Following the big trip to British Columbia (read more about this in my previous post) and a move to the Roaring Fork Valley, I figured my motivation to get out on big ski tours would start to slip; and in fact, that is exactly what happened! However, the snow continues to fall and the conditions are all-time… and I certainly don’t make the rules — so it’s back into the mountains!

Matt, Parker and I set out not-so-early on a Saturday morning with the North Couloir of Castle Peak in mind. It had been snowing for a couple days, but the forecast called for clearing skies throughout the day. The temps were also pretty chilly, so we didn’t have to push for an especially early start. Despite some hesitations about the weather, I assured the group that we would get a solid window in the afternoon (ha! blind optimism…) and somehow convinced everyone to get onboard with the plan.

We met in Basalt, drove out to Ashcroft, threw on our skis, and were soon making our way up Pearl Pass Road. At this point we realized I had misunderstood the position of the winter trailhead (fair mistake, I took the guide book at face value…); adding a cheeky 6 miles to an already double-digit mileage day… oops!

Anyways, we continued up the valley, stopping every-so-often to check in on our plan and timing. The weather was super variable, with some of the most erratic temperature swings I have ever experienced in the mountains. At one point, while positioned under some massive south-facing slopes covered in wet-slide debris, the sun poked out behind us while a thin cloud layer coated the valley ahead. The temperature just immediately soared and it felt like we were getting blasted in a sauna. I started to panic that the snow above and around us was about to shed off in massive sheets, but just as quickly as the temps climbed, the sun slid behind the clouds and we were back in a cold, wintery scene — spring skiing, right..?

Once we had made it to the base of Castle Peak, it became clear that the North Couloir was not going to ski very well. Wind affected and striped of solid snow coverage, the descent did not look particularly exciting. Luckily enough, we were standing at the base of east-facing Conundrum Couloir, which was filled in quite nicely and there was even a fresh boot-pack set by a group from earlier in the day – freakin’ score!

After quickly adjusting our plan we started up the short, but steep, couloir. We topped out just above 14,000ft around 4PM. Well aware of the time and the deteriorating visibility, we quickly dropped in and skied some heavy powder through the couloir. While not the best skiing, it was cool to ski the line in somewhat soft conditions. We scored some epic turns on a north-facing snowfield immediately below the Castle/Conundrum basin, but the majority of the ski-out was through ACL-compromising, crusty snow with near zero visibility. Fortunately, we had tracks to follow from the group that had skied out before us (our skin track would have worked as well, if needed).

15.5 miles later, we stumbled back to the car and it started to dump snow; gotta love a spring mission! Celebratory beers and a quick dinner followed in Basalt. Rinse, repeat, and we’ll see what alpine adventure the next week has in store!