TRIP REPORT: Hagar Mountain

Couple days ago Jeff and I went out to check out some of the spring conditions we got here in the front range. Jeff had heard a word that Hagar Mountain had some decent lines in, so we went up and checked it out. 




Obviously, tons of sun, a fair amount of walking across dirt, and some great long, sustained, corn that was begging to be harvested. I was messing around with my pretty silly rando stuff, as I’ve been getting ready for the Grand Traverse, and Jeff was on his usual hard chargin’ tele rig. We had a mutual agreement that I would wait for him on the way up as long as he waited for me on the way down. Who said tele and rando can’t be friends?

Worked our way to the saddle before the ridge. Sweet views! Here’s Coon Hill, looking SW towards the Ten Mile range. Lines look amazing. Spring’s here early, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good!



Got on the ridge and booted our way to the summit. I was feeling a sense of urgency as the snow was prime, but starting to get a little punchy in the blazing sun.




And spring time means alpine bouldering season, no? Scarpa F1s heel hook sooooo good. Who said skiers can’t boulder?



And Jeff found some amazing mixed lines. Here he is cruxing out with whippet in hand.



Time for the down. The snow was perfect: About 2-3 inches of consistent corn on top of a consolidated and frozen base. Obviously, with my rinky-dink rando set up, I made about a million turns getting down 1,200 vert. Jeff on the other hand, made about 4. I was, and still am, jealous.



Here’s a nice perspective of the line and the 4:1 turn ratio between rando and tele.



View from the bottom:



All in all, I gotta say I love spring skiing, even when “spring” happens to be in March. I know it’s 80 degrees everywhere and there’s a huge natural tendency to get the ropes and climbing shoes out, BUT, there’s still really good and fun skiing out there. Go and get sum!

Fingers

TRIP REPORT: Mammoth Gulch

 So last August I came across this book in our consignment section. It’s  called Skiing Colorado’s Backcountry, written by Brian Litz and Kurt Lankford. Published back in 1989 out of Golden, it does an amazing job describing some awesome tours around the front range: everywhere from RMNP to Vail’s Gore Range, Hoosier Pass by outside of Breckenridge  up to Rabbit Ears by Steamboat. It has great route descriptions, seasonal info, decent maps, and some great info on lesser know tours in the front range. Anyone know why this isn’t still published?

So through out the winter I hope to explore and write about some of these routes. There’s literally dozens of routes that I’ve never heard of before, never thought possible (e.g. Skyline Traverse From Berthoud Pass to St. Mary’s Glacier? Sounds awesome, no?).

So this book inspired to me to check out a place called Mammoth Gulch, located outside of Rollinsville, real close to the East Portal.

View mammoth gulch in a larger map

Basically, I had my hopes way too high. Wanted to ski, makes some turns, charge some lines. Still too early.

Thankfully, the road had enough snow on it so the touring was decent. Definitely should have brought theRossignol BC 125s and a Voile Hardwire 3-pin set up.

It’s always amazes me how close things are here in the front range. I was really surprised to see the east face of James Peak, usually the main show when touring around St. Mary’s. Connect the dots between Tolland and St. Mary’s? I bet it could be done pretty easily.

Dead end road? Maybe with these heavy Voile Chargers and Scarpa Skookums. Let’s do lunch instead.

No pow today. Let’s pray for some more snow, soon.

So the skiing was, well, non-existent. Maybe made one turn all day. Still, I always do love getting out and seeing new country. There’s always more to explore...

Fingers

GEAR REVIEW: Voile Chargers

WildyX's very own Reilly 'Fingers' Anderson doing a gear review of his favorite ski: The Voile Chargers. Wilderness Exchange Unlimited, Denver, CO.

Maintain!