2015 BBQ on Independence Pass, June 14 . Click to enlarge. That’s me in the green Dynafit “Global Cooling Jacket,” hoping it does its job and keeps the skiing alive into July.
Update!
Amazingly, it’s June 14 and we still pulled it off! Rain soaked snow kept the skiing from being 10/10, but the brats were good and the tradition was kept alive! This was something like our 20th BBQ on the pass, every year without fail. People, I was stressing because I thought we’d missed it, but it happened! Thanks all for showing up, always a fun crew as these are very informal happenings. Youngest participant Ann P., 6 years old. Most seasoned participant, Jim Milstein. Let’s just say he even has His Blogness beat in the seasoning department. Quote of the day: “Ok, it snowed all spring, no dust, was I leaving for Maui any time soon to ‘recover’ from winter? When Colorado spring skiing might be some of the best in the country this year, if not the world? NO WAY!”
June 14, 2015, Geissler cirque, Independence Pass, Colorado. Yeah, a few went home early. But those of us who persevered through extreme crustal diversity won the prize of self actualized challenge. Which translates to a fairly well cooked bratwurst at the trailhead.
His Blogness serves it up.
ORIGINAL JUNE 29 POST FOLLOWS
Skiing bbq on Independence Pass
Hi all, Lisa and I are on a long trip to Europe, now in Austria. We were trying to do some spring skiing in the Alps after Norway, but got shut out from our goals by rainy wet weather. Instead we’ve done a bit of skiing and a bunch of “Sound of Music” hiking in the Austrian mountains, along with industry visits and meetings that’ll help inform later blogging this summer.
In any case, we won’t be back for a few more days and (kicking myself) we are missing prime time for the Independence Pass gathering we usually try and informally organize through WildSnow.com blog posts.
I emailed a few folks who have been skiing Indy and it seems this coming Saturday, May 30, would be a good day for the annual Independence Pass informal gathering? You guys ski touring in Colorado know better than I do, but take this as a reminder that Saturday could be the day. Use this space to leave some comments (e.g., “I’m IN”), or head over to Facebook for a thread where you can leave comments.
USUAL LOCATION of the gathering is the “Upper Hairpin” parking area on the Pass road (HWY 82), near timberline before you begin the last big roadcut up to the pass summit. Obvious spot, as it’s the only large parking area before you reach the pass summit.
USUAL TIME: In the past we’ve tried to have things going around 10:00 am with everyone eating lunch from 11:00 through noon, then packing up early afternoon before any late day weather hits. Sounds like it’ll be partly sunny on Saturday, with a cold morning for some skiing, so that’s about as good as could be expected.
Bring your own goods, and perhaps a little extra for starving skiers who’ve not left the pass for the last few weeks due to this being the best Colorado spring ski touring season in decades!
The idea of the Pass party has always been to keep it casual and informal; even a few folks showing up and hanging out is all it takes.
Regrets we won’t be there this coming Saturday. We’ll be returning soon.
Lou
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.
