176 | North Couloir . Buffalo Mountain, CO | 12 Mar 2011

Last Saturday, my usual partner-in-crime Fritz and I got back on track with yet another beautiful day in the backcountry that included a classic Colorado descent (our 3rd on the year so far). Also joining was another usual suspect, Adam, with Nick and Chris tagging along.


Now ask yourself this: can it get any better for mid-March?




After meeting early in the morning in Dillon to discuss the plan, we abandoned the original idea of doing Peak 1 in the Tenmile range. Instead, we opted for a longer, more northern-facing aspect which should provide us with a better ski and experience. Sure enough, we succeeded and skied the North Couloir (aka Silver Couloir) off Buffalo Mountain just north of Silverthorne. This is a line that I had skied 3 years ago on an equally-impressive day.



red = ascent, blue = descent, yellow = traverse out)



As the clock barely ticked past 9am, we were on the way and skinning uphill at a very brisk pace while making the 3,000-foot climb in 2:15, well over an hour faster than that May 4th, 2008 trip.



The group approaching the summit:




Andy and Nick looking stoked at the top:




As am I:





Now let's ski ...


















Victory.






And now a video for your viewing pleasure: