lucidmountainadventures

        So its been about 3 months since my last blog post back in February, and with my spring semester coming to a close as of yesterday I figured I finally have some free time to catch up on a few recent skiing adventures.
         Its been an awesome start to the spring ski mountaineering season! Ive gained a new spring skiing partner, or should I say converted my winter ski buddy to the steeps of spring, Eric "Mad Man" Malmgren, and we've been logging some vert and scoping new areas.
        Another close friend Aaron " Doc" Miller also paid a visit just last week and it was great to catch up on old times and ski some corn together. So the pics below will kinda re-cap the past couple months of adventuring, including pics from the 4/20 Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa concert at Red Rocks!! Party On!

Pre Party tailgating before the Snoop Dogg/ Wiz show. The Wellness Tour!
From L-R Cory, Lil Andy, Vicki, Liz, Eric, Gnome, and Gangster White Paws... Thanks to Lil Andy for driving us in the Freedom Van..

A concert venue at Red Rocks is not to be missed. This was such an awesome show, and I was psyched to share in the experience with my good friends Cor and Liz! One of the best concerts Ive been to in my life! Also, if the pic looks hazey its not because of the camera...

In the spring you can literally skin up hill.... If your Eric Malmgren that is...!

On our way to ski the east face of Citadel which is visible in the background.

Eric!! Are you having a good time! Psyched as always, why I love skiing with the dude..

Some Gore Range adventuring... Buffalo Mountain and the Tenmile Range in the background...

Eric skiing the East bowl on Red Peak. The mountain town of Silverthorn can be seen in the background.

East Portal- Rollins Pass Colorado

Looking at the Cool Whip Couloir in red. This sweet little area has been quite good to us this winter. The "Gilbilly" couloirs are pretty much right behind Aaron and Cory in the pic above. It wasn't until just last week, pretty much spring consolidation, that we could go back into this area safely and ski these lines that we've been scoping and drooling over all winter.

Oakley sponsored split-board Ninja Aaron Miller..

Aaron Miller and Old Glory- Cool Whip Couloir.

Cory Fleagle dropping into some Cool Whip turns, at the same time his ski pole mounted ( Dinkium Systems) GoPro is filming in HD.. Cant wait to see the Video! Bro tele's 40+ degrees one handed, props!

Aaron and Cory on the ridge leading to the entrance of the Cool Whip Couloir. The other lines we ended up skiing that day can be seen in the background. On the left is a big open bowl that skied awesome, and the other line on the right ( Hidden Couloir) ended up being a nice steep line..

Aaron, Old Glory , and James Peak.. On our way to the next line!

Cory searching for the best spot to huck the cornice..

Aaron dropping into the bowl above Heart lake. Cory can be seen as a tiny dot in the background filming..

Pretty awesome photo taken by Cory Fleagle of yours truly laying down some tracks...

Looking back at our tracks. Cory's on the far right, although he did huck a 20 foot cornice, which was sweet, he also sacrificed some great turns to get the money footage.. The price you sometimes have to pay to be a good photographer..

Cory showing off the GoPro mounted with a Dinkium Systems flex mount to ski pole technique.

With the winds gusting in the 30mph range it definitely helped to keep snow from going to mush too early, and it gave us enough time to search for one more ski descent before heading home.

This one should do! The Hidden Couloir.. Although it was a bit firm due to its north facing aspect it was steep and tight which made up for it..

Cory in the dogleg section of the Hidden couloir...

Some sweet little hidden lines back up in the Clayton lakes drainage area. This area definitely has some mid winter potential!

Rocky Mountain National Park, Hallets Peak- Elevator Shaft Couloir

We had assembled the classic crew for this line. Aaron, Cory, Lil Andy, El Teedro, myself, and our new rookie Forest, where this was his first ski mountaineering descent ever! Boy Don't Even Know It!

View of the south side of Hallets Peak from lower Chaos Canyon.

Just a small squad of ski mountaineers.

Lil Andy- Stylin El-la-va-ta!!

Classic!!

Taking a break and soaking up the view before skiing down.

Forest getting after it like a pro!

Mr. black and yellow, El Teed Ro, sporting the new blue pack, and kicking up some serious air time in the Elevator Couloir..

Aaron carving down the lower half of the Elevator Shaft..

Andy Morgan- Elevator Shaft Couloir

All smiles!! Till next time!

Peace,

Jason

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