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The east face of Gothic Mountain, sentinel of the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab (where I'm a winter caretaker) and the iconic view I drink my coffee to every morning, has a ski line that has been haunting my dreams since I moved here in September. The line is 3200 vertical feet, snaking through the striking laccolithic crenelations that give the mountain its name, and averages close to 40 degrees for most of its length, with a narrow choke in the 45 degree range. For most of the winter, avalanche danger has made it an obvious impossibility, other than a few periods of high pressure that saw a handful of parties ski it. But with the stabilizing snowpack of spring, and an imminent end to my tenure at the townsite, I started to realize both that a) I really, really wanted to ski it before I left and b) there might not be much time left to make it happen.
After a week or so of obsessing over possible ascent and descent routes, last Tuesday dawned clear and warm, following a wintry weekend that served to cover up the dust layer blown in from Utah on March 30th. I jumped on the window, leaving the cabin around 0730. The ascent was fairly simple, skinning the first 2000 odd feet, booting the next 800 up a couloir to the ridge, scrambling out over loose snow and rocks (the most scared I was all day), then skinning up to the summit (well to the right of the massive cornices over the face). I dropped in a little after 0940, feeling much more confident than I did during the climb. Conditions were decent, in the weird zone between powder and corn. A fair amount of sluff, but nothing too hazardous. The initial bowl is a less-intimidating 38 degrees, allowing you to warm up before the line steepens and narrows. The choke was scoured, but edgeable, and then it was home free, allowing me to open up for the only period of an almost 30 minute descent.
Definitely the biggest line I've ever tackled, and incredibly rewarding.
Before the plunge.
Ascent in orange, descent in red.
More prattle here.
After a week or so of obsessing over possible ascent and descent routes, last Tuesday dawned clear and warm, following a wintry weekend that served to cover up the dust layer blown in from Utah on March 30th. I jumped on the window, leaving the cabin around 0730. The ascent was fairly simple, skinning the first 2000 odd feet, booting the next 800 up a couloir to the ridge, scrambling out over loose snow and rocks (the most scared I was all day), then skinning up to the summit (well to the right of the massive cornices over the face). I dropped in a little after 0940, feeling much more confident than I did during the climb. Conditions were decent, in the weird zone between powder and corn. A fair amount of sluff, but nothing too hazardous. The initial bowl is a less-intimidating 38 degrees, allowing you to warm up before the line steepens and narrows. The choke was scoured, but edgeable, and then it was home free, allowing me to open up for the only period of an almost 30 minute descent.
Definitely the biggest line I've ever tackled, and incredibly rewarding.
Before the plunge.
Ascent in orange, descent in red.
More prattle here.
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