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Colorado Backcountry Skiing Reports – Independence Pass and More (May 30, 2005)

by Lou Dawson May 30, 2005
written by Lou Dawson May 30, 2005

Backcountry Skiing
Poly crossing the Roaring Fork "creek" on the way to Independence Pass backcountry skiing. Kind of like the Khumbu Icefall on Mount Everest?

A moderate weather system hit Colorado today, so backcountry skiing is out for us. We need a rest day anyhow since we’re happy to report that Independence Pass lived up to our expectations the past few days. Yesterday we hit Independence Mountain for a couple of laps, then switched to t-shirt compatible recreation: sunny rock climbing on Grotto Wall. The ultimate Indy Pass day!

As always, bringing an extension ladder was the key to easy creek crossing of the upper Roaring Fork — and made for interesting photos.

Andrew, Poly, Perl and Louie nailed a nice line on the North Face for their second run, while Lisa and I served up seconds in the big east facing corn bowl. The easterly was still excellent at about 9:30 AM, though we wouldn’t have wanted to be there much later. Northerly might have been excellent all day, though late morning was prime time.


Backcountry Skiing on Independence Mountain

It was cool to meet fellow valley residents Jim and Terry on top of Independence. Hats off to them for their successful spring backcountry ski season so far, including a beautifully executed descent of Mount Sopris Crystal Chute. We sure like making new friends on top of mountains!

Andrew McLean backcountry skiing.
Andrew with a corn eating grin — Independence Mountain backcountry skiing.

 

Stream crossing backcountry skiing
And then sometimes you don’t have a ladder handy…

Lou Dawson

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.

www.loudawson.com
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