- Date: April 5, 2020
- Distance: approx. 12 miles round trip
- Elevation Gain: 5,000 ‘
- Trailhead: South Mt Elbert Trailhead
Mark and I set out to ski the box couloirs on Mt Elbert on April 5th 2020. The springtime snowpack had begun to consolidate and we thought it a good time to try something steeper. We started hiking around 6 am, making our way up the well traveled to trail , only a 30 minute drive from Leadville. To start our hike, we headed up a frozen 4×4 road, that we didn’t want to drive on but were happy to enjoy quick travel on foot.
After making our way up the road we were able to leave the skis on our back through some of the hard pack trail, but once we started to punch through near tree line we put our skis on and started skinning. It was pretty smooth sailing until we got onto the exposed ridge when the wind started pounding us. Strong gusts were pouring over the top of Elbert making for a trying hike as we gained elevation. I almost lost my mitten once when it blew away during a map check. I quickly went after it and was able to retrieve it, thankfully, where it had gotten lodged on a rock sticking out of the snow.
As we came into better view of the box couloirs we could see that the wind was drifting lots of snow right into the line we had planned to ski. We decided to hike on through the wind to reach the summit, but agreed not to ski that line because of potential wind slab avalanche danger.
To get to the summit we had to take our skis off a couple times to hike through rocky, wind scoured patches. Once we did reach the top, we didn’t spend much time pondering the views as the wind howled passed us. We transitioned into ski mode and started making our way back down though the intermittent snow on the south ridge.
Once we were down from the summit, we decided to ski a south facing slope that had not received the wind loading we were seeing in the box couloirs. We ended up with some fun turns that we could feel confident about!
While the wind had been trying, we hadn’t yet reached the most challenging part of our outing. Looking at our maps, we decided not to ski the trail down, but to try and follow a route through the trees that might allow for more skiing. What we found was a sloppy snowpack that was collapsing underneath us. We would be making our way downhill when the snow below our skis would suddenly fail and we would find ourselves knee or even waist deep. This was not only exhausting, but tedious. Our route down through the trees took us at least as long as the trail had taken up. At one point, while we were crossing a small creek on a snow bridge, the snow beneath me failed and I slid backwards. I didn’t end up all the way into the creek, but it was enough to give me a scare! Other times, the collapsing snow would catch us off guard and we’d loose balance and fall into the snow in some fabulous contortion.
Once we finally made it back to the trail we realized how ill- fated our choice to abandon it had been. The packed in trail was a sweet relief after what we had just stomped through. Once we reached the 4×4 road we took our skis off and squished through the now muddy road. We did eventually make it back to the car, safe, tired, and appreciative of the fact that the way out is often as challenging as the way up.