With snow and possibly thunder predicted to move in around 1pm today, we knew we'd have to get an early start and beat the weather system. The wake up call was at 1am and we didnt get out of Boulder until 230. We made it to Bakerville in good time and were ready to start up at 4am.
After climbing in the dark via headlamp for about three hours, the sun finally emerged as we were already high in the amphitheater.
Grays on the left and Torreys on the right, Grays not looking too good.
These little guys joined us on the climb for a little while:
As you can see, there was no snow from the summit on Grays, so we summitted, walked down to the snowfield and skiied to the bottom of the saddle between then two peaks.
Heres a side view of Torreys from the 1/2 way up Grays.
Summit shot from top of Grays:
The next line was the real reason we were here, the Dead Dog Couloir.
Im sure A LOT of people know which the Dead Dog is but just in case, it is right above the snowboard in the pic.
I wasnt sure if we were going to actually ski it until we were at the top. I was tired from lack of sleep, a long slog(~8 miles) up the road from the parking lot next to I-70, and the weather was moving in fast. I was only halfway up the final ridge to Torreys when the real winds kicked in. They had been blowing a steady 30mph or so all day, but when climbing the ridge, I was almost blown over several times by 70 mph winds, and some black thunder clouds were quickly approaching.
Thats a lot of wind blowing over the face...
But we got to the summit, and the winds over the face appeared to slow for a minute, so we dropped in. Heres the first view looking down from the top.
No its not a peace sign you hippies, dropping in from the summit on our second 14er of the day:
I had Austin ski cut the top of the Dog, and it looked really nice and stable. Some light, fluffy wind loading on top of a nice non reactive layer.
Austin holding on for dear life:
And the close up:
Making my first turn into the Dead Dog:
Looks fresh, dont it?
Well, not anymore...
A little spine air near the bottom:
And nearing the exit:
All in all it was an epic day. The combination of getting to summit two 14,000 foot peaks in a day and ski an iconic CO line in winter under deep powder conditions allowed me to have one of the best days in the mountains that I have ever had. It frustrated me that we couldn't get a summit ski descent on Grays, but thats not what matters here. The Dead Dog rarely ever gets done in the winter for numerous reasons, and I couldn't believe how fresh, deep, and stable the snow in the Dead Dog felt for winter conditions. That might change though with this storm about to be upon us, as the top layer was turning to sugar snow, and all this wind will certainly load it up, so be careful out there. Now for a day or two rest, and then Ill be back at it. Pray for snow!!!
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