A Winter to Remember: Skiing out the Back Door

OUR COMMUNITY

BobbyAndMo by: Bobby Lewis

There are not many years when that can actually happen around Buena Vista, but the cross country skiing out the backdoor has been fantastic this year from our house anyway. Running options have gotten a bit slim unless you don’t mind one lane roads between the drifts with plows and 10ft ski

blades closing down on you. But what a fine alternative mid day break to throw on your boots, put skins on the skis, tromp up the hill for 45 minutes, then pull skins and link a few turns back down to the house through the ravine.

Better yet is to take full advantage of the snow depth and make it an overnight with a snow cave. Tents are fine for winter camping of course, but nothing like the cozy 32 degrees that a well built snow cave stays overnight.

A few weeks back a couple of friends n1073910043_19748_6253-1

and I skied up to Columbia Basin in the late afternoon, built the beginnings of a cave, and then did a few turns before dark to let the snow settle. You need about 1 hour per person to dig a decent cave around here. Since the snow depth is rarely great enough to dig straight in (except for parts of Game Trail along the roads), the trick is to pile the snow up, leave it to settle for an hour at least, and then come back and dig your cave into the mound you have made.

We made quite a pile that night and then dug a pretty spacious spot. One key is to dig up and in so that your floor is higher than the door opening – that holds the heat in. The overnight temp that night was 10 below, but inside, once our bodies had warmed it up a bit, we slept with sleeping bags unzipped. That snow cave is still there on the west side of the upper Harvard Lake – help yourself!

A great xc ski if you haven’t done it is the Commando Run from Shrine Pass by Copper Mountain over to Vail. The 10th Mountain Division troops from WWII used to snowshoe or ski that route at the end of the winter training cycle as an endurance challenge. It’s a bit shy of 20 miles, more like 18 really, and they used to carry an 80 pound pack and have to complete it in less that 8 hours.

8 hours is still a good time to aim for, but it’s much mellower with the trail broken, a 20 lb pack, and the last few miles spent shooshing down the back runs of Vail into town. My daughter Jessie and I went recently for her first trip on the Commando Run. It helps to start early before it gets too busy with snowmobilers on the pass and to make sure you still have light at the end of the day.

We parked on Vail Pass and started up the first of the 5 little peaks you climb along the way. None of the peaks are particularly strenuous, but the ascents and descents add up. We were on peak 3 by lunch and had a great view out across the Gore Range in front of us and the Holy Cross over our shoulder. We hadn’t seen anyone all morning and had been breaking trail for miles so it was a bit strange to reach the peak and find two PB&Js sitting there. Having finished our lunch we were just about to eat those when a lone skier came up in search of them – now that would have been embarrassing.

The tele descents off the peaks were magic that day. A foot and a half of powder on top of firm crust, with blue skies and no wind. Couldn’t have been better. The day ends with a hitch back up I-70 to your car at the other end, unless you happened to commit a global warming faux paux and drove 2. Jessie’s not old enough to drive so we had just one and began to hitch at the on ramp. Car #11 stopped to pick us up. It was a clown. Not a clown going to or from a birthday party or some other gig. No, just a clown who spends his days driving around as a clown. He swept 3 weeks worth of half eaten junk food onto the floor and in we climbed. Spooky yes, but nevertheless a fine ride up the pass.

It’s been a great year for skiing.

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