Peak Skiing in the Sun
Posted on Monday, January 22nd, 2007
22 January 2007
Erik “Deuce” Larson of Telluride Ski Patrol and I headed out our backcountry gate at 9 a.m. to begin the six hour traverse and climb to ski the Wasatch couloir (13,470 feet) to No Name (13,145 feet) and to the final descent off of Ballard Peak (12,800 feet). The Avalanche forecast for the day was moderate overall and we felt comfortable with the conditions that had prefaced the day’s climb.
We climbed up the Hilary Step from the top of Gold Hill on the ski area, and hiked along the ridgeline to where we would begin our ski over to our touring route. We got decent recycled (faceted) powder turns down and over to the face below San Joaquin and then began our traverse over to the gully climb up to Wasatch. The route was slick and it was quite difficult to get an edge. As we crossed the main sketchy slope approaching the climb, we kicked in our steps and gingerly made our way across the terrain.
Heading up towards the couloir, Erik and I selected different routes. He began booting up the apron under the gully as I tried to skin under the cliff bands to gain entry into the couloir. After two scary switchbacks up the face, I joined Erik in booting up the slope. It was getting warmer quickly and we were glad to reach the top of the gully by about 12:45 p.m.
The initial ski down looked wind buffed and rocky but we hoped that it would soften up further down- and we were lucky enough to hit some great turns out onto the apron on over to the next climb up to No Name Peak.
The climb up No Name again was slick and very difficult to get an edge into the hardened snow surface. I booted up to the ridge and this time Erik pushed through skinning. We traversed along the ridgeline and climbed an exposed knob up to the summit of No Name. It was a rocky exit off the top but we got a few good turns in before the last traverse over to Ballard Peak.
Once on the top of Ballard, at about 3:30 p.m., we scouted our route off the summit. Again, the terrain had gotten slightly wind scoured up top but we were able to negotiate our way down through the top cliff band in our skis and then ski down the main face over to the entrance of the couloir that would connect us to our exit in Bear Creek.
The face was thin but the turns were good and then got even better once we began our descent into the couloir. There was a mixture of deep snow and trap door turns, and as it widened out to the exit apron, we hit some debris. From the mid-mountain apron, we then skied some deep powder turns out to the remaining exit ramp. The sun had hit this last section towards the end of the day and the snow had then got heavier with greater resistance on the surface as the late afternoon cool air settled in.
We exited out by about 4:45 p.m. and climbed across the narrow valley up to the bear creek trail, which we skied back into town. With great pleasure, we were able to look back in the dwindling light and see our tracks high above town. A great ski day adventure for us both.
