TR: Faces of Grizzly (May 17, 2016)

[Lindahl]

May has been a good month. The snow kept falling in perfect amounts to keep the backcountry fresh, yet still relatively safe. Lots of ideas had been tossed around. I wasn't looking to trek too far for a line, since I had big plans for the following day. I had never skied Grizzly (the one along the divide), but had seen photos of it's North Chute more than once. Brennan (KansasBoarder) convinced me that it held other interesting lines. The snow totals at Arapahoe Basin only seemed to be a few inches, but we had hopes of finding more. Temperatures had been quite warm, and snow depth in Colorado is often a function of temperature. Going high might get us what we were hoping to find - a decent layer of powder on top of a smooth refrozen snowpack.

The clouds were thick, and the snow down low was firm. Without ski crampons, we figured it would be a tough skin from the bottom so we approached from Loveland Pass. Milk was a bad choice. It's a really long ridgeline with lots of ups and downs, and there definitely would have been enough new snow to skin from the bottom. Oh well, next time!

Brennan working on his splitboard skiing technique while avoiding massive cornices

Photo: Brennan Metzler

We started at the top of the road in the background. Yeah... it's a long walk...

Photo: Brennan Metzler

Clouds had socked everything in above about 13,000' for most of the day. Once at the summit, we discussed Game of Thrones and other important subject matter while we waited for a blue hole to drop into our first chute. Having just come back from Alaska, I had patience mastered. We weren't sure if it went, but we were hoping we'd find out soon enough.

Clouds rolling around Black Mountain, above Arapahoe Basin

Photo: Brennan Metzler

Code blue, it was time to drop... and the snow was perfectly rippable

Photo: Brennan Metzler

Brennan making it look good out the bottom of the chute

Photo: me

High fives followed by a skin track, followed by a bootpack up one of the side chutes

Photo: Brennan Metzler

Topping out of the bootpack

Photo: Brennan Metzler

Having a big plan for the next day, we decided to call it after one lap on the north side. I think Brennan just really wanted an excuse to come back the next day. The day wasn't over yet, though, the long west face of Grizzly laid before us, covered in a perfect skim coat of creamed corn. But we'd have to wait once again for a break in the clouds.

Brennan wondering where the light went

Photo: me

Brennan saying 'fuck the light'

Photo: me

Spraying some creamed corn

Photo: Brennan Metzler

We found a cool windlip to lanch

Photo: me

Brennan getting stylie before the exit

Photo: me

West face slayed

Photo: me

[rod9301]

Nice

[Meadow Skipper]

[::: :::]

well done!

[adrenalated]

Bueno. That north face is really fun.

Go do the east couloir at some point, too. That one gets a little complicated because of the hudge cornice but if you can find a way in, it's a great line.

[Danno]

Muy excellent.

[galibier_numero_un]

Nice one!

... Thom

[rocca]

Well done!

[hutash]

Love the old school look of those first two B&W shoots...nice. The rest was good as well.

[summit]

nice!

[The SnowShow]

Love it

[Huan]

Nice one!

[ElevatedLocals]

So rad. Great flicks too

[gnarls von powderborne]

Excellent! I've been meaning to check out Grizzly for a while