Posts tagged backcountry skiing
High Altitude Adventures
Climbing Life
ClimbingLife.com is a great resource for Rocky Mountain National Park and some of the surrounding areas. It is run by Eli Helmuth who is an AMGA certified Rock, Alpine, and Ski Mountaineering guide as well as an IFMGA Licensed Mountain Guide with over 20 years of professional guiding experience. To me this makes the credibility of the sites information very reliable.
ClimbingLife.com is constantly being updated with conditions around RMNP and the Estes Park area including; weather, snow and ice conditions as well as news from around the outdoor world. Along with this there is some entertaining content that includes video, pictures and stories not just from Eli but also from many professionals from around the world. As well as a Tech Tips section that has some interesting information pertaining to mountaineering.
Personally I find this site most useful for its backcountry information. For example when I am in need of a new backcountry snowboarding route I can just jump on and read some info on one of the many backcountry ski routes. These routes include important information like route description, approach length and the best time of season for conditions to be good. Also there are lost of pictures included in the descriptions that help to get a better understating of what the terrain will actually be like. Along with this I have been able to find out during an unexpected point in the season that a route will actually be in, meaning that it will be climbable, or ski able. Along with this there is good climbing information for some of the routes on the bigger walls in the park that really help you to get a better idea of what the rock is like.
Climbinglife.com is also used for the Climbing Life guides service so through the website you can find clinics on avalanche safety, weekday ski tours, and a wide variety of climbing clinics. Along with the clinics you can contact Climbing Life for more one-on-one training or private guiding service.
So bookmark this page if you live in Colorado and play in Rocky Mountain National Park it can be a great quick resource for conditions around Estes Park. And if you are unfamiliar with RMNP or are coming to visit and play in the park check it out, it might just lead you to your next big climb.
Cheers!
VagaBond Ranch
As the idea of a New Years backcountry trip rolled around with my friends we realized that we were very late if we wanted to get a spot in the popular 10th mountain hut systems. So I started looking around for other backcountry huts and accommodations in Colorado and came across the VagaBond Ranch site. This is a large piece of property that is located outside of Granby Colorado with multiple luxuries cabins on it. These are much different than your typical 10th mountain hut, as in the summer this ranch is run as what appears to be a high class mountain get away with a hot tub, swing pool, volleyball court, and even baseball field. But for the winter the accommodations are spectacular and you really feel like you are staying in a high class Aspen house
We headed out on New Years Eve day with a crew of 11 people. We were quite the motley crew as this was some peoples first backcountry hut trip and we were making the trek on a variety of splitboards, telli skis and even snowshoes.
The skin up to the property is not a bad one it is just under 4 miles with hardly any elevation gain. To add to this ease it follows a snowmobile road until you reach the private property so the trail is very hard packed, and we did not come across a single snowmobile so you did not feel like you were going to get run over.
We stayed in the Cascade cabin, which has a great overlook of the property as well of much of the skiable terrain surrounding you. From here we could see Cascade Peak, and Ruby Mountain which both look like they have great ski terrain. Off of Cascade there is some good mellow open skiing and longer tree runs. Ruby looked like it had some great tree skiing as well as a open cirque that if the conditions were right would be awesome.
As we explored around we found that the snow pack was very unstable and there was an ice layer underneath all of the great powder. This was the determining factor that kept us off of the open exposed terrain on Cascade where we had originally planed to play. We also noticed that there was a big fat crown from an avalanche down one of the chutes.
Instead we spent the next few days touring up thought the trees east and north of the houses and found a few good gullies that would allow for some great low angle skiing and really good powder. Also we found some really good runs just behind the house as well as just east of it, these allowed some great easy access snow and would make for great night runs.
As for an overall experience of the VagaBond Ranch I thought that the accommodations were extremely nice and the approach was really mellow. As for the skiing it was also mellow it does not allow you the front door access that some of the 10th mountain huts do. Even when the snow is stable the higher peaks will make for a fairly long day. But we still enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and I would recommend this for a mellower trip.
You can find the website for the Ranch in my links area and as always when playing in the backcountry use caution and knowledge.
Cheers!
Powder Forecasting
Thought I would put this out there for anyone in Colorado that is not familiar with the Colorado Powder Forecast Website. It is a site run by meteorologist and backcountry enthusiast Joel Gratz. Through his website he uses his great meteorologist skills to update, usually twice a week, followers on the storms moving through the state and where you can expect the big dumps so you get there to enjoy the snow. This is not just a site that shows you a radar sample or says that “Colorado will likely see 4 inches this week” but instead he goes more into detail on the specifics of the storms, where they are building from and where likely they will come across the mountains. Also he has an introductory section on his site, under the education tab that gives you a little lesson in meteorology so you can follow with more ease; he also ads great comical qualities to his site such as “when to call in sick for a powder day.” He has gained so much recognition in forecasting throughout Colorado that you can usually find him leading seminars on weather and forecasting, especially in portions related to avalanche classes; such as the one he was just a part of for the Silverton Avalanche School. So I would suggest adding yourself to his weekly email list, and you can even follow him on Twitter. Also the link to his site can easily be found through my links sections. And as always when traveling in the Backcountry use caution and knowledge and don’t forget to check the Avalanche conditions CAIC.
Happy Snow Finding!
