MISSION ABORTED DUE TO ROCKS, I MEAN LACK OF SNOW!

I left Gunnison this morning at midnight and proceeded to drive south to Lake City. Upon passing the historic little town, I lost focus and passed the right turn I was supposed to make on to CR 30. Due to this error, I drove to the top of Slumgullion pass. This turned out to be an alright thing as I was able to observe snow conditions for the area at roughly 12,000'. The conditions were crap.

I finally reached the parking area and the trail head at roughly 3am. As I began to boot pack up, there were no pockets of snow, no wind drifts and no heat. The snow was sitting at about 2 inches the entire way to tree line. This was no good due to the surface hoar that was already forming because of the -20 degree temps.

Coming out of the trees, and looking at the moonlit peaks, well, gorgeous is the only words, (except for OH SHIT! when I realized the beautiful glow was the scree and talus that had little to no snow. No skiable lines. one of the most depressing things I have seen in my life.

At this point, I decided to abort and head back. There was no point in me climbing further with full pack when the objective would not be reached, there fore keeping with my goal of being safe and living to ride another day.

The down climb was easy and quick as I was able to follow my trail. it took me about 30 minutes to haul ass out and I only wish I had a decent camera for some of those night shots. It will come out well in the end, but this mission will be postponed for a later date. I believe that I may need to combine these with Handies Peak and Uncompagre/Wetterhorn to reduce the driving in the future. A nice full weekend.

So while the mission was aborted, there were 3 bright spots. These were:
1.   I was finally able to test out my Mountain Hardwear Nils Down Mittens, in some pretty extreme temperature. When I received these, I was skeptical of their warmth and durability, but after this morning, I would use these to climb any mountain in the world if the temperatures got below freezing. The were light weight, warm and very easy to adjust gear with them on (yes mittens had great dexterity!)

 

Check them out and purchase them here

2.    I was almost too hot at -20 degree today as my t-shirt and Flylow BA Puffy Jacket were about some of the warmest items I had on. Yes, there was no layering on the upper body, this jacket was all I needed. As soon as the overheating began, a quick vent allowed for some nice cold weather to get in and cool me down. This jackets pockets are huge and the vents easily accessible even when wearing mittens. Don't believe me on the pockets, check out what Flylow Dan can do with his puffy here on youtube:

This may be last years Puffy, but, the pockets are the same and the thing still holds up to the temperatures

This is the exact jacket I use and you can get one from Flylow direct. They ship fast and have some of the best customer service I have ever seen (the individual who packs your order even sends you a little note with it... personal service at its best.) Get yours here, NOW!

3. And the most surprising highlight of the morning were my First Degree Stormtroopers. I have had these inbounds a lot this season already and have been working with them to find the happy medium of tight and numb foot. Well, I found it! These boots, even in -20 degree temps kept my feet warm, hiked via boot pack amazingly easy and withstood the rocks that I had thrown at them. These truly are a great in-bounds boot, but to those who actually give them a chance, I have a feeling that these will become your favorite back country boot as well, really quickly. Check out Ben Anderson's lesson on these amazing work of are that were built to be beat up.  

 

A huge thanks to Backcountry Coalition for shooting this movie for the world to see:

I can't say enough about this boot and you need to go check them out at http://www.icelanticskis.com/

Needless to say, I had a great nap when I got home, however, now it is time to start looking North to the Elk's. There appears to be nothing south to look at, and so, I will have to be flexible with my plan of heading North in the spring. I can't wait to hit the Hot Springs of Conundrum as I make camp for a few days and relax in the wilderness while hitting some amazing lines. 

Remember, live to ride another day!

-JS