Skiing a Peak: What it takes

[aholle88]

In a small effort to redeem myself for my fraudulence, I’ll throw this out there: My buddy mike and I, along with Moneymike and probably only a handful of others are the only people who have skied the true summit of Pikes. Pikes only counts if you ski off the roof of the summit house. Gonna be hard for anyone to finish the list now

[Oman]

(insert shameless plugs for El Diente edit

I care that you tele. Wow.

[bergsteigen]

In a small effort to redeem myself for my fraudulence, I’ll throw this out there: My buddy mike and I, along with Moneymike and probably only a handful of others are the only people who have skied the true summit of Pikes. Pikes only counts if you ski off the roof of the summit house. Gonna be hard for anyone to finish the list now

Hahaha, that was funny! I’m pretty sure everyone has boxes checked that don’t live up to perfect standards. I need to re ski Maroon. But when you check of 30-40 some peaks that way, at what point does someone need to say something? That’s a fraud. I’d rather educate that the community expects a certain level for any claims.

We already had someone in the 13er list click boxes without summits, so skiing ain’t unique.

[MapScientist]

Blah blah blah chaos

Dude. These people can still do whatever they wish with their lists. Just letting them know that they will be called out (or at minimum asked) if they didn’t do something they claimed to do. It’s called integrity. I know the younger gen doesn’t seem to get it.

Long time lurker here who went looking for Square Top conditions and saw the debate. Signed up to comment on this, forgive the young account.

There's dissonance in your words, you say they can do what they like with their lists (keeping them public included) but it's clear you're trying to rally the community to stand against them doing exactly that. What's lacking in integrity is to ask for people's opinions but then supplant "blahs" when they express an opinion you don't like. If you were genuinely looking for community input you would have a discourse.

Further, to those saying to aspiring finishers, "you don't want to go back and ski those peaks"... please speak for yourself. Perhaps some finish exclusively to get the icon/fame points. However, I know at least one person (me) who would like to finish one day, for exploration's sake, but also enjoys skiing for skiing's sake, be it icy sastrugi or endless powder and so would would not turn down an opportunity to re-ski a peak that's not a 'good one'.

I think you should judge people's accomplishments within the context of their claims. Nowhere does it say the little skier icon == adheres to Dawson's rules, so sure, it's not complete per a Dawson descent, but if they never claimed to adhere to Dawson's rules then why get up in arms just because you follow them? Besides, semantically, those rules are explicitly 14er specific, but the icon is universal to 12ers and 13ers, and this debate was spawned over a 13er. Do the rules change between Grizzly and Holy Cross?

[weakenedwarrior]

In some winter 14er thread from earlier this year, someone brought up a "dirty dozen" list - namely Capitol, Snowmass, Maroon, N. Maroon, Pyramid, Eolus, N. Eolus, Windom, Sunlight, El Diente, Mt. Wilson, Wilson Peak. The comment was along the lines of "you haven't done much in winter until you start ticking off this list". Is there a similar list for skiing the 14ers where the antes are raised significantly compared to the rest of the peaks?

[lodgling]

Yes, that list is largely the same with Capitol WAAAAAAAY at the top, followed by Pyramid and then some of the others you list. Crestone Needle is tough to get in conditions (insert yet another shameless plug )

[bergsteigen]

In some winter 14er thread from earlier this year, someone brought up a "dirty dozen" list - namely Capitol, Snowmass, Maroon, N. Maroon, Pyramid, Eolus, N. Eolus, Windom, Sunlight, El Diente, Mt. Wilson, Wilson Peak. The comment was along the lines of "you haven't done much in winter until you start ticking off this list". Is there a similar list for skiing the 14ers where the antes are raised significantly compared to the rest of the peaks?

Yes there is, and it’s very similar. Pyramid and Capitol are the hardest of the hard, you better be a really good skier. The hard ones are: Crestone Needle, Wilson Peak, North Maroon, and then lower down the difficulty with Maroon, Mt Wilson etc.

[bergsteigen]

MapScientist - public list = public comment, private is private, simple yes?

I’m only going to consider comments from the ski community, not the hiker, since that’s how that works

[BillMiddlebrook]

In some winter 14er thread from earlier this year, someone brought up a "dirty dozen" list - namely Capitol, Snowmass, Maroon, N. Maroon, Pyramid, Eolus, N. Eolus, Windom, Sunlight, El Diente, Mt. Wilson, Wilson Peak. The comment was along the lines of "you haven't done much in winter until you start ticking off this list". Is there a similar list for skiing the 14ers where the antes are raised significantly compared to the rest of the peaks?

In short, Pyramid and Capitol. The rest aren't overly difficult, depending on your skill level. Sure, there could be a dirty dozen or so that could be on a list simply due to the effort to ski them, including distance, etc., but those two are far apart from the others. Pyramid's difficulty is due to the long, exposed, steep ski pitches. Capitol doesn't really have a good ski line and it involves awkward skiing and traversing on steep terrain, over a massive batch of cliffs. To call it a "no-fall" route is mandatory.

Now, even those two aren't crazy difficult for elite big mountain skiers. Yes, I said it. Plenty of peaks around the world are much more difficult and dangerous to ski. But still, these two are waaaaay more difficult than the other CO 14ers.

EDIT: Dammit, I type too slow!

[SnowAlien]

Yes, that list is largely the same with Capitol WAAAAAAAY at the top, followed by Pyramid and then some of the others you list. Crestone Needle is tough to get in conditions

Sangres in general are very hard to get in conditions. You basically have to ski them all in the fattest year possible like in 2015 or 2019, as there seem to be 3-4-5 year gaps in-between. They also melt out super fast. Compared to winter list, the ski list of the hardest is shorter. It's basically Cap and Pyramid, with North Maroon and Wilson peak a distant third. Personally, I didn't think Needle was too hard, but I got it in excellent soft corn conditions (and I have short skis, which is much easier in the narrow part). I thought Little Bear was a tad steeper than Needle. I haven't skied Chicago basin though and Sunlight and Eolus both look quite steep. Again, it's a function of schlepping so much gear there for a week only to discover the lines are not from the summit At least the rest of them (except probably El Diente and Mount Wilson) are quite visible. Longs peak is also extremely hard to get off the true summit (always windy), so you need a very late, very sizeable spring storm. I don't think I've seen Homestretch snow covered since 2017 (?)

P.S. Bill, I type even slower!

[Scott P]

How do you ski off the summit of Sunlight?

[HikerGuy]

I thought this was about Snowmass, not Square Top. How come one TR got called out and not the other? Is Snowmass one that is not skiable from the summit? Not trying to throw shade, just genuinely curious.