Buffalo Mountain: David’s Wave

As one drives from Breckenridge to Frisco one sees a nice-looking couloir that goes due south from the south summit of Buffalo. It is not very steep, but yet is a very worthwhile way down. We did this on May 30, 2008, skiing from the Lily Pad Lake TH, climbing Lakeview, and then heading straight S from the summit. Probably the best thing to do at the bottom is stay sharp left and get back to Lakeview. But we went up the opposite slope (across the beaver pond) and then down the Meadow Creek Trail to Frisco. Many thanks to Dave Blakeslee who has skied and climbed this multiple times years ago and recommended it to me. (I suggest David’s Wave, so as to distinguish it from the famous Dave’s Wave at Loveland Pass.)

The route goes down the obvious line from the top to the bottom right. This photo was taken from the top of the ridge opposite the bottom of the couloir, which gives access to Meadow Creek. One can exit straight out the valley one ends up in, but I think it is unpleasant. Best would be to circle back east to the middle of Lakeview.

Michele Koss and Eric Penicka enjoyed the ascent up the Lake view avy path; Lily Pad Lake below.

Chet Roe enjoys the perfect corn.

On May 20, 2011, Elke Dratch, Katie Larson, Rebecca Hodgetts (aka Becks), and I headed up in good visibility to ski this line. The climb was fast (2.5 hrs) and the descent fine except that the very last steep section had slid in all the new snow. We could easily dodge around the problem. This area with its colorful rocks and healthy bristlecone pines is spectacular. After the descent we wrapped around and reclimbed the peak to get the nice long run on Lakeview. This time we exited high left, so as to catch our up-track, and were rewarded with a line back to the car that was as efficient as I have ever done it.

Two shots of Elke skiing:

And the view up from the bottom, with the slide area visible. There was plenty of room to negotiate it on skier’s right.