2019 Spring Blog (33 ski days from April 12 to June 12)

April 12.  Watrous Gulch solo. 1500 feet. Excellent conditions
April 14.  Superb skiing at Climax Corner with John Fritz and Richard Seeley. Cold powder. 1200 ft climb. To summit of knoll I call English Saddle.
April 15.  Solo to top of Prospector Peak off Montezuma Road; 2100 ft. Poor conditions. New route for me.
April 16.  Vail Pass. Poor conditions.
April 17.  To base of Lakeview on Buffalo’s south side 1200 ft. Conditions were excellent.
April 19.  Descent ABasin to Montezuma Road with Rich Seeley.
April 20.  Skin up ABasin early.
April 21.  East Red Summit with Kim Clark and Henry Gibb. 4200 feet climb. Descend from summit into Red Diamond Bowl. Interesting day. New route for me.

May 1.    Buffalo slopes, easy. 1100 feet.
May 3.    ABasin skin up early. 1500 feet.
May 4.    West Hassel Peak with Jonathan Kriegel. 2700 feet climb. Decent conditions on descent. New route for me.
May 5.    Southeast side of South Sniktau and then the nice Sheep Creek Descent to the road. With Randy Garrison. 2200 climb. 2600 descent. New line for me.
May 7.    ABasin morning climb. 1500 feet.
May 8.    Short ski in Corral Creek on waxless skis.
May 9.    Up Herman Gulch avalanche gully no. 1 (Herminator #1) with Rich Seeley. Excellent conditions in new snow. 1400 feet. Ski up from car, but walk the lower trail on descent. New route for me.
May 11.  To near the summit of Porcupine Peak (atop Loveland Ski Area) from the pass, with John Fritz and Elke Dratch. Excellent skiing on the SW face. 2100 climb. New line for me.
May 12.  To Porcupine Peak (atop Loveland Ski Area) from the ski area, with Randy Garrison. Fantastic skiing down a steep gully on the north face. 2000 ft climb. New route for me.
May 14.  Mt. Machebeuf (12800) with Elke Dratch via the Herminator #1 gully. 3 hrs round trip. Perfect conditions, up and down. 2600 feet climb. New route and new summit for me.

May 15.  Loveland ski area with John Fritz to find a lost helmet. Found it! Continued up SE ridge of Porcupine for perfect corn descent. 1500 feet. New ski line for me.
May 16.  ABasin skin early. 1500 feet.
May 18.  Vail Pass. At least eight feet of snow at tree line.  1000 ft. climb.
May 19.  Loveland Pass north. Eight feet of snow at tree line. Poor visibility. 1100 ft. climb.
May 21.  Buffalo slopes. 12 inches or more new snow. 1000 ft. climb.
May 22.  Mayflower Gulch to start of Atlantic ridge. 1100 ft. climb. Great new snow.
May 23.  Buffalo slopes. Again, new snow, but very wet. 900 ft. climb.
May 24.  Uneva from the E Ridge. Superb dry new snow. 1600 ft. climb.
May 25.  Mayflower Gulch to base of Fletcher. Perfect conditions. 1200 ft. climb.
May 26.  With Randy Garrison up Fletcher NW Face. SUPERB. Hard climb (52 switchbacks). 5 hours r.t. (3:40 to top), 6.6 miles, 2650 feet climb. Very nice conditions. Steep ski was 1800 feet. New route for me.

June 2.  With Randy Garrison, Henry Gibb, and Elke Dratch to summit of Squaretop and down the westernmost of the N face runs. 2200 feet climb; 3000 feet descent. Dust was pretty bad below about 13000 feet.
June 4.  Solo to near Uneva summit, where I skied a line that was new to me. Superb corn conditions. 1900 feet climb. At the usual ridge I crossed to under the summit and climbed some more in order to descent a nice looking broad gully. New line for me. Then I finished the descent on a more westerly line than usual.
June 7.  With Bruce Allen to a steep gully on the E side of N TenMile Peak (aka West Deming). Too slushy to be fun. But a great line. New line for me. 4000 feet climb. 13 miles. 8 hours. Climbed partway up Uneva on return.
June 9. With Elke to summit of Uneva. Booted last 200 feet. Excellent conditions on descent via same line of 5 days ago. 2200 feet climb.
June 12.  With Elke to summit Porcupine/No Name at Loveland and skied steep (37°) run on the W end of the N Face. Excellent. New route for me. 1900 feet climb.