Peak Condition Update | Mt. Belford

Peak:	Mt. Belford
Route:	Northwest Ridge
Range:	Sawatch
Posted By:	aholle88
Date of Info:	1/13/2016
Date Posted:	1/14/2016

Details
Gully: Similar conditions to the report posted on 1/10, maybe just a little more wind blown from summit to about 13.5k but from there it is continuous. I took off my board and hiked over skier's left after a little bit to access a more fun looking entrance to the more narrow portion of the gully (this is steeper, would not recommend if there was any signs of instability). Kicked off some wind slab/slough towards the top half of the gully, nothing more than 1-2 inches thick. If you care more about good turns than a summit descent, get it while it's still stable! NW Ridge: The trail itself is packed in with soft snow, since we ditched our snowshoes we did not follow it. Bottom 1/2 was good, walked straight up styrofoam snow for a while, then it turned to a mix of soft snow and talus which made it very slow going. It was a completely windless day until about 13.2 or so, winds picked up there and didn't let up so don't be fooled if you are enjoying yourself on a nice day, keep the wind jacket and facemask close by. Gear: microspikes to treeline made it faster going, there is a great packed trail all the way. From treeline to the gully/ridge, the wind is blowing over the trench, there is a faint skin track going left (likely from 1/10), don't follow that. Go straight/right. Snowshoes recommended. Microspikes on the ridge, or skins/snowshoes in the gully.

Details

Gully: Similar conditions to the report posted on 1/10, maybe just a little more wind blown from summit to about 13.5k but from there it is continuous. I took off my board and hiked over skier's left after a little bit to access a more fun looking entrance to the more narrow portion of the gully (this is steeper, would not recommend if there was any signs of instability). Kicked off some wind slab/slough towards the top half of the gully, nothing more than 1-2 inches thick. If you care more about good turns than a summit descent, get it while it's still stable!

NW Ridge: The trail itself is packed in with soft snow, since we ditched our snowshoes we did not follow it. Bottom 1/2 was good, walked straight up styrofoam snow for a while, then it turned to a mix of soft snow and talus which made it very slow going. It was a completely windless day until about 13.2 or so, winds picked up there and didn't let up so don't be fooled if you are enjoying yourself on a nice day, keep the wind jacket and facemask close by.

Gear: microspikes to treeline made it faster going, there is a great packed trail all the way. From treeline to the gully/ridge, the wind is blowing over the trench, there is a faint skin track going left (likely from 1/10), don't follow that. Go straight/right. Snowshoes recommended. Microspikes on the ridge, or skins/snowshoes in the gully.

Comments or Questions

DiamondCutter	slope angle 1/14/2016 12:20pm Did you skin/shoe up the gully? Or did you hike the ridge? I'm interested in going via the gully on saturday and wanting to board it down. What do you think the slop angle looked like on the gully and then compared to the line you mentioned? I don't imagine the gully exceeds 26-30 degrees, right? maybe the line you mentioned gets up to 40?
JQDivide	not sure 1/14/2016 1:18pm We hiked up the ridge, which was fairly windblown, but still snowy. Andrew might have a better guess on the angle. I think the gully could be snowshoed for sure, there were a few steeper parts, but doable. Not sure how that relates to skins. JQ
aholle88	Skins 1/14/2016 2:23pm We did the ridge, but someone else skinned up the gully this past weekend (which is why I went and did the line yesterday). If you want to know slope angles, check caltopo for that information or get an inclinometer. For anything you plan to do in winter, read maps and slope angles on those maps around the approach trails/ski lines you want to do to be safe. Never do a ski line in winter without reading slope angle maps beforehand. Google maps has a 3d map image that you can view. Look at that and have another tab open with the caltopo slope angles for that area. I'll let you do that part of the research. Not trying to be a jerk, but this research on your own is more valuable than anything other people can tell you, you must make your own decisions when it comes to skiing in the backcountry

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