Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Y-RAG couloir; Mt. Evans, CO 14,254ft 6.15.11

I rode the Y-RAG couloir (as its known to a few people) on Evans yesterday with David Gidley. I can't call this a 14er report since we did the easy thing and took a car ride to the top of Evans, but this does represent the gnarliest line I've ridden to date, if only because I had to down-climb through the choke. To make matters worse, I managed to set myself up toe-side just above the down-climb making it that much harder to get my board off, and turned around so that I could make my way back on to the snow with my board on again where I feel a helluva lot more comfortable. I'm such a pussy in big terrain without my board on.

***A special thanks to David Gidley for shooting some great shots along the way. I really appreciate your willingness to contribute stoke to this blog David.***



A look at our line. Purple=riding Yellow=downclimb
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The man and the mountain are one. David Gidley
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Here I am enjoying my standard BC lunch of PB&J on top of the line.
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A look at David down-climbing his way through the choke that is quickly melting completely out.
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David making his way down the line below the choke.
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pb. toe-side turn just below the choke.
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And another one a little further down.
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Walking out at the bottom along Summit Lake I was all smiles.
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The riding lately has been pretty stellar, and I'm stoked to be getting after the kind of lines I dreamed of riding while living in the midwest. I can't tell you how happy I am to be back in the mountains.

Thanks for looking. PB.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Squaretop Mountain 13,794ft 6.11.11

Squaretop Mountain
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Although summer weather is finally here in Colorado, the skiing and snowboarding in the high country remains fantastic for anyone willing to put the effort in to getting on the snow.

Last week I managed to ride three days in various locations, but had been wanting to get out with some other friends in some new spots. My friend Cory and I had discussed several possible options including: Mt. Evans (14,264ft), Mt. Sniktau (13,234ft), Squaretop Mountain (13,794ft) and Grizzly Peak (13,427ft) before finally settling on Squaretop. Squaretop is uniquely situated on the west-side of Guanella Pass nearly half-way between two sets of twin 14,000ft+ peaks: Gray's and Torrey's; and Bierstadt and Evans giving anyone that gains the summit of Squaretop some amazing vistas of these peaks.

Cory and I chose to approach Squaretop via a ridge-walk following the eastern flank of the mountain. From there it was a brief push up some steepish scree to the short ridge to the summit. Here are a couple looks at our route:

(maps courtesty of Cory Arola)
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An overlay of our route onto Google Earth
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The stats of the trip are as follows:
Total distance covered:5.16 miles (if I had to guess, it was about 3 miles of hiking to the summit from the lot and around 2miles or so of riding from the top of the snowfield to the road)
Total Ascent: 2000vertical feet
Total Descent: 2100vertical feet
Top Elevation:13,794ft


Its always nice to be able to descend further than you have to climb, especially when your elevation gains are measured in thousands of feet. That being said though, the hike was pretty tame and really enjoyable. Lines that require a lot of work to get to are hugely rewarding, but there's something really nice about a line you can put enough work into to feel tired at the end of the day, but not completely exhausted. Its definitely more fun that way. No question.

Ok, here are the shots...I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Cory Arola for helping out with the photo duties.

Cory near the start of our hike while the Sawtooth looms in the background.
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Here I am working my way through the first bit of scree just a little higher up.
(photo copyright: Cory Arola)
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This was our first good look at the Eastern, and North-eastern aspects of Squaretop. We originally had planned to descend one of the chutes on the NE side of the mountain down into the Silver Dollar Lakes drainage, but with a lack of coverage we opted for the obvious snowramp down from the false summit into the cirque which contains the Squaretop Lakes.
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We hiked on a little further to the base of the scree covered shoulder where we had a quick snack and enjoyed the high-alpine views.

One of the best parts about being in the backcountry is the sense of solitude, humility, and peace one gets high in the mountains. The effort put in is worth every drop of sweat.
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Cory taking it all in.
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We pushed on up the shoulder, drawing ever closer to the top of our line. Mt. Bierstadt, The Sawtooth, and Mt. Evans dominate the view to the East.
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Cory offers a sense of scale (lower-left frame)
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Cory puttin' in work on the up.
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We got to the top of our line and decided we still had time to make the short push to the summit.

A view from the top with Gray's and Torrey's in the distance. (photo copyright: Cory Arola)
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Cory with an obligatory summit shot.
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I apologize for the lack of action shots with this post; but with it being fairly late in the day (12:30), and with convective storms building around us we figured we should descend fairly swiftly.

We were a little worried about how the snow was going to be on the top of our line when we saw this. (photo copyright: Cory Arola)
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But once the slope rolled off to an angle that wasn't receiving nearly direct overhead sun, we were rewarded with some awesome smooth, surfy corn.

Cory on the run-out of the upper section of the line.
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He was stoked to have just laid down such nice turns during mid-June.
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A look back at our turns on the last pitch of the upper portion of our line.
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From there it was a short walk around one of the Squaretop Lakes. (Notice the weather pushing in)
Photo copyright: Cory Arola
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Many may not realize this but "The Point" was originally implemented by Sir Anthony Farnsworth Tallywacker-Polecock III esq. during his 1873 mission to the South Pole. Here I am keeping tradition alive with a textbook "Tallwacker-Polecock" point back at our line. (photo copyright: Cory Arola)
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The sun poked back out long enough for Cory to pop off this shot of the upper portion of our descent. (photo copyright: Cory Arola)
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From Squaretop Lakes we were able to connect up with a snow-filled gully that would lead us nearly all the way back to Guanella Pass road. The turns down the gully were awesome. The snow was a little sticky, but not bad. And to be able to continue to ride so far down the mountain blew our minds. It was like Squaretop had rolled out the white carpet for us. At the road we were fortunate enough to catch up with another party that had just finished skiing the same line. Those guys gave us a lift back to my car about a mile or so back up the road. Normally, I would've been game to walk back to the car, but since I had to work at 4, we were already pushing it.

A look at the full line. We caught the gully that runs diagonally through the left part of the frame.
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All in all it was a fantastic day in the Colorado Front Range. Thanks for looking. PB.

Following the snow alllllll the way down the hill

Spring has finally sprung here in the mountains of Colorado, and with its arrival comes the spring melt. Although I am not myself a whitewater kayaker, I do really dig the sport and have several friends who are more than willing to run some big water for my lens.

These shots are all from Clear Creek running around 500cfs about a week and a half ago.(its now running 864cfs in Golden)

The Players:

Airen Mangrum
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Bridger Steele
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Some Clear Creek scenic shots from the night before most of the action shots in this post.

Rigormortis Rapid
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Sunset over Clear Creek in early June.
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Airen's brother Neil scoutin' Rigo.
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An abstract shot of the Mr. Bill's rapid.
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Airen's and Bridger's boats eagerly await being put into the water.
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Bridger boofing Blackrock.
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Airen in the lower portion of Blackrock...
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Airen entering into the meat of Rigormortis...
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Then it was Bridger's turn..
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I think the really cool part about Kayaking, especially for someone like Airen who is both a snowboarder and a kayaker is that he is riding the same water he has been on all winter while he is paddling. He remarked to me that he wonders sometimes if he's ever paddling on the exact same water molecules as he has ridden as snow earlier in the year. Either way, its pretty damn cool to continue to follow the snow as it melts its way down the mountain.

Hope you enjoyed the read. Till next time...