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Today's pano from Redcloud Click for larger images and interactive, Flash version (Try "Full Screen" when viewing the large Flash - it's like being there!)
Stats
Route: Redcloud Peak - Northeast Ridge (standard) Date: 5/31/2011 Climbers: Me Skiers: Me Trailhead: Silver Crk/Grizzly Gulch Elevation Gain: 3,700' Time to reach summit: 4.5 hours Ski Vertical: 2,800' RT Mileage: 9 miles
The National Weather Service was predicting high winds for much of the north, so I decided to make a quick trip to the San Juans for another ski of Redcloud. It turned out to be a spectacular day with super snow conditions. I'll let the photos do the talking...
Climb
Some familiar names in the summit register from this past weekend.
Ski
The snow was narrow along the east edge of the summit but quickly widened as I skied down toward the false summit.
From the false summit it was a mellow, corn-covered ski down the NE face.
The skiing was continuous all the way down to 11,200', 1.5 miles from the trailhead.
Topo (blue=hike, red=ski):
My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):
The first five or six photos - the pano, the sunrise, and the snow forms are fantastic (esp the sixth snow form). Every photo through your report has a very friendly and organic feel to it, like the day really connected with you. I enjoyed seeing the result.
Hey, I was up there on Friday, 27th. It was windy as heck. Just constant gusts, never letting up. Quite draining actually, but we soldiered on over to Sunshine. Great climb to start the year.
Gorgeous day you had up there! How was the drive in to the trailhead? Lots of snow or is it finally melting? We're planning on this in 3 weeks. Thanks!
Sharon
of the ski descent! When I went up there (you know when ) I decided to boot it because I wasn't with any other skiers and didn't want to walk the first mile or so in ski boots. I was kicking myself for most of the climb up the ridge...
Looks like you had better weather than we did though! We hit the false summit and thought we were on top because we couldn't see the rest! Oh and it looks like that cornice off the falsy is still about the same size...
Pix: Thanks for the positive comments but I must admit that it's easy to get good pics when I take out the DSLR. After skiing Lindsey last week and seeing KansasBoarder's pics, I couldn't help but haul the Nikon D300 up Redcloud since I didn't have the weight of crampons, axe and several other items.
Fix: Ben, Steve, bckcntryskr, Matt and other skiers - GO GET SOME/MORE. Ben and Matt, I have no doubt you guys will (continue to) take advantage of the snow in the area. The San Juans have a ton of snow and I hope you guys find the time to get more.
Be safe.
3 yrs ago i made my first 14er up redcloud on my birthday on 5/31. I have since climbed many peaks and had many adventures. just got back from some snowboard descents in N Arizona. These pics are a siren call...May 2012 will need to come here! Thanks!!
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