| Report Type | Full |
| Peak(s) |
James Peak - 13,272 feet |
| Date Posted | 07/27/2015 |
| Date Climbed | 03/08/1980 |
| Author | Broken Knee |
| Skiing the North Face of James Peak |
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My buddy Phil was adept at getting me in over my head and when he suggested skiing the N Face of James Peak, I shoulda known better. At the time, I was a decent backcountry skier but looking back, I know my skills were not adequate to descend the hiking trail down to the trailhead. But I'm getting ahead of myself... We left Ft. Collins at 5:00 and reached the TH above the Moffit Tunnel about 6:20. The temps were brisk - my thermometer read 11 degrees F. I had special blue wax already on my skis from the previous week and added a bit more before seeing Phil sprinting up the trail to try to get some blood flow. About 10" of new powder was at the trailhead and Phil was doing a great job breaking trail, so I did my best to get into rhythm, grunting along beside the headwaters of South Boulder Creek. The trail seemed a bit steep and I was worried about descending it, considering that the ascent would no doubt beat me to a pulp. It took a little over a half hour to reach a less steep section of the valley at about 10,300' and as Phil stopped to drain the lizard, I took over trail breaking duties. By this point, the initial heaviness was gone and I kept a good rhythm going and before long we reached the steepening of the valley at 10800' Actually, at this point, the valley melds into the lower N Face. At this point, the new powder was around 16" and concern about the stability of the slope above had Phil pulling out his shovel and magnifier for a quick inspection. He gave thumbs up and offered to take over trail breaking but since he needed to re-pack the shovel, I told him I'd do another leg. I took a traversing course, headed SW, vaguely pointing towards the ~11,600' tall knob up ahead. It only took about 20 minutes for the powder to take its toll on my legs, so Phil took the lead and cut track like a banshee. The next hour was a grunt, with Phil breaking trail 40 minutes while I wasn't fully recovering, then guilt driving me to break trail for 20 minutes of lung-searing sufferage. At this point, we were around 600' below the summit and Phil went into tractor mode, cutting narrow switchbacks over near the NE ridge. It was one of those rare, windless days, not a cloud in the sky, where you know that the mountains are where you belong. The last 600' took about 20 minutes and after a quick photo session, we battened down our outerwear and looked down the N Face. It looked steep, but with a foot and a half of powder, it would be a blast. Phil worked a short traverse to the left, then ripped a long series of turns towards the NW ridge. He used light-weight wooden skinny skis and downhill (parallel) technique better than any backcountry skier I've known. I had my Trucker Light Edges and Vasque Telemark boots, but my "superior gear" was no match for Phil's expertise. I tele'ed my way down, keeping my speed reasonably low and made a pretty clean run with only one slip/tumble. At about 11,200', I noticed that Phil had crossed over to our ascent track and was re-climbing the peak. I dropped my pack at our ascent track, chugged a pint of water and went back to work. With a prepared track, the ~2000' back to the summit was WAY easier the second time. And Phil still beat me by a solid 10 minutes. With me still a couple hundred feet shy of the top, I heard him let out a whoop and launch into that awesome powder. I yanked my camera out of my jacket and squeezed a few frames as he zipped by. A few hundred feet below me, he took a spectacular header and rolled a hundred vertical through deep powder. Then he was up and gone. I topped out a few minuted later, zipped up my jacket and pointed my tips down. The second lap was more of a struggle, probably because I was getting tired. I got up too much speed and took a couple of sliding falls, no harm done except to the line in the pow. Back at my pack, we got ready for the run down to the car and it was this part that had me concerned. The trail through the trees is fairly narrow in spots and much of the terrain simply is not nice for crashing on skis. I got spanked hard a couple of times but worked the survival mode real hard, side-slipping when needed, bailing low side a few times, etc. In spite of my mediocre skills, we were back at the truck in no time. After toasting some brewskis and gulping sandwiches, we slid down the road and headed back to the Fort. In all the years since this trip, I've never skied better powder. I've been near that quality many times, but have never seen better. Thanks for dragging my ass up that hill, Phil! (all my photos were 35mm slides and I have yet to scan them - if I get around to scanning them, I will add them later) |
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