San Juans/ski conditions

[IronSkiMountaineer]

Nice work! That line is on my list for next week for sure!

[SchralpTheGnar]

Will the snake or birthday chutes be skiable Memorial Day weekend? Well... Will it?

[lodgling]

Snake yes bday no. How's that for speculation?

And why does the W couloir get no love?

[SchralpTheGnar]

That's perfect. As far as the west couloir, I always thought west aspects in this state were kind of meh, is that not true for the west couloir on snefles? Does it usually climb and ski well?

[lodgling]

I think everyone wants to do the Snake, so they take a right instead of a left. When I looked over the W it looked pretty nice. It looks nice from the road:

West.jpg (95.71 KiB) Viewed 693 times

Who knows?

[gb]

And why does the W couloir get no love?

The Trilogy gets love. Great route from all indications, it's definitely on my list. But you either have to go in and out from Blaine, which sucks when Yankee Boy is so easy, or run a long shuttle, or have a huge return tour via blue lakes. Plus, at this time of year we had the choice of sticking to N facing slopes which were still pow, which W faces weren't likely to be. A group right in front of us took pity on us and skied the Trilogy, since they knew we had no choice but the Snake but they had a shuttle. Great shot of it, BTW.

Schralp, West faces are great, don't count them out as long as you're in a range that is less windy than, well, the front range.

[lodgling]

Well s**t, now I guess I need to ski it a 3rd time.

For access and lines (3 classics apiece) it is sure hard to beat Sneffels, Castle and Torrey's.

[LadyClimber]

For what it's worth, my husband and I were up in the Handies Peak area yesterday. It had snowed lightly Thursday night, maybe an inch or so, but it was very windy up there. There was significant wind loading. On the NE slope above 12,000 feet that we intended to climb there was about a 1.5 foot wind slab developing over a nice slick surface. It was continuing to snow and blow Friday, so those slabs probably only got bigger.

[gb]

Took me a while to go through all my photos so the conditions are a bit dated, but here's Potosi: http://14erskiers.com/blog/2014/05/poto ... ir-5-4-14/

[Boggy B]

In Silverton yesterday. Naked Lady was ok for climbing and would have been great for skiing. Not sure of the totals from this storm, but it was dumping when we left this morning.

If anyone's planning to be in the Molas Pass area, please check this thread: http://www.14ers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=43041

Photos from 5/10:

Naked Lady

nakedlady.jpg (298.39 KiB) Viewed 421 times

Twilight group

silverton2.jpg (234.76 KiB) Viewed 421 times

Grand Turk et al

silverton1.jpg (348.72 KiB) Viewed 421 times

[DanielL]

Bump - has anyone been on or near the Lake City 14ers recently? Looking for snow beta on Redcloud, Handies, and Uncompahgre in particular. Thanks!

[Manky]

Redcloud and Sunshine were still skiable (barely) last Wednesday and the new snow has probably helped out some. Snowline was at about 11,200 when I skied Sunshine. West face of Uncompaghre still looking good and North face of Handies had great coverage. Hope this helps...