Backcountry Skiing Utah - cant ski in the desert

We wanted to cut down the length of our drive tomorrow so decided to drive back to the San Rafael swell to hang out in Buckhorn Draw for a day. So there isn't any skiing in this post...sorry. We drove about 30 miles on a dirt road so we had to make some minor modifications to the RV...the microwave shook right out of the wall. We spent the day sight seeing, climbing around on rocks, etc.
  

The microwave went back in no problem...

Bottleneck Peak

The RV in front of the petroglyphs



The Wedge. "One day all this will be yours" (photo by Rich)
Sean gave Rich a lesson on how to throw like a man from up here



Brian, Rich, and Sean on the edge of the wedge



Goofing off on some boulders



Sunset in Buckhorn Draw



Sunrise looking back toward I-70



Sunrise in Castle County

Getting there: Take exit 131 off I-70 and head north on Co Rd 332 (Buckorn Draw Rd). Drive until you like the scenery. There are petroglyphs, rock towers, the Wedge and Little Grand Canyon, not to mention plenty of bouldering options. 



Backcountry Skiing Utah - Tushar Mtns (day 3)

Today we set out across Puffer Lake toward Lake Peak. It looked like a long skin standing in the middle of the lake looking up at the summit but we made quick work of it. 

Crossing Puffer Lake again...Lake Peak is on the left

Me just below the high point of the snow (photo by Rich)

Brian finishing off the climb on his split board we cut on my table saw

We skinned up on a breakable crust so we took our time at the top to let the sun soften the snow up a little. The aspens on this mountain are very well spaced making it easy to carve turns.

 

The aspen glades here are perfect for skiing



Sean cruising through glades just below tree line



Rich landing after a little air in the trees

We were able to run it out all the way back to the lake...sure beats putting your skins back on to down climb to the lake. We spent awhile hanging out at the lake hitting jumps on one of the hills along the shore.

Me jumping through the trees over Puffer Lake (video by Sean)

Sean jumping a small cornice by the lake (video by Rich)

We skinned back across the lake and grabbed the frisbee and beers. It was 73F in the sun according to my watch.  Just as the sun was setting Rich and I decided to grab our gear and hit the small slope right behind the RV for a couple laps. Sean went with us after a little peer pressure. It was a nice steep slope with enough vert to get about eight turns in (or one turn and a fall if you drink as much as Sean did...too funny).

Tushar Mtns – Lake Peak

Getting there: I-70 turns into I-15, head south to exit 112 at Beaver, UT. Take route 160 west of the highway into town, turn left onto route 153. Drive past Eagle Point Ski Resort to the road closure just past Puffer Lake.

Route: We crossed Puffer Lake to the far side. Lake Peak is easily identified by its cone shape (see the first photo in this post - taken from the lake). We skinned up the drainage to just below a false summit at around 10,800ft.

Precautions: Standard avalanche safety warnings - see Tuesday's post for more local info. Watch out for open water on Puffer Lake. You'll need to go around the lake if the ice isnt stable.

Lake Peak route marked by blue arrow, RV parked on red dot

Backcountry Skiing Utah - Tushar Mtns (day 2)

Alright, we learned our lesson yesterday – you don’t need to skin four or five miles to find some good skiing here. Name of the game today was to find a ratio of skinning to skiing that is closer to 1:1.

Daily ritual of drying out our gear in the sun

Breakfast burritos...nice (photo by Rich)

We tackled a slope much closer to the RV that backs up to the property boundary of the ski resort. This ski resort, by the way, gets close to zero traffic. I think the four of us put down more tracks this week than everyone at the resort did. We skinned 30 minutes to get 800ft of vert…much better approach today!



At the top...you can see where we skied yesterday in the background

Rich, Sean, and Brian on the first pitch

We did two laps here and headed back to the RV for a late afternoon lunch, beers, and frisbee – we had the place to ourselves so it was the perfect place to hang out and relax. Then we went up the closed section of route 153 so Sean and I could try snowboarding and Rich and Brian could try skiing...we should probably stick to what we know. We switched gear back and built a kicker and hit some jumps before dinner.

Me trying to hit the jump switch...sad effort

Rich landing switch

Tushar Mtns – backside of Eagle Point

Getting there: I-70 turns into I-15, head south to exit 112 at Beaver, UT. Take route 160 west of the highway into town, turn left onto route 153. Drive past Eagle Point Ski Resort to the road closure just past Puffer Lake.

Route: We followed the shoulder of this slope from the road up to the Eagle Point border. This provides a good section of open slope which drops into aspen glades with a mix of conifers. You can easily get multiple laps in on this route in one day. You'll have to make a quick climb out of the basin back to road level but that only takes a few minutes.

Precautions: Standard avalanche safety warnings - see Tuesday's post for more local info. Make sure you stay off the ski resort property - it is private land.

Today's downhill is in yellow, RV parked on red

Backcountry Skiing Utah - Tushar Mtns (day 1)

We got an early start today to finish our drive to the Tushar Mtns. We drove up route 153 past Eagle Point ski resort to the seasonal closure.

