110 | Grizzly Gulch . Colorado | 21 Mar 2009

Still no new snow in Colorado (although there is a pending storm that will supposedly dump up to a foot in most areas), but I finally got rid of the funk that's been hanging around for the last few weeks. Yesterday, Gary and I headed up towards Grizzly Peak from the top of Loveland Pass and scored some prime corn which highlighted an excellent day out and included a late stop at A-Basin. In total, we skied roughly 3,000 feet with not much effort which is always hard to argue against.



drop zone (click image to view in larger size)


In early April of 2008, we attempted to ski into Grizzly Gluch, but had to turn around due to several snowpack instabilities which included nearly two feet of sugar powder underneath a newly-formed 8-12" wind slab. Luckily, our only concern yesterday was the potential for wet slides on solar aspects which we of course had an eye on.

Knowing that we would have to wait until noon for the snow to soften, our day began leisurely, and we didn't start hiking from the top of Loveland Pass until near 10am. Ninety minutes later we reached our first drop zone and skied around 600 feet of vertical down a southeast aspect. The snow was a bit firm and we certainly could have waited a little longer before descending, but we had a larger line hanging higher on our priority list.

After a quick skin back to the ridge, we traversed further south towards Grizzly Peak and found ourselves atop our second descent. It was near 1pm and the snow was starting to corn up nicely so we decided against waiting around any longer. At the bottom of the 1,000-foot slope, we skinned back to the saddle and began our final approach towards the base of A-Basin just before 3pm.



hanging high underneath the cornice (click image to view in larger size)


The snowfield was quite a ways below the ridge, so we had to downclimb some five-hundred feet along the 35-degree scree field. We eventually found continuous snow and were able to ski right towards the CDOT building, albeit in some incredibly sloppy conditions once we got below treeline but this was expected on a westerly face late in the day. Needing much refreshment, we quickly found ourselves in the middle of the beach atmosphere at A-Basin and did our best to catch up with everyone else.



slashing the embankment (click image to view in larger size)



damage control (click image to view in larger size)


Helmet camera footage:


Grizzly Gulch (2009.03.21) from Thomas Armento on Vimeo.