Total time: 2 hours 23 min-

50 mins to descend-> 1 hour 15 mins to climb

1950’ of skiing/climbing

Distance: 2 miles

For a few years now I’ve been trying to ski the Front Range 14ers, but time, family and snow conditions make a moving target. Luckily, this year, I have the means to review lines before committing to skiing them and some weekday availability to go ski. So, with that in mind and knowing that the current storm was in the near term forecast, I rented a plane and flew over Pikes Peak to review the Y couloir. Finding that it was in and worth the drive, I cancelled my Monday morning student and planned to ski it on Monday.

I enjoyed a very civilized wake up at 7 am, left the house around 9 am, I found myself on the summit of Pikes around 10:45 and ready to start skiing a few minutes later; definitely a positive change compared to most spring outings. I cruised over to the Direct entry of the “Y” and found it to be solid, but the entry and some rocks sticking out spooked me a little, so I wandered over to the right branch and its entry had the appearance of being a bit more appealing.

Top of the direct entry.

It was easier to access the line, however I immediately discovered, upon skiing in that had zero control over my skis and they were mushing down without any grip from the bases or the edges! After a good ten minutes of some of the most miserable and weird snow I’ve skied, I descended out of, what I assume was, fresh snow from the previous day’s afternoon squalls. It was at this point, that I realized my serious error by choosing this arm of the Y, the snow narrowed to choke, about 170 cm wide, which was 50% ice flow. This required an airey side step with the whippet as a self belay as I worked my skis around the rock and ice, if my skis were any longer I would have had to remove them. I did question my decision making a my risk assessment for not popping the skis off and just booting it down.

After that step-around maneuver I found myself, next to a large cave, and below the direct line from the summit and above yet another drop off, but at least I was able to maneuver around enough to find a tight exit, which didn’t involve any nasty sidestepping.

Below that obstacle, which was around 13,800’, I was in a position to actually enjoy the ski through steep rock walls and familiar styrofoam alpine snow, which lead to corn as I entered the Bottomless Pit Cirque. I skied down to ~12,200’ which was as far down as I had time to descent practically, I needed to be back in Denver to pick my kids up from school.

I spent about fifteen minutes, snacking and strapping the skis on the pack, before hoofing it back up to the summit shit show. I had seen a boot back from two snowboards further up, so I started working my up towards them, in the hopes of speeding my ascent, since the ski down and been such a time suck. Luckily, I was able to find it, but it was intermittent at best, between the wind, my own slough and the prior day’s snow, I still needed to break trail for most of the way up, which made the climb a bit more honest, since the line feels a lot like cheating. The climb did provide some nice opportunities to practice my steep snow climbing technique, since there were a few steep sections with exposed rocks and ice.

After a good aerobic workout of an hour and fifteen minutes, I was back to the summit and its loud reminders of the modern era. I will admit, I do get some enjoyment from the weird looks from the folks from Florida, or wherever, when they see me trudging along with all my ski accoutrements.

Once, in the car, I was “that guy” bombing down the road to try to get back to town to get the kids on time. Luckily I made it back safe and with two happy kiddos in the car; successful day all around. The “Y Couloir” will definitely be on my repeat list for the next good snow year, I’ll pass on the right arm though.