This area of the Tushar Mtns is outside Beaver, UT

There was a large paved area plowed out on the side of the road – this will be our home for the next few days.

at the road closure

Since its mid week we don’t expect to have any company. We got our gear together and started skinning up 153 past the road closure. We got lured into this approach by an existing snowmobile track (big mistake).



Skinning up the road (photo by Rich)



This is the top of a bathroom - no shortage of snow. This is where we turned left off the road

We took the long way around to get to City Creek Peak and its subpeak to the north. We skinned for a long time for not that many turns but we still got some good skiing in today.

At the summit (photos by Rich)

Brian

Rich

We ended up having to put our skins back on in the Cullen Creek drainage that led to Puffer Lake near the RV...now we’re just pissed off. The sun was setting by the time we crossed the lake and we were all exhausted.

Skinning across Puffer Lake to the RV (photo by Rich)

Once back at the RV though, it was time to celebrate Sean’s 34th birthday. We popped the cork on a bottle of Russell’s Reserve 10yr Kentucky Bourbon and soaked up the last sun light of the day.  Before we knew it, the bottle was empty and it was time to eat Brian’s awesome chili. Still not roughing it. All in all, a good day in the mountains.

Russell's Reserve 10yr Kentucky Bourbon...awesome

Tushar Mtns – City Creek Peak Area

Getting there: I-70 turns into I-15, head south to exit 112 at Beaver, UT. Take route 160 west of the highway into town, turn left onto route 153. Drive past Eagle Point Ski Resort to the road closure just past Puffer Lake.

Route: We took the loooong way around on the closed section of route 153. I recommend skinning across or around Puffer Lake and heading up the Cullen Creek drainage. There is a lot of skiing to be had on City Creek Peak and its subpeaks.

Precautions: Standard avalanche safety warnings - see yesterday's post for more local info. Also, watch out for open water on Puffer Lake. Skin around the lake if you aren't sure whether or not the ice is thick enough.



City Creek Peak downhill shown on green arrow, RV parked on red



Backcountry Skiing Utah - La Sal Mountains

Day two of our adventure started with opening the RV door to 12-14 inches of fresh powder and an overlook of the Utah desert at sunrise. So far so good.



Sunrise over the UT desert...hard to believe Im standing in over a foot of fresh snow

 

Parked at the trailhead on Geyser Pass Rd

 Three snowmobiles passed on the road when we were getting ready to leave – thanks for cutting a skin track for us guys! We skinned up the road to what looked like the best point to turn toward Mt Tukuhnikivatz and Mt Peale.

Getting ready to skin up the snowed in road

Off we go...

We spotted a lower lying slope in the Laurel Highway area that looked like it could give us a good vert without posing an avalanche danger. Time to cut our own skin track.



You can see our planned route behind Brian

This proved to be a good choice – making turns in shin deep powder. We ended up doing two laps on this slope before skiing the rest of the way back to the RV (some in aspen glades, some on the road).

Rich carving up the powder with his split board

A grader came through between laps and cleared the road - Rich came close to getting run over on the grader's second pass. Maybe we can get the RV out without too much effort!

Rich surfing his board after he and Sean both smacked trees right next to each other

We got back to our rig mid afternoon and decided to head toward our main objective – the Tushar mountains outside Beaver, UT. We packed up our stuff and started work on getting the RV out. At this point we had dug out all snow around the tires and the stupid thing was spinning on bare ground – impressive capabilities. We finally popped it out after rocking the transmission between drive and reverse until I thought it was going to fall out on the road. Off to the Tushars…warm and sunny in the valley…open beers now.

Driving back up 191 from Moab to I-70

We drove to the San Rafel swell along I-70 and drove north on a dirt road out of sight of the highway to camp for the night. Sean grilled NY strips and baked potatoes…we’re not exactly roughing it.

La Sal Mtns  - Laurel Highway Area

Getting there: Drive south out of Moab, UT on 191, turn left at sign for Ken's Lake and La Sal Mountain Loop Road. This road turns into Geyser Pass Road, stay on Geyser at all junctions and park at the trailhead  parking lot on the right side of the road (approx 9,600ft).

Route: From here, we skinned about a mile up the road because it hadnt been plowed out yet after last night's storm. It was difficult to tell where exactly we were in the Laurel Highway area because there were still a lot of low lying clouds on the mountains. There are a number of options in and out of the trees close to the road if you dont want to do a long skin.

Precautions:
Same as the precautions I've listed before - backcountry skiing requires avalanche gear and training. Checkout http://utahavalanchecenter.org/ for local avalanche forecasts and other information.

Backcountry Skiing Utah - the trip from Colorado

Today begins our week long backcountry skiing adventure in Utah. The idea for this trip was hatched between Sean and me after drinking a fair amount of whiskey and beer at the Warren Miller film last November – isn’t that how all brilliant ideas are formed?? The four of us (Sean, Rich, Brian, me) are living and skiing/boarding out of a 25ft Cruise America RV until we drive back home to Colorado next Sunday.



