Spring Skiing on the Worst of Days
- Details
This article originally published in the June 2011 issue of Adventure Insider Magazine.
No one complained during their commutes to work, but those of us who enjoy a good day of skiing on our local backcountry 14er looked painfully upon barren Pikes Peak. After a glimpse of spring in early March that had me excited for warm days of climbing, the snow and rain hit hard. From the end of March through most of May the Front Range went from a drought to above average levels of precipitation. Long after I had decided that it was time to pack away the skis for the summer, my roommate Josh, floated the idea of a ski day ‘the Peak’. After a few phone calls it was set, and I committed to the trip so long as the weather wasn’t more conducive to rock climbing. I woke up on May 15 to rain and really wanted to stay in bed. Josh told me there was enough new snow on Pikes Peak that the road was not currently open far enough for us to get any decent skiing. The ranger advised us that they were working on getting the road open to the summit and it was currently sunny with no wind. Skeptically I continued to get my things together hoping for any news that would let me return to my pillow.
One thing you should know about my friends and me is we don’t do things halfway. So I hit the road to grab the pop-up tent, table, grill, cooler and a host of bar-be-que supplies. The burgers were made, the beer was cold, and thank God the ranger was right. After driving though clouds we hit 10,000 ft. and saw the sun for the first time that day. With palpable excitement we set up camp in no time, piled in the pick-up, picked up some fellow skiing hitch-hikers, and headed upwards. Although there is an old ski area with a few runs cut into the trees that can be accessed from the road, we spent our day riding what most people consider to be the better terrain. Glen Cove offers something for everyone. There is a nice run that is easy to reach less than 50 yards downhill from a pull-off on the side of the toll road. There is also more technical terrain to descend, like the W’s, and wider shoots like Little Italy, which offer a nice mix of open terrain and narrow shoots. It allows you plenty of area to turn out of the fall line but is still reasonably steep with enough consequences to keep your attention.
It was the kind of day that keeps the smiles coming and makes for great ‘you missed it’ talk at the bar later. I can’t say enough about the snow. True hero snow. It was soft enough to let your edges dig in, but firm enough to let you rip. That day in May we were all better skiers. The endless number of tourists made us feel like better skiers as well. Questions like “are you going to ski that?” poured out of car windows. And the people forced to pull over with overheated brakes near to our base camp further reassured us of our awesomeness. After a handful of runs we broke for lunch. Unbelievably the majority of the conversation that day wasn’t about how great the snow was. It was about how we still could not believe the weather. From the top of Glen Cove to our base camp at the bottom, the usually visible Colorado Springs was amazingly obscured -- buried under thick clouds. Our smiles grew as we donned some more sunscreen and thought of all of our friends stuck in the rain. In town it was the kind of day you could only enjoy if you were miserably hungover. It was dreary and you wouldn’t feel bad about staying at home and watching ski movies all day. We were living it. Since that day in May, Pike’s Peak has gotten more snow and I can happily report that my skis are still out and ready to hit ‘the Peak’ again. Just waiting for another rainy day... At least for those who stay in town.
C.J. Grew up a long way from anything resembling the Front Range of Colorado where he now calls home. He was closer to the highest point in Kansas that the red sandstone towers of the Garden of the Gods. C.J. left cow-tipping country and headed to the big city for college. He stumbled upon a couple of climber while in college and quickly developed a passion for the sport. Working as the climbing coordinator for the college and as a guide for the Front Range Climbing Company during the summer his skills and love for the sport grew rapidly. While in college C.J. took the opportunity to dabble in white water kayaking, mt. biking, backpacking, and some backcountry skiing. Today C.J. spends almost all of his free time pulling on rock across the western US. He retires a lot of ropes falling on cams, nuts, bolts, old scary pins, crash pads and the occasional ice screw all within the given year.
No one complained during their commutes to work, but those of us who enjoy a good day of skiing on our local backcountry 14er looked painfully upon barren Pikes Peak. After a glimpse of spring in early March that had me excited for warm days of climbing, the snow and rain hit hard. From the end of March through most of May the Front Range went from a drought to above average levels of precipitation. Long after I had decided that it was time to pack away the skis for the summer, my roommate Josh, floated the idea of a ski day ‘the Peak’. After a few phone calls it was set, and I committed to the trip so long as the weather wasn’t more conducive to rock climbing. I woke up on May 15 to rain and really wanted to stay in bed. Josh told me there was enough new snow on Pikes Peak that the road was not currently open far enough for us to get any decent skiing. The ranger advised us that they were working on getting the road open to the summit and it was currently sunny with no wind. Skeptically I continued to get my things together hoping for any news that would let me return to my pillow.
One thing you should know about my friends and me is we don’t do things halfway. So I hit the road to grab the pop-up tent, table, grill, cooler and a host of bar-be-que supplies. The burgers were made, the beer was cold, and thank God the ranger was right. After driving though clouds we hit 10,000 ft. and saw the sun for the first time that day. With palpable excitement we set up camp in no time, piled in the pick-up, picked up some fellow skiing hitch-hikers, and headed upwards. Although there is an old ski area with a few runs cut into the trees that can be accessed from the road, we spent our day riding what most people consider to be the better terrain. Glen Cove offers something for everyone. There is a nice run that is easy to reach less than 50 yards downhill from a pull-off on the side of the toll road. There is also more technical terrain to descend, like the W’s, and wider shoots like Little Italy, which offer a nice mix of open terrain and narrow shoots. It allows you plenty of area to turn out of the fall line but is still reasonably steep with enough consequences to keep your attention.
It was the kind of day that keeps the smiles coming and makes for great ‘you missed it’ talk at the bar later. I can’t say enough about the snow. True hero snow. It was soft enough to let your edges dig in, but firm enough to let you rip. That day in May we were all better skiers. The endless number of tourists made us feel like better skiers as well. Questions like “are you going to ski that?” poured out of car windows. And the people forced to pull over with overheated brakes near to our base camp further reassured us of our awesomeness. After a handful of runs we broke for lunch. Unbelievably the majority of the conversation that day wasn’t about how great the snow was. It was about how we still could not believe the weather. From the top of Glen Cove to our base camp at the bottom, the usually visible Colorado Springs was amazingly obscured -- buried under thick clouds. Our smiles grew as we donned some more sunscreen and thought of all of our friends stuck in the rain. In town it was the kind of day you could only enjoy if you were miserably hungover. It was dreary and you wouldn’t feel bad about staying at home and watching ski movies all day. We were living it. Since that day in May, Pike’s Peak has gotten more snow and I can happily report that my skis are still out and ready to hit ‘the Peak’ again. Just waiting for another rainy day... At least for those who stay in town.
