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Mount Democrat - 14,148 feet Route: South Slopes Ski Elevation Gain: 2,210 feet
Distance: 4.25 Miles
Blue = Standard Route
Red = Ascent
Green = Descent
To begin, this was a solo trip that went very well. I was disappointed initially that I didn't have a partner, but everything turned out OK in the end. I left the car at roughly 7:15 about ½ mile down the road from the trailhead. Snow has blocked vehicles from getting up further. It was my intention to stick to the normal South Slopes Ski Route, but instead I skinned around Kite Lake to the West instead of going to the East on the main route.
This forced me to climb high above the lake, boot pack up the steep section of an exposed chute, and ski traverse back East to the main route. I consider this effort justified because I did not want to lose the elevation I had just gained. Getting off route added a little vertical gain and mileage to the trip, but I lost nearly 45 minutes as a result. Once back on the main trail (at the top of a long skin track), the continuous snow ended and I climbed the rest of the mountain in my Garmont boots with the skis attached to the pack.
The trail to the Democrat/Cameron saddle is mostly devoid of snow, but once you get on the ridge there is plenty.
Ski poles were all that I needed from the saddle.
I summited around 10:20 and enjoyed a leisurely 40 minutes at the top. I was lucky as conditions permitted such gross enjoyment of summit time.
There was good snow on the Nordwand (see previous pics); two other climbers topped out just I was ready to leave and were planning to descend this route. I tagged the top and started skiing at 11:00 AM.
In order to ski South Slopes, it is now necessary to billy-goat through a narrow strip of rocks in order to obtain a true summit descent. It will widen as time goes on, so don't delay. On accident, I powered through the first turn way too hard - I skied over all the rocks as if they snow, and felt like a complete idiot. Thankfully the scratches are small.
I began skiing the upper snowfield in unbelievable conditions - it was perfect corn. Stopped midway and said hello to two climbers who had just climbed South Slopes directly up the couloirs; this seems like it would be a real chore.
I continued down to the entrances of the chutes and chose the narrowest chute I could find.
The chute was exciting and did not disappoint me at all. I rocketed out and onto the apron at high speed and stopped on the bench below. There had been a number of previous wet avalanches on the south facing slopes - this explains my haste.
The rest of the descent went quick, and I was able to make some good turns. I wound up finishing at 11:45 back at the car. It was an excellent day trip, and I recommend this route while snow conditions are still good!
Both Elbert and Massive look to be in good condition. Perhaps these are next?
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
I was looking at doing this mountain on this coming sunday. Do you think snow shoes are necessary for the standard route going up for non-skinners? What I mean is have enough people postholed or is it necessary to have something so keep me afloat. I would love to ski, but my hiking partner does not ski so I don‘t want to leave him behind.
Mountainmicah-
I don't think snowshoes will be necessary. There probably won't be any problems going from where I stand in the second picture up to the summit and back. The only part I'd worry about is the 'long skin track' - rather, the unseen slope of the blue route in the second picture (it may be possible to skirt this and climb the baren hillside if necessary). You'll be fine going up this in the morning when its hard, but it might become too soft in the afternoon. You could just glissade the entire thing on descent though; I recommend an ice axe. Good luck!
We saw pretty much your entire ski descent with beer in hand after our ski of Buckskin Nice to put a face to another 14ers.com user.
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