Spring Ski Season Opener: Mount Daly

The majority of ski areas have closed and most people have hung up the skis and are riding bikes and thinking of summer. But not me. I love the spring ski season and it only just got started. For my first outing of the spring ski season and backcountry trip since the accident, I was fortunate to be accompanied by three great friends on a peak I have skied three times before. Mount Daly in the Elk Mountains is one of my favorites and was perfect to test my mojo in the backcountry.

A pre-dawn start and several miles of skinning brought us to the base of Daly just as the sun was touching its south face.

 Krissy Steele and Twyla Gingrich skin up towards the ridge in the center of the south face (above) and bootpack their way onto the summit with the Treasure Mountain massif as the backdrop (below). 

Stunning summit views put a big smile on my face. From left to right the most prominent peaks are Capitol, Snowmass and the Maroon Bells. Just to the left of Capitol is the other Mount Daly - there are two in the Elk Mountains. The other Mount Daly is still on my list to do. (Photo by Greg Tibboel)

The ski down reaffirmed my love for backcountry skiing. It is what I do.

 (Photo by Greg Tibboel)

We timed are descent perfectly with crisp conditions off the summit and perfect corn in the middle. Krissy Steele opens up at the bottom - our line behind. 

Lower down the recent dust deposits in the snowpack became more evident as each turn exposed the dirty layer. Greg Tibboel whips caramel swirls with a backdrop of brown mountains :(

 The dirty snow is not good for the spring ski season as it makes the skiing challenging and melts the snow faster. We were lucky in this case as it had snowed a few inches the day previous and so Daly was, for the most part, freshened up and only the lower part of the descent was snirty.

Because of the early morning start the 3,800 feet and 9 miles was packed into a morning. We were back down in time for a cold one at lunch - it was a perfect spring ski season opener.