Around 7:30 last night the peak had rolling, black and nasty storm clouds flowing downhill.  The storm was super menacing and I was glad to be indoors.  If you have not seen this video it sums up everything I love about climbing and moving in the mountains.  I met Ueli in the Valley last spring while on an extended climbing trip, and we talked for nearly an hour about his home and life.  What an inspiration, very humble and down to earth with nothing but a true passion for climbing.  Enjoy.

www.suunto.com/en-us/Sports/Ambassadors/Ueli-Steck/Ueli-Stecks-Speedclimbing-Hat-trick/

You may have to cut and paste this URL to view.  It really is amazing to watch, sorry.

Alpine ice is coming in nicely, such great routes in a dramatic setting!

Jamie

The dreaded base facet is well on its way out of that state and onto another, only new rounds offer hope. Warm, really warm for 11,600 feet previous 3 days, then dampness rolled in. 2 inches of fresh on the north side, but to sketch to still go and enjoy. So our base layer of facets is edging inward and now rounding out much better. No good freezes below 12,000 for prolonged periods. Temps are staying above 0 degree C, so it is making the transition. Strong solar radiation factoring in now-speeding up changes followed up with warmer air has shrunk pack well over 6 CM on average daily. Liquid water was present on most aspects of surface through 10 CM. Still to soon to enjoy any true corn snow, but its coming and I’m excited.

Jamie

Take advantage of our mild  weather and enjoy a day out on the Crags.

New this season is the addition of many permit regions to Pikes Peak Alpine School. We now hold permits to Turkey Rock in the South Platte, Sheep’s Nose in South Platte, Eldorado Canyon State Park and the Flat Irons State Park. I’m exited about the new opportunity we have in these areas to ensure a well balanced amount of available climbing for all of our guest.

Ice on the peak is far from over. Alpine routes such as Total Abandon and Blind Assumption are going to be free of snow soon to climb, conditions will be prime for those routes by middle part of April. Check back for updates.

Two sizable winter storms brought a total of nearly 22 inches to much of Pikes Peak over the past 7 days.  Winds compounded our avalanche danger on existing weak regions harboring a nearly 70 CM layer of Facets at our base.  Multiple trips into the mountains meant we really couldn’t enjoy much skiing seeing as all steep aspects proved to dangerous.  Southerly Aspects are seeing strong warming cycles with several natural slides observed.  Good touring has been possible with great weather as we wait a bit for some of the regions to settle and strengthen to ski.

Jamie

Longer days means a little help from the sun to stabilize our tenuous snowpack in the Front Range, a huge infusion though of much needed snow which means great spring skiing!  Now the settlement begins!

Just back yesterday  from Telluride working with San Juan Outdoor School where I skied and toured with a bunch of fantastic folks taking an AIARE Level 2. Incredible terrain but unfortunately couldn’t ski much of it due to avalanche danger.

Not wanting to push things with the group we opted to play it safe and redirect energy towards managing what we could given the overall objective..which was to learn how to manage and understand the snowpack which in all we agreed more or less challenged all of us.  Not one to always identify “golden eggs” if you will because we had none-within the top 80 CM we had multiple layers of very small interfaces that harbored small facets, all yielding easy results on all test, oddly except the Propagation Saw Test- Many thanks go out to Josh and his excellent guide service in Telluride and the Alta Lakes Observatory…holy cow how beautiful.  “Michael you Rock”!