Happy New Year everyone! In celebration, yesterday we did a mega-slog on Mount Sopris here in western Colorado. We normally use snowmobiles to shave about 9 miles off this trip, but figured doing it unmechanized would be a good fitness blowout, test of boot fit, etcettera. It was cold and late when we reached the east (lower, not main) summit, so we turned around there. Still had a day with about 17 miles of trudge (got a blister, shucks). Skied the whole thing, lots of hardpan and breakable crust, but incredible based silky powder in the trees. Yep, Happy New Year!
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| Near the east summit of Mount Sopris, Colorado. Everything in our highcountry is somewhat wind blasted, but our early season sticky snow is still providing skiable lines, albeit not exactly the perfect ski conditions! We used crampons for this part of the climb, and we’re glad we had the spikes as we encountered a bit of white ice. |
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.
