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| Today (Sunday) was an odd day. Louie, Lisa and I planned to ski a big peak near Independence Pass, but woke up to rain here in Carbondale. We did our super early start just in case the weather was isolated, but ended up driving through a blizzard to the trailhead, where we napped in the truck till firstlight. Since our main goal wasn’t happening, we opted for the standard climb and ski of Blue Peak (skiing off the summit, shown above). Funny thing was, we were too early. A few hours after we finished the sky cleared — but we were driving home. No worries, back again in a few days with plenty of chores and webwork to get done in the meantime. |
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| Sunday morning. |
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| After skiing Saturday we drove around and checked out how parked in everything was with skiers. Just amazing. Pass summit parking area was totally filled, with cars on the shoulder stacked for several hundred yards — some even covering half a highway lane while trying to use a few inches of shoulder (if State shows up, a sure ticket). I’d say 98% of the cars were skiers or snowboarders. Beautiful to see so many people out, and indeed, plenty of ski room for everyone (though a bit more parking might be good). Someone should bring a mobile taco stand up there on weekends — they’d make a killing. |
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| We saw our friends Debbie and Sally enjoying the climb on middle Geissler. |
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| Back again Saturday (June 7), on the Geisslers. |
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| Friday morning (June 6), east face of Blue Peak, Louie Dawson skiing. |
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| Friday, a bit of wind up there, but that’s supposed to diminish over the next few days. Nice to see the alpine snowpack get a good renewal surface, as the dirt layer is lurking. Get it while it’s good. |
If you’d enjoy browsing through our years of Independence Pass trip reports and such, check out this site specific Google search.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.