After a few days of skiing the storm snow at the resort, Mark and I decided to venture into the backcountry to see if we could find a safe objective to ski in the stabilizing snow conditions. We looked towards independence pass where it had snowed less over the previous few days and we had a better chance of finding safe conditions in steep terrain. We had first laid eyes on Sayre’s Benchmark when we skied La Plata a few years prior. This ski lines shares a trailhead with the popular 14er and the parking at the trailhead was full READ MORE
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Decision Making and Powder Skiing
After staying the night in Durango with a friend, Mark and I headed north hoping to ski one of the many incredible lines the San Juans has to offer. We got in touch with a friend who lives in Silverton and set our sights on the “Turkey chute”: a locally popular ski line up Arrastra gulch just outside of the town. We woke up early and made our way to the trailhead, finding the storm that we expected to move in later in the day already well on its way. By the time we got to the trailhead there were READ MORE
Springtime Skiing in the Desert
Mount Tukuhnikivatz and Lil Tuk While the Colorado snowpack remained questionable amidst an unstable weather pattern, the La Sals in Utah boasted great conditions and classic ski lines. One of our close friends was heading out to Moab to spend the weekend mountain biking, so Mark and I decided it would be a perfect opportunity to ski some new mountains and spend some time with an old friend. Our first objective was Mount Tukuhnikivatz: the most prominent peak in the La Sal’s outside of Moab. One of the “50 Classics of Ski Descents in North America,” we found ourselves with READ MORE
Back in the boat in Taos, NM
While we were hardly ready to put away our skis, Mark and I were excited to hop in the kayaks for a brief break from the snow and make it back down to Taos for some boating. We met our friend Sam for two days of kayaking on the Rio Grande. While Sam had made dozens of run down the Racecourse in the past few seasons (a popular stretch of class III whitewater near Pilar, NM), Mark and I hadn’t been on the Rio Grande in two years. When we had last been there, we were just learning to kayak READ MORE
A Look Back at the Pearl Couloir
All of the photos in this post were taken by Parker Yost When Mark and I got done with the Colorado Trail last spring, we were looking forward to spending some time with our friends who we hadn’t gotten to see much over the previous month. Mark had been back to work in Aspen for a week when we decided to take advantage of the remaining snowpack to go ski mountaineering with our friend Parker. The Pearl couloir is a dramatic ski line off of Cathedral Peak near Aspen; accessible and aesthetic, it makes for a popular objective and seemed READ MORE
The Swan Dive: Mount Guyot
Mark and I decided to rally for a quick ski on our way to Denver as we kicked off our time off together. Guyot is an accessible peak outside of Breckenridge that is a popular ski due to its visibility from many local ski areas. The Swan Dive couloir curls off the North face of the summit amid a rocky, but relatively gentle face. Mark and I drove up from Leadville early in the morning to French Gulch, where we hiked along the frozen dirt road until the turnoff for the trail up the Northwest face of Guyot. We climbed READ MORE
Party Time!
After a winter seasons work Mark and I were ready for some time off to play outside and see some friends. I spent another winter as a ski instructor in Leadville, while Mark helped his mom and niece move into a new house, buy a new van and adjust to some other changes in their household. Once his mom was moved and her old house sold, Mark was able to start focusing on himself more. With our work wrapped up, we marked our calendars for “Nic and Mark Party Time,” and took two weeks to have fun together before Mark READ MORE
Skiing the Box couloirs: Mt Elbert
The first winter I moved to Leadville (2019-20) Matt White and I were one another’s main ski partners, logging many early mornings on Chicago ridge near Ski Cooper and exploring Leadville east. That was my first winter backcountry skiing, and Matt and I learned a lot together. After a few winter’s away, Matt moved back to the area and we are both excited to be skiing together again! We’ve spent quite a few ski days together this season: a few moonlight skis, some resort days at A-basin and Copper Mountain, and some incredible powder tours on Chicago ridge. With the READ MORE
Podcast Release!
About a month ago, Mark and I did an interview with Mason Gravely from “The Adventure Sports Podcast” about our ski traverse of the Colorado trail. The episode was just published and you can listen to it on the podcast website, adventuresportspodcast.com, or find episode 882 The First Ski Traverse of the Colorado Trail – Nicolette Jones & Mark Johnson of The Adventure Sports Podcast on most streaming services. If you want to learn more about our experience, you can read my blog post about it here and find a piece I published in Wild Snow here.
A Bike Ride Through New Mexico
The past couple years, as I have gotten into a routine of the seasonal work schedule, I find myself missing many of my close friends and family during the work season and doing my best to play catchup in the off season. This year is no different, and I am thankful to be able to devote some time to personal adventures and the people I love in this shoulder season. This fall, I have been spending lots of time in between with Mark and his family in Denver, along with the friends who have come to visit us there; I’ve READ MORE