Pat “Perry” Johnson and I ventured into a new zone in the Front Range with relatively low expectations. Our 7:20 AM trail start was greeted with a frigid 2 degree temperature that kept us in our puffies and insulated gloves well into the approach. After making our way off the well traveled road and towards our objective we were greeted with warming temperatures and sunny skies.Read More »Front Range Splitboarding 12/6/15
With snow accumulating in the high alpine, Pat “Perry” Johnson and Jon Creasy planned a camping trip into a part of the Front Range not too far from Breckenridge. Since I haven’t camped in winter weather in a while, I decided to take the opportunity to brush up on my skills and get out there with them. We reached the trailhead and started the skin to our destination. This consisted of pretty good snow but did have a lot of rocks and melted out areas to avoid.Read More »Front Range Camping Trip
Jeff Kepler, Pat “Perry” Johnson, and I were having a great spring so far filled with some successful splitboard trips. On the morning of June 16, 2015 we decided to attempt Crystal Peak’s summit. Starting around 4:30 AM at the trailhead we made our way up from Spruce Creek road. We encountered some very wet conditions, including a sketchy creek crossing, that made the approach interesting to say the least. After making our way above treeline Perry realized he did not have enough time to go for Crystal as he had to be at work later that morning. Some quick deliberation led us to go for Peak 10’s summit and then ride it’s southern slopes instead. The safe snow conditions assured us that this call was a good one.Read More »Peak 10
Mt. Lincoln is a classic 14er located just a few miles south of Breckenridge. Pat “Perry” Johnson and I both had the morning free so we decided to attempt its summit and ride the east ridge. We arrived around 5 AM to treeline above Placer Valley and started skinning. The snow conditions were great and allowed for a relatively easy approach. Due to some steep parts with very slick and hard snow we had to switch to crampons to safely ascend two areas we deemed too dangerous to skin.Read More »Mt. Lincoln
The last couple weeks had been filled with a few successful winter ascents for Jeff Kepler, Pat “Perry” Johnson, and I. With curiosity about the conditions on Mt. Bross, we decided to attempt the east slopes route in hopes of some good turns in it’s bowl below the summit. A short drive to our start and we were met with warmer than expected temperatures which raised some concerns about the quality and safety of the snow. We decided to proceed with caution and assess the conditions as we went.Read More »Mt. Bross