14ers.com

Such a good thread! Thanks, Ottina, for your awesome resource.

Question for all: I'm a fairly seasoned skier from BC/Oregon. I just moved to CO, and it seems "skimo season" starts in March. Is this because 1) avy hazard in Dec—Feb is just *too hard* to mitigate, or 2) that the snow sucks until spring?

Thank you!!

wyeaster wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:30 am Such a good thread! Thanks, Ottina, for your awesome resource.

Question for all: I'm a fairly seasoned skier from BC/Oregon. I just moved to CO, and it seems "skimo season" starts in March. Is this because 1) avy hazard in Dec—Feb is just *too hard* to mitigate, or 2) that the snow sucks until spring?

Thank you!!

Oregon/PNW has a much safer and consistent snowpack, Colorado has a lot of things going on that dont happen so much there - High winds, drastic temperature swings, long periods of no precip and sun, very cold temps

Above treeline skiing in winter is typically poor for both reasons you listed, the wind (and other factors) makes for poor skiing, its too dangerous for most people to be skiing big, steep stuff until they know the snowpack is reasonably safe

^Good to know, thanks! sounds like I'll be playing in the trees 'til April—could be worse

I’d add that the typical skimo season is more like April-June witha a solid 8 week period where conditions are good. March is usually still a winter snowpack with all the usual problems of instability and bad snow, the transitional snowpack is just as bad to ski. Obviously varies year to year, but patience is key, especially with the bigger lines if you want good conditions.

For example I waited probably 10 years for the right conditions to ski Blanca and Little Bear and had 2 all time descents on those peaks. Of course if you want to just tick things off a list then you can ski stuff in wildly bad conditions and survive, but who wants to do that.

SchralpTheGnar wrote: ↑Wed Jan 13, 2021 8:12 am I’d add that the typical skimo season is more like April-June witha a solid 8 week period where conditions are good. March is usually still a winter snowpack with all the usual problems of instability and bad snow, the transitional snowpack is just as bad to ski. Obviously varies year to year, but patience is key, especially with the bigger lines if you want good conditions.

For example I waited probably 10 years for the right conditions to ski Blanca and Little Bear and had 2 all time descents on those peaks. Of course if you want to just tick things off a list then you can ski stuff in wildly bad conditions and survive, but who wants to do that.

Every March I get giddy to get above treeline when the avy danger begins to die down. Then I go out and ski rock-hard sastrugi or trap-crust crap and am reminded that in most seasons, March is still very much winter above treeline.

Any advice for finding backcountry partners?

mk12 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 18, 2021 4:33 pm Any advice for finding backcountry partners?

Finding good BC partners is almost as tricky as finding a romantic partner, if not more so!

There are a few FB groups like Colorado Backcountry Ski and Snowboard to get to know the community. Though this year/season is bad to find people, since conditions are bad and the danger is more than usual. I haven’t gone BC yet, since I’m not willing to get injured hitting a shark in marginal snow conditions! Uphilling resorts is the best snow going on right now.

I'd suggest doing a skimo race and introducing yourself to some people. It's a great way to meet people of similar fitness and skills. But yeah, tough this season thanks to covid. And there are some limited alpine options out there right now on marginal snow. This was a 13er today.

SchralpTheGnar wrote: ↑Wed Jan 03, 2018 6:44 pm Have you skied corbets?

bergsteigen wrote: ↑Mon Jan 18, 2021 6:52 pm

mk12 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 18, 2021 4:33 pm Any advice for finding backcountry partners?

Finding good BC partners is almost as tricky as finding a romantic partner, if not more so!

Great, can't wait haha!

Jorts wrote: ↑Mon Jan 18, 2021 7:48 pm I'd suggest doing a skimo race and introducing yourself to some people. It's a great way to meet people of similar fitness and skills.

Thanks, this is great advice.

On a slightly different note, what is everyone's preferred ski size (specifically waist size) for spring Colorado conditions? Debating between getting a skimo race ski or one that's more in the mid-70s waist width.

mk12 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 7:28 am
On a slightly different note, what is everyone's preferred ski size (specifically waist size) for spring Colorado conditions? Debating between getting a skimo race ski or one that's more in the mid-70s waist width.

I find 90 is the perfect width to get a good edge and deal with the crud. Too skinny, and you’ll sink too much. 90 also happens to be the most popular amongst my resort skis too, though I do have skinnier and fatter for special conditions.

mk12 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 7:28 am On a slightly different note, what is everyone's preferred ski size (specifically waist size) for spring Colorado conditions? Debating between getting a skimo race ski or one that's more in the mid-70s waist width.

A skimo ski or even something in the mid 70's is woefully too skinny for springtime skiing IMO. Remember that in spring you're likely to find every condition imaginable, and in almost every case, something wider will be better. Anything will do ok in perfect corn or powder, but spring is also filled with windcrusts, suncrusts and classic trapdoor ski mankaineering- and for that, you'll be grateful for something wider. 105 is the sweet spot for a large contingent of spring skiers, IMO. The mid 90's waisted ski is to me, the worst of all worlds- not wide enough to see the benefits of the wider skis in the aforementioned conditions, but not skinny enough to see the weight gains of the tiny skis. At least with the tiny skis you'll get that benefit, and you'll just know that the skiing will suck and just deal with it if you're trying to link up huge days or something.