There's a new flavor of Neapolitan ice cream in Colorado these days.
Provided the CDOT All-Stars clear the passage up to 12,095 feet (and being All-Stars, they almost always do), Independence Pass opens for the summer on the Thursday afternoon before Memorial Day Weekend. Usually the newly-unlocked high-country access touches off a corn rush—just as it does off passes like Tioga and Sonora in the Sierra—with peaks and bowls converted into backcountry ski areas until it all melts away. Some years the skiing is excellent. This year is not one of those years. It's "snirty" and unfrozen up high and it's been raining in Aspen since Thursday...
Still, a reconnaissance-by-force was slated for Saturday. (The force of tradition is stronger than dirt, apparently.) Friends Aron Ralston, the adventurer best known for an April/May misadventure six years back, and Elliot Larson, Highlands patroller, agreed to a quasi early-morning call from Aspen. The rest was less agreeable, like downhill poling and the odd trap door inspired wipe-out, a far cry from three Mays ago when the snow was actually white-like and Ralston rallied pants-less five or six days in a row.
T. Mutrie
Aron Ralston brought the Pinchers of Power along for the Dirty Snow Tour '09, but no shorts.
T. Mutrie
Either Aron's making a decent tele turn for late May or he's been halfway swallowed by the goop.
T. Mutrie
Usually snow isn't such a dirty word.
T. Mutrie
In May 2006 there was actual white snow to celebrate on Indepedence Pass; Aron Ralston did so by skiing five or six consecutive days without pants.
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Contributors
John Symms
My friend is a pro. In fact, many of my friends are pros. How else do you think I got this job?
Tim Mutrie
Journalist and blog-a-neer, big mtn. correspondent Tim has a desk-sized condo in a little place called Aspen.
Seth Morrison
If you don't know who Seth is, just click out of this blog and walk away. (Seth is a big mtn. legend, you see.)
Sage Cattabriga-Alosa
Sage went from washing dishes professionally to freeskiing professionally — aka "professional growth."
Ingrid Backstrom
World traveler, prolific ripper, reader and smiler, Ingrid lives in a cabin at the base of Squaw Valley.
Nate Abbott
Driven by coffee, powder, music, laughing, books & possibilities, photographer Nate is a lurker with Leica.
Liam Downey
Vermonster, Level 1 vet and large animal veterinarian, Liam's 6'5" frame makes him a large animal himself.
