got, I noticed that the slide was much larger and deeper than I expected. The higher I climbed, it got increasingly windy, cloudy, cold (32 deg), and even snowy, so I was more-or-less forced to bail out of skiing Eva today.
The picture above shows what the peak looked like upon arrival - 50 foot visibility at most. I couldn't see where I wanted to ski so after putting every bit of clothing on that i had in my pack and waiting it out for a half hour freezing my nuts off, I decided to head over to Witter and ski something over there if the weather allowed, it was a few hundred feet lower in elevation and not on the Divide.
Some interesting contraption taken down by the wind on Eva...not sure what it is/was but it's pretty trashed now!
The sun never took hold today. Here's the view west over the Divide from the windswept saddle above Eva Bowl.
Just down from the top of Witter about an hour after topping out on Eva. Much nicer weather and hoping to ski a really aesthetic line that popped out on the approach. Looking past the skis is Berthoud Pass.
The narrow lil couloir on the left starting from the top was my first run and as it narrowed into slough and rocks I benched left and boot-packed up the right ridgeline to the first line of big rocks and dropped into the bowl. Really weird weather, and barely warm enough dirty corn snow as it never warmed up too much but any day in the backcountry is definitely a good day!
Today is one year after The Monkey died of cancer. Smrp and I took the guppies up to what we have been calling Monkey Meadow, where there's a great view of James Peak and the hills to the south. The wildflowers are blooming now, with the Larkspur and Golden banner starting to pop. Solemn as it is to think about her, it's fun to see little Jessica Guppie starting to channel The Monkey on our hikes - always trying to take the 'other' route and wanting to go explore any new trail she comes across. She learned from the best. 
Before...
...During...
...After.
You may now go about your business
The sun is shining today but it's been a pretty rainy and snowy spring here. I haven't been riding much at all. But the other day I got out on a ride on Tank the Crosscheck and was unsure if I'd be making it home before I got drenched and frozen, once again. I started to head north towards the local spring ski spot to see if the road was rideable yet, but Ned looked pretty ominous with dark clouds and snow starting to fall. The road that separates the peaks from the foothills is such a funny separator. "They" placed the road in the right place somehow, so you can have one weather pattern to the west of it and another to the east. So, I about-faced and headed south to my regular route of this year. Only some flakes hit my face before heading east to the sloppy dirt road seen above. 
My route seemed to stay in the sunspot today. A big loop that had snow to the west and pretty dark rainclouds to the east (above). (On the pod was the new Leatherface, who was supposed to be in Denver on the 19th...but their tour of the US got canceled. Such a bummer as this veteran UK band has never been to Denver and rarely comes to the US.) I have yet to see another rider on this route. I know this area is seen as 'redneck-ville' but I've mostly been met with wide-berths, waves, and very few cars. Times must be a-changing.
