Never Summer Ski Tour

Bony is the name of the backcountry game, not only in Colorado, but just about everywhere in the Rocky Mountains. However there is good news on the horizon as the weather forecast is looking much improved this week. The bad news is that it’s not here yet. So when the snowpack is skinny and all the usual popular backcountry spots are pulverized into bump runs, long tours to high and remote terrain usually yield the best results. Furthermore there are silver linings to a snowless three weeks: the snowpack has consolidated moderating the avalanche danger and making for fast travel across longer distances.

We visited friends in Grand Lake this weekend who offered to take us on a ski tour into the Never Summer Range, an area that sees little ski traffic and whose name alone offers great promise in a season where winter has yet to settle in for good. The Never Summer Range's 12 peaks over 12,000 feet follow the Continental Divide and the western border of Rocky Mountain National Park. The central peaks are named after clouds, Mounts Cirrus, Cumulus, Nimbus and Stratus. It was in our hopes to touch the sky and bag one of these beautiful peaks, when we set off early on Sunday morning. Leaving the trailhead our first hurdle was crossing the Colorado River...headwaters. Buried beneath the snow it was neat to stand above the water that in a hundred miles or so would be running through the middle of town, here in Grand Junction.

The first hour was spent gaining a bench with steep skinning through thick forest. We plugged away and were rewarded with our first sight of one of the cloud peaks. Fluffy and white and appropriately named Mount Cumulus.

Navigating around a series of drainages and traversing a few avalanche paths (observing protocol) we continued to climb into a basin between Nimbus and Cumulus.

The weather had been warm and sunny but as we started to climb towards a saddle connecting these peaks clouds moved in and began to look a little ominous. Reaching the saddle we still had great views across to the west, but we decided the safest decision was to make this our turn around point and forgo any summits. It was almost 2 p.m. and we had over 4 miles and 4,000 feet of descent to return to the trailhead.

 Looking out to the west from the Continental Divide

The flat light and manky snow higher up made the skiing 'interesting'. Neilie drops into the basin

But lower down in sheltered gullies we found some creamy snow that made for fun turns. Doug enjoys the recycled powder.

Chad too.

The last few hundred feet before the valley floor, the bones started poking through and it was a little dodgy. The snow has become so rotten that we bottomed out several times hitting rocks and logs. Someone's brand new skis suffered a core shot (sniff) but at least no bodily injuries were sustained. Despite my sad skis and no summit, the day was deemed a great success. Thanks to Doug and Neilie for showing us this special place.