14ers.com • Trip Report

Peak(s):	Huron Peak - 14,003 feet
Post Date:	06/14/2012
Date Climbed:	05/01/2012
Posted By:	One Sierra Charlie

Huron ski Ski/Board Report

The conditions this spring have been real tough. Somehow a small region in
the Central Sawatch seemed to be holding up better than others and we had
a recent report that Huron was still in condition. We left Boulder at
02:30 and arrived at the Clear Creek crossing in pre-dawn darkness. The
water level appeared to be much lower than we had feared and we decided to
attempt the crossing in the dark. The crossing turned out to be a non-event,
but a section of boulders shut us down only a half a mile in. We walked the
remaining 2.5 miles to the Cloyses Lake trailhead.

Although Closes Lake was still ice-covered, there was little snow on the
ground.

We made the mistake of traversing around the looker's right side of the lake

and ended up with a miserable bushwhack up to Lois Lake.

As Dawson explains, and as we verified on the descent, a much better route
is traverse the opposite side of the lake and then look for breaks in the
timber, which lead to gentle open slopes. Lois Lake is just above tree line
and the route was straightforward from there.

We skinned to the far end of the basin

and switched to crampons in order to boot the remain section of ridge to the
summit.

We had great views from the summit

A cool breeze kept the snow firm and we felt comfortable taking the direct
line straight off the summit

We found a few inches of partially converted corn on top of a hard sun crust.
It was interesting skiing to be sure.

The snow became softer lower down on the apron and provided us with some
real nice turns. Here is a shot looking back up the ski line.

The snow remained supportive all the way back to Cloyses Lake, about 3,000
vertical feet below the summit.

It would have been nice to ski down the road, but you can't ask for too
much this year.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

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