Wolf Creek Pass Backcountry Skiing

Last weekend we took advantage of Ryan's 3-day weekend to head down to the Southern San Juan mountains to go Alpine Touring. There is a great book to help us find back country ski areas called 'Powder Ghost Towns', detailing where old ski resorts used to be. One such area is at Wolf Creek Pass. There is a resort about 800 feet away, on the other side of the road that uses different mountains, but we wanted to explore potentially untouched powder.

For those that don't want to read, here is the video from our adventure! (Make sure you watch it in 1080p- click the settings wheel to change the resolution).




For the long version with pictures:

The San Juan Mountains

On Friday after Ryan finished work, we loaded the car and drove the 4.5 hours down to practically New Mexico. The drive was really easy, with a lot of very straight roads. When we arrived at the Wolf Creek Pass parking lot (where we were camping in our car), the moon was so incredibly bright that we did not use our headlamps outside. I eagerly ran up the side of the mountain to try and take a night shot with my new camera. It almost worked….

The next morning, Cody woke me up far too early to go pee. When I stepped outside, I couldn't believe the sky! What a perfect way to start the day!

Perfect morning sky

The Element Camper on a moonlit morning

Blue bird sky and skiing with my loves- what could be better?

The forecast for Saturday was 30 degrees and sunny, no wind- absolutely perfect. As we got our gear together, we saw some other skiers head into the woods, and that would be the last people we would see until we got back to the car that afternoon.

Ready to Ski!

The first skin up to the top of the mountain was a 1.1 mile gradual climb. The view at the top made it hard to want to ski down!

Gradual Skin up

Gorgeous views of the mountains

Cody enjoys the view before our first ski down

Wolf Creek Pass is a perfect area to explore Alpine Touring because there are a lot of low grade slopes, where the avalanche danger is typically low. Additionally, there is a lot of tree skiing since the forest is not as dense as other areas of Colorado. There were also what looked like endless runs and many faces of the mountain to explore. Since nearly everyone else goes to the resorts to use lifts (hah!) we had untouched snow on every run of the day. It was unreal.

Always making fresh tracks

The first day Cody and I skied 5.5 miles, while Ryan skied an additional few runs totaling 8.5 miles. After a full day of skiing, we cooked spaghetti on our camp stove and watched the sun go down over the mountains.

Winter cooking out of the Element

Sunset

Sunday was our big day. We found an amazing run through the trees that gave us almost 1,000 feet of descent. Every run was different, with a new stash of powder to turn through. Skinning up was long, but it was an amazing workout and we managed to ski 10.5 miles! Cody loved every single minute of it!

Could Cody be any happier?!

Perfect tree skiing

All our lines

Cody also loves tree skiing

Skiing on the edge

I love these skis!!

Monday we still managed to ski almost 7 miles before having to head back home. Every run we did for nearly the entire weekend was in fresh snow. Even though the region hadn't gotten any good storms in about a month, there were still so many fresh tracks if you looked for them. The snow was so soft that it didn't matter to us how deep it was- every turn was amazing!

Camping in the Element wasn't too bad, since we were absolutely exhausted after every day. The temps did get down to 1 degree during the night, so we were happy to have our -20F mummy sleeping bags. Despite wearing multiple layers of clothing, I did wake up cold a few times. Cody slept in my mummy bag with me and we kept each other warm. The other difficulty with winter camping is that everything freezes. Everything- water, milk, beer, even contact solution!! The Element Camper was terrific, but we aren't sure if we will camp in winter again….

Our perfect camping spot

I love this funny little toaster

It was an absolutely incredible weekend- 22.5 miles of skiing with over 10,000 feet of vertical gain in perfect weather. Cody had a blast chasing us down the mountain. She would try to herd us for the first 2 turns, but after that she just ran as hard as she could to keep up. She especially loved chasing us through the powdery snow in the trees. I would caution other dog owners before attempting to ski with their dog, though- crashing into them or cutting their paws with skis is a very real concern. Cody has been running and herding us for almost 7 years now, and despite seeming to get very close to us, she is always very careful and we never once ran into her.

