 |
|
Bob Perlmutter backcountry skiing on The Tuning Fork, Torrys Peak, Colorado. |
Had a nice backcountry ski descent today, big 3,000 vertical foot
snow face on the north side of Torreys Peak, Colorado. Known as the "Big
Old Stripe Of Snow" or the "Tuning Fork," this is
a classic descent that’s been popular for years. That’s Bob Perlmutter
skiing in the above photo, about half way down, looking west.
 |
| Bob starting down looker’s left arm of Tuning Fork. A few spicy turns here, then it’s moderate, and amazingly long, classic! |
Snow today was a bit suspect because of warm temps, so we started
early, got to summit at 8:30 in the morning, then skied the run while
the snow was still fairly hard and safe after its nightly cooling.
Turns out we were correct in our assessment. A few hours later a
person was killed in a big slide at Arapaho Basin ski area, just
on the other side of the mountain in the photo!
For those who know the ‘Fork, we did the lookers
left arm, continuous from exact summit down into the trees in Grizzly
Gulch. The snow wasn’t the best we’d ever skied, but the line makes
up for it — and was avalanche safe when we skied
(though who knows what happened after we left!)
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.