All the gear laid out on Sean's driveway - yes, it all fit

We decided not to have the RV dewinterized so we used the bathroom for storage and took our 'business' outside all week



We drove from Denver today through a mix of rain and snow to the La Sal mountains southeast of Moab, UT. We tried really hard to conduct a thorough search for information on the legality of drinking in the back of an RV on the road. Since we didn’t find any information saying it wasn’t allowed…party on. Now I remember why we thought an RV was such a good idea!



OUCH! First fill up in Grand Junction - one of many

Rich had last shift driving and the rain we drove through in Moab quickly turned to snow as we drove higher and higher on Geyser Pass Rd. He did a good job (for a British guy) driving the RV through at least eight inches of fresh snow. We pulled off at a trailhead parking lot on Geyser Pass Rd when the RV just wouldn’t go any further. We think we are within a mile of where we wanted to be so we’ll sleep here tonight and reassess in daylight since the RV is stuck. 

Brian and Rich storing the gear in the cargo area in the snow storm after getting the RV stuck for the night

Snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park

Despite the best intentions, it always seems more difficult to go to the mountains during the winter. It’s just too easy to hang out at home where its warm and you can sleep in. Inevitably though, the overwhelming urge to throw a backpack on and hit the trail pulls you out of your climate controlled comfort. That’s how this weekend went for me. It had been too long since I went into the mountains with my camera and tripod so I called my father-in-law, Jim, to see if he wanted to make a quick trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. Jim has an A-liner camper so we weren’t exactly roughing it. We drove up to the park from Colorado Springs on Saturday afternoon and stayed through Sunday. Getting a campsite wasn’t overly challenging – most people head for home or their hotel room when the sun begins to set in February. We setup camp in Moraine Park campground and then headed to Bear Lake for sunset.

Longs Peak and frozen Bear Lake at sunset

Bear Lake was ours to explore in solitude, which if you have ever been to Bear Lake in the summer is a rare experience. The wind was gusting pretty hard but that’s the price you pay for it to be 35F after sunset at 9,500ft in February.

Closeup of Longs Peak and Keyboard of the Winds with my 70-200mm

We waited for the last light to fade and then headed back to camp to grill some steaks by the fire and have a few drinks. We climbed in the camper for the night pretty early because the wind was too much for the fire. We went to sleep (briefly) to the wind rocking us around. Sometime around 2:30AM the wind gusted so hard it separated the roof and we could see moonlight. Not good. I suggested we rotate the trailer into the wind for better aerodynamics. I guess the positive side of having been awake listening to the wind for hours was it wasn’t too much of a shock to have to go outside. This seemed to stabilize the situation a little but sleep was still aloof so I patiently waited for morning so we could get moving on the trail. We started from the Bear Lake trailhead again and set off for Dream Lake.

Dream Lake with Hallett Peak in the bacground

The wind at Dream Lake was ferocious but it was nice enough to blow all the snow away so I could take some detail shots of the fractures and air pockets in the ice. Once again, we had the place to ourselves. I love coming here in the winter!

Ice detail in Dream Lake

I finished shooting at the lake and a few people showed up…damn, time to move on. We planned to take the trail to Lake Haiyaha which we couldn’t seem to locate. We bushwhacked up the slope where the map said the trail should be until we eventually crossed a good skin track and followed that. It might not have been the normal trail but if offered some incredible views of Longs Peak.



Longs Peak and Storm Peak getting blasted by Chinook winds



Lake Haiyaha was in a whiteout from blowing snow so we kept moving down the trail to loop back to Bear Lake. One more shot despite the wind...



The wind forms interesting looking satrugi in the snow



To get there:

You can access Moraine Park Campground (open year round) and the Bear Lake Trailhead by entering the national park through the town of Estes Park (less than 1.5hrs from Denver on a good day). It costs $20 for a seven day pass to the park – they will give you a map at the entrance station that shows campgrounds and trailheads, etc. Moraine Park Campground is on the way to Bear Lake.

Route:

There are a lot of variations of this route you can do to explore more. We started at the Bear Lake trailhead (ample parking all day during the winter) and hiked to Dream Lake (approx 1.1 mi). This stretch is well traveled and snow shoes are not necessarily required if you stay on the packed trail. From here we hiked to Lake Haiyaha (approx 1.0 mi). This part of the trail (not even sure we ever found it) doesn’t get used very much in the winter so snow shoes are a must. Expect to sweat a little bit going up for a short distance – the views will reward you though. From Lake Haiyaha we were going to snowshoe to the intersection with the Loch Vale trail and loop back along Glacier Gorge to our trailhead. Instead, we found a well used winter trail down the next drainage southeast of Chaos Canyon (maybe another mile). This took us to a major trail junction where we followed the sign 1.0 mi back to Bear Lake (uphill, not the best finish).

Precautions:

Winter travel in the mountains can add new challenges to your trip. Allow extra time to get through your planned route and be prepared to break trail through deep snow at times. Keep in mind days are shorter so plan accordingly. Also, even on a clear day, high winds and blowing snow can disorient you and obscure tracks. It is relatively easy to find routes in this part of the park that avoid avalanche paths but we did see a small slide and others were reported in the park the same day so be aware.