This is what happens after chasing skiers for 22.5 miles

Until we ski again…..

The long road home

Sunset over Colorado

Alpine Touring/Ski Mountaineering

As the snow started falling in Colorado (that would be back in September, actually), the mountains started calling with a new line- Come Ski!!! In a previous life, back when Ryan and I first started dating in college, our adventures consisted of ski trips to various east coast resorts. Skiing was our 'thing'. The lack of good skiing in Michigan, paired with our new found love of other endurance sports, put a damper on that hobby for over 6 years. Even as we moved to Colorado, we both sort of forgot about how much we used to love skiing. That is, until Ryan read that all of his favorite European ultra-runners do Alpine touring, or Ski mountaineering (SkiMo) in the winter!

So what is Alpine touring? It is regular 'alpine-style' (read: downhill) skiing, without the lifts! It is a combination of running up a hill, then skiing back down it! I had no idea this sport existed until a few months ago! And how does this magic happen? It is all in the binding. There are a few companies now that make bindings that can switch from 'Touring' mode, to 'Downhill' mode. In touring mode, your heal is not attached to the ski, giving you plenty of lift, like a typical nordic, or cross-country ski. When you get to the top of the mountain, you switch the binding to Downhill mode, and it locks your heal in place, allowing you to ski downhill just like you would at a resort. Additionally, the binding has optional heal lift, so it isn't as difficult to skin up really steep slopes.

Uphill skiing!

The other crucial piece of gear to make this all work is the 'Skin'. The skin is a piece of fabric that is typically made with a combination of mohair and nylon on one side, with a sticky adhesive on the other, that binds to the bottom of the ski. This allows the ski to have grip on the snow when 'skinning' uphill. At the top of the mountain, you take the skin off of the bottom of your skis, stow it away in your pack, then enjoy the ride back down!

Skins attached to the bottom of my skis

Taking the skin off at the top of the mountain

There were a few reasons we quickly became enamored with this sport:
1. Once you buy the gear, the lift ticket = free
2. Endurance training without the harsh impact of running!
3. We actually love skiing!
4. We get to play in the mountains all year long
5. We kind of like new gear
6. We can ski with Cody!!

I love gear

Cody loves skiing too!

The great part about investing in this ski set up is that you can actually still use it at the resort. Depending on the exact ski set up you get, it may be a little tougher on groomed trails, since a lot of these skis are designed to be light and handle powder well, but as long as your heal is in the binding, you could take those silly lifts if you wanted to. If you were interested in skiing at a resort without paying for a lift ticket, most resorts in Colorado allow skinning uphill for free!

Free skiing

We have explored a few areas in the Front Range so far, and our favorite is Berthoud Pass. It used to be a ski resort, but closed down in 2001. It gets a lot of snow, and with no traffic, is only an hour from our house. There are lots of options to ski, including a very nice, easy route that starts and ends at the car and has very little avalanche danger. I hope to do write ups very soon of the places we have explored- so stay tuned!

Perfect skin tracks

The downside to this new sport is Mother Nature. Colorado is very prone to avalanches, since the terrain is steep and there is a lot of snow. Unfortunately avalanches take about a half-dozen lives every year. Since buying our skis in December, 2 backcountry skiers/snowboarders have already died. We are acutely aware of the risks we are taking. We took a class on how to make better decisions about putting ourselves in danger, and now have the appropriate avalanche gear- beacon, shovel and probe. Neither of us are extreme skiers, so the routes we choose are typically at a low angle, which means the risk of an avalanche is a lot lower.

If you look closely, you can see the avalanche section

Ryan and I bought our skis at Christmas and have been able to ski almost a dozen times already!! Here is a video of our first adventure out, before we even purchased our own! I loved these skis so much that I bought my own.