TR: The Change up

[forum8fox]

Well today I got to ride with some friends of mine that I don't get to ride with on a regular basis. I was to show them around berthoud. Well we got a semi late start. Rented a beacon for one of my friends and were off to berthoud 10 ish. Well I got a glympse of the stanley headwall and next thing I knew HWY 40 turned into a parking lot. Before I even hit the jones pass switch back. the only forward movement we gained was from others turning around and leaving, and I suspect they were the only ones driving by (as opposed to those actualy heading the other direction intentionally)

I was really bumbed as we were in a time constraint and loveland pass in my opinion is pretty friggin gay and mayflower gulch was too far I got this bright idea to go check out an area that is really close. So we back tracked a little and headed for the town of alice.

there were all kinds of snowshoers up there today it was crazy also we ran into a group of people on their way out that had skied the main glacier area they said the snow was good and were clueless about beacons etc.

so up we went. Once we arrived at the lake we looked around and assessed the sittuation.
some senics:





I saw a good safe path up to some moderate tree skiing that had looked to be nicely loaded and most likely the best preserved snow around. I went first and it was all good the snow was soft but a little layered, I made nice turns and got out of the way.



I took the main chute through the trees and came out the bottom onto the lake.

After that I decided to give the bowl to the right a shot from a somewhat mellow perspective after a bit of thought. I traversed in diagonally from the side below the main roll on wind crust and droped strait down through this rock slot making a couple gs turns and was again out of the way.



we looked around and decided we had time for 1 more so 2 of us made an assult as the other stayed back and took pics.



For some reason I was feeling like I needed a good old fashioned billy goat session:



I had to come to grips once I reached this point backing down would not be good, but on the other hand going up was a 1 slip = death or atleast serious injury type scenerio:




I really came to grips here as trying to go right, left me on holdless slabs which I carefuly backed off of and I had to try a different route. I eventually made it after repeatedly slowing myself down and thinking alot.

My buddy took an easier way up and ended up doing this other shot to the lookers right. The snow was probly alot better then it was for me.
Pics:






It was my turn next and I was hoping I could str8 line the shot but as much as I tried to let it rip I encountered icy wind slabs with shallow pow occasionally. I still ripped'er open though:













here is a pic from last year of the same area on a blue day:



and while I'm at it some others that drop into alice





From the top even later in the season:

(I was solo that day and did a cartwheel and came out switch just above the choke, it was a close call as I was only about 1' from the wall on the skiers right)

My bro on a line right next door:


Anyone ever skied these before?

Also does anyone know what the hell happened on berthoud? I figured it was a slide but I have no idea.

[pointedem]

Nice TR.

But, I have to ask... what in the fuck are you doing?

[ptavv]

why did you climb up over the rocks instead of up the route you later descended?

[forum8fox]

If that chute were to slide I would rather be going down it then up it. Going up it would be asking for it. you atleast stand a chance going down. you don't think the rocks are a less likely place to trigger a slide? Besides I'm a climber and I get a kick out of this kind of thing. it's like soloing.

[backcountry1pr]

It doesn't really look like that difficult of a climb...

[pointedem]

you don't think the rocks are a less likely place to trigger a slide?

.
More than most other weak layers, the strength of depth hoar varies quite dramatically from one location to another, depending mostly on the depth of the snowpack. Remember: thin snowpack means a weak snowpack. Thicker snowpacks insulate the cold air from the warm ground, have a small temperature gradient and thus a stronger snowpack. For this reason, you usually don't find bad depth hoar under the thick layers of wind loaded snow near the ridgetops. It's usually much weaker at mid-slope and especially near the bottom of basins, where thin snowpacks combine with cold air pooling, and around rock outcroppings.

http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/encycl...depth_hoar.htm

Not trying to rag on you... Now you know

[backcountry1pr]

And knowing is half the battle...

[forum8fox]

I can tell you that cliff band wasn't contributing much if anything to the snowpack of that chute. and if your read what you just wrote it would make more sense not to climb the chute from the bottom.

[AKturnanburn]

you sir are a frikkin retard.

[ptavv]

I try and make it a habit not to have to decide between rock climbing with no pro and some exposure, and a gully (which I intend to ski) that is somehow less safe.

Maybe that's just me though.

[pointedem]

around rock outcroppings.

That pocket that you are on in that pic probably would have pulled (and you would have been pretty much fucked) before the other insulated snow in (the chute) if conditions were unstable. Just sayin...

That's my last post about this, I don't mean to cunt up your TR.

Nice lines...

[forum8fox]

hey man it's all good I appriciate the insight. I just thought that the coverage was so thin it was safe, I was litteraly stepping on rocks, grass turfs, and frozen mini bushes, I agree at times I was exposed to the possibility of a small slab but the snow was in general almost icy where it existed and I made sure to be extra careful on the snow where it was soft and thin. I think in short it didn't really ever seem like the easiest option or safest(although it seemed like one of the safer ones to me since I consider myself fairly skilled in technical terrain) it just really appealed to me and I followed my heart.

No hard feelings just trying to get my perspective out (I appologise for being stubborn). I'm glad you enjoyed the stoke atleast.

[pointedem]

Totally, I wasn't there; I'm QB'ing from the cube.
Keep up the good work.

[Alpine Dreams]

Interesting TR!