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I love spring. Mountain biking starts up and heavy snows come in after the snowpack settles. Those who understand the windows get to go ski powder on big lines. It seems like there are one or two opportunities like this each year. What this time? The storm had consistent NW winds and heavy accumulations around the divide. Anything south through east got a lot of sun Saturday and would be risky due to large soft slabs. Answer: one of the longest true fall lines in Colorado with a perfect pitch for powder skiing, the Tuning Fork on Torreys NW face. Ski the snow cold, get up early: check. Super easy access had us at the base of the line:
Another 4" of new fluff was falling on top of the 12-20" of day old. Moderate winds.
Sun poking through... barely
Time to throw in some rock hugging switchbacks up the right side:
As was expected, cross loading on lee locations was a bit of an issue. I found a few temperamental drifts. After verifying our assumptions we continued with some fun powder booting.
We chose the skier's left fork, as the skier's right looked a bit stripped and has a slight dual fall line.
No summit today, we are here for the skiing. Around 14k we geared up and the rest is pretty clearly demonstrated by the pics and vid. Like I said above, it's just the latest opportunity for a deep powder descent made good on in the springtime Rockies, standard stuff but worth sharing. Enjoy!
Tino:
Josh:
Joe:
YouTube vids:
The trailhead is drivable with a 4wd to the rusty pipe and probably quite a bit higher if you are heading to Stevens Gulch. Here is Bill's write-up on the route:
http://www.14ers.com/routemain.php?route=torr9&peak=Grays+Peak+and+Torreys+Peak
Josh & Joe are mountaineers, I am not 04/26/2010 20:08
While I spend plenty of time in the backcountry, I am accustomed to ascending on my skins most of the way. This bootpacking up deep snow was extremely difficult for me, but not for Joe and Josh. They were great companions, and I was awed by their conditioning level. The reward for my hard work was priceless. Thanks guys!
Got that one about as good as it gets. Bet you were psyched to skip the summit and just ski the goods. You bringing that video cam up north? Works pretty well.
It was really cool to see you push it to the top at the end Tino, way to get-er-done in fine fashion. At one point you swore to not go another step, then all of the sudden you were standing next to me ready to rip. Good times.
Warren? Ha, thanks for the kid, we are just hackin out there.
Caleb, its just my canon digital in video mode. It will go unless I decide to go the AA route, it takes that canon battery. Man am I getting excited!
Nice to see a report from you again! Tuning Fork is line I really want - Bill and I tried that line late last spring and it was just too hot. Thanks for the beta!
Hey, well at least its super easy to get to and close to the city. Especially once the road melts to that upper parking lot, its right below the line pretty much! Wow, this already has more hits than my finisher report. Amazing what has happened with 14er skiing in a few years. Exponential growth? Yikes
Hey, Joe!
Great report and video. Nice to see what you‘re up to these days.
love..that..line!
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