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 Peak:  Cronin Peak
 Route:  Baldwin Gulch
 Range:  Sawatch
 Posted By:  KyleS
 Date of Info:  4/25/2014
 Date Posted:  4/26/2014
Details

Cronin is in.
The snow on the way up the road had only a slight crust from a weak overnight freeze. But there was a supportive enough seam to be found and we didn't end up using our snowshoes. Skinning would require a lot of tedious transitions, unless you had a pair of skins you're willing to sacrifice. Likewise, we chose to walk the last 1.5 miles on the way down.

We stashed our snowshoes and exited the road around 11,700 following ski tracks west into the woods with only moderate occasional post-holing. Once above treeline, we found perfect crampon conditions up to where we gained the ridge at about 13,300.

There were small, soft windslabs on the ridge but it was pretty smooth climbing to the summit. The east face ski lines looked beautiful white on the way up, but all of the south facing walls are dust brown mashed potatoes. The opposite walls were a little wind-scoured, but right down the middle was perfection. Soft and stable. One of the best runs of the season.

The road out was the definition of isothermal. To snowboard, it was like pond-skimming. I'll admit to going over the handlebars at one point. Okay, maybe twice. Walking through it was like wading through a slurpee. It offered surprisingly little resistance and was some of the easiest post-holing I've done. But beware of the road cuts because a small wet slide has crossed the road near the trailhead.



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