Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Frosty Mountain Ski Video by Cory Fleagle



Check out this awesome ski video Mr. Fleagle created of our early season ski descent of Frosty Mountain, East Portal, Rollins Pass.

Enjoy,
Jason

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Frosty Mountain, Early Season POW!

Cory Fleagle Skinning up the east face of Frosty Peak 11,960

Last week Cory, Andy , and myself  decided to tour up to the Arapahoe Lakes, located in the James Peak Wilderness area, on the east side of Rollins Pass. Generally known as East Portal, or the "train tunnel", this rugged backcountry area lends itself to long tours, steep tree skiing, and fun above tree-line bowls.

Cory pointing to the east face of Frosty as Andy catches his breath.

Skiing Frosty is becoming a annual early season ritual for me. This trip probably marked the 5th time I've skied this peak before January 1st in the past 7 or so years. Every time with a different partner, sometimes solo, sometimes with my backcountry ski wolf buddy Butters. This time I was psyched to show Cor and Andy my little above tree-line secret stash.

  Summit hi-fives!

 What? No Wind! 

Beautiful lighting late in the day. Prime photo taking hour!

Getting ready for our ski descent. Sunlit ridge of Radiobeacon Mountain in the background.

Cory Fleagle

Andy Morgan

                                                                  Fresh Tracks Baby!!

Purple mountain majesty.

Looking back at the east face of Frosty. Our tracks visible in the middle of the photo.

What an Awesome memorable ski descent with two awesome friends. What started out as just a mellow recon ski tour turned into a full on ski adventure. We left our plans about the day open ended, willing to skin farther and suffer longer than most parties and it paid off big. Like most fun adventures I'm starting to feel that it's the unplanned that makes for the possibility for pure development of fun.

Peace,
Jason