Backcountry Descent #7: Visitor from Denver

My good pal Booch drove up from Denver last Friday night to taste some of the backcountry goods Aspen has to offer. After a Friday evening BBQ with some of Lauren's co-workers, the alarm wen't off at 4:45 and we were on our way. Our sights were set on a bit of a backcounty "tour" on Indpendence Pass; I had read some guidebooks and studies some maps in order to link together some peaks so Booch got the most bang for his Aspen buck.
On our way to our first peak, West Geissler, which we had originally spotted from our Memorial Day summit of Blue Peak, Todd's dog Kya and I chillin' out waiting for the fellows.

THe narrow ridge on the way to the summit of West Geissler. Not the most flattering form.

From way across the Continental Divide, here's a view of Grizzly Peak, our summit the previous weekend (details in post below). Grizzly is the tall peak in the middle of the shot that stands out among the rest. Boy do I have some fond memories of that summit!

A view from the summit of West Geissler. Mountains as far as the eye can see.

Our route up West Geissler. By taking the East ridge, we gained access to the summit. From there we dropped in on the west side of the steep face, with the hopes that if we cut over hard enough at the bottom, we could link up to Middle Geissler and bag another peak.
It worked. We were able to access the east ridge of Middle Geissler, boot up to the summit, continue on down the ridge, and eventually make turns down a steep rib that provided silkly smooth snow.

Booch, coming from "relative" flat-land in Denver, performed admiraly, taking the 3,000 feet of climbing in stride and even making some nice turns for a guy who hasn't been on a snowboard since February.

Backcountry Descent #7: Shooting Grizzly on June 3

If you read the below posts, you already know we climbed and skied Blue Peak on Memorial Day. As we stood on the summit, taking in the views for miles and miles, one peak stood out from the rest.

(Click on pic to enlarge for killer view)

At the time, I had no idea what it was, but it looked supremely bad-ass. So I went home, started googling, and found out that what I was looking at was Grizzly Peak, a hard to reach summit 9 miles from the nearest major road. Standing at 13,988 feet, it's just short of official "fourteener" status, but it would still be far and away the most technical high-altitude climb and ski we'd attempted. But attempt it we would.

Saturday morning we were up at 4, climbing by 5:30. The approach was LONG and flat until we reached Grizzly Lake, set right at the bottom of Grizzly Chute, the ever so enticing patch of snow running the length of the right-hand side of the mountain in the picture above.

Once you reach the lake, the only way to the summit is to climb straight up the chute. Since it's a bit of a western exposure, it was still firm as we stripped off our skis and started to boot straight up. The chute averages 40 degrees, with a bulge that reaches 45, so it was a long, hard climb. Towards the top, I would catch my breath and then climb until exhaustion, only to look at my altimeter and find out I had climbed 20 vertical feet. It was seriously, seriously humbling.

We reached the summit shortly after 9 AM, and if we raised our poles above our head, we could just about reach the acclaimed "fourteener" status. The rest was easy. Point our skis over the cornice, drop into the chute, and make turns for 1,500 feet. Oh, and don't fall, because at 45 degrees, nothing's stopping you until you hit the lake!

Backcountry Ski Descent #6: Birthday at 13,711 Feet

Memorial Day. My brother and his family left on Sunday morning, so first thing Monday AM my buddy Todd and I shot up to Independence Pass to ski Blue Peak. The pass, which closes every year around Halloween, had opened three days prior, instantly giving access to miles and miles of backcountry skiing right from the car. After months of long, miserable approaches to reach tree line, we were really, really excited about starting the day at 11,400 feet.

After parking the car, we climbed straight up this gully to a shelf at 12,200 feet. From there, it was a long, gradual boot to the top of Blue Peak.

Here's Todd coming out of the gully and onto the shelf. The sun just starting to hit the eastern slopes of the nearby mountains.

The summit of Blue Peak is reached via an extremely narrow ridge. As Todd and I stood at 13,711 feet, the next living thing we say was this bad-ass canine, joined shortly thereafter by his owner.

Some views from the summit.

Looking west towards Lost Man pass. If you look closely in the lower left hand corner of the pic, you can make out the frozen outline of Lost Man lake. We would ski right over this lake two weeks later.

The view of Geissler #3 from the peak. This mountain will have a post of its own a bit later.

Geissler #2, just to the east of Geissler #3. Again, more to come on this.

The view of Linkins Peak and Linkins Lake from the peak of Blue. I thought I'd include this picture, since Lauren and I hiked to Linkins Lake as one of our first climbs in August. Here's a picture from the summer, for comparison's sake.

A wet slide on the east side of Brumley Peak. As you can see, this one ran all the way to the ground.

Another summit shot.

My favorite picture of the entire season. This is the view of Grizzly Peak, one of the harder to reach summits near Independence Pass. Again, this will have its own post.

After looking around in awe in every direction for what felt like an hour, we finally dropped in and made some turns down the South face. Good Times.

Look Who Came to Visit!

In the unlikeliest infiltration since the Muppets took Manhattan, the Fares clan (Mom, Dad, