Last day to ski in Colorado and our group is looking pretty sad. We have had some great spring skiing at Copper, Breckenridge, and Aspen, but our group is falling apart. Francine fighting a cold and sore feet, Rick fighting his cold and a pulled groin muscle. Greg Mejleander's ankle and knees were not happy. With the group, falling apart, I was excited to get out and do a ski tour. I had thrown climbing skins in my bag, just in case I had the opportunity for a tour near our house in Silverthorne. With Buffalo Mountain looking good, I had Rick drop me off at the top of Ryan Gulch road.
Buffalo Mt. at 12,777 feet looms above the town of Silverthorne Colorado elev. 9,000 feet. I ascended through the trees on the left side of photo, then up to the summit. I explored the option of skiing Silver Couloir, the prominent Y shaped run in the picture. I lined up on the looker's right side of the line, but the terrain was so steep I could not get a good look at the skiing. The top section was visibly wind effected, and skiing solo I decided to ski the more easterly descent, where I could see what I was dropping into.
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| Eagles Nest Wilderness |
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| Start of the trip skinning, in shorts, through the lower trees |
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| Above treeline, good travel conditions |
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| Mountain Goat greeted me at the Summit ridgeline. |
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| View off the summit |
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| I dropped below the left ridge to get a little firmer snow |
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| Good skiing below the upper bowl |
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| Route of the day. Glad to have my gps coming back through the trees |
Stats: 3,500 elevation gain. 6.2 miles roundtrip. 3 hours 45 minutes. Spent some time up top, to the North, exploring the Silver Couloir option. Also looked at following tracks into the center bowl area. Luckily I did not follow as looked like a rope may have been necessary to get over a rock band below upper bowl. Descent route is the lower line (south)
1 comment:
Nice solo Kevin.
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