backcountry skiing

Just got back from a great day skiing the Castle Couloir off the north face of Castle Peak and Conundrum Couloir off Conundrum peak today. Myself and three other ski partners skied off the summit of Castle peak, in what could be mistaken as mid-winter conditions, and then had amazing turns down the Castle couloir

Two of the ski patrolmen fell into the fumarole while working on a fence, and a third was killed when he heroically tried to rescue the pair. Problem was, as the OSHA report is said to state, the third patrolmen was ignoring standard protocol.

Someone asked if I’d publish the text for the Sheriff’s letter. No problem. It’s quite benign and reproduced below: As mentioned, I don’t have any problem with making sure my route descriptions have adequate warnings about hazards myself and my…

Fourteener in this case is Mount of the Holy Cross. A somewhat mellow hike as fourteeners go, Holy Cross nonetheless has a bit of route finding challenge as the easy route descends into a valley before the climb begins, and then winds around from a north shoulder to the west side of the peak.

Mount Sopris, Colorado during an evening walk yesterday. Colorado Storm 3 (CS-3) was warm with a high snowline. Good, since potential sugar snow down low got disolved, while nice sticky stuff fell up high to create a base. Fun watching…

Wilderness rescue brings up interesting issues about how prepared backcountry hikers and others should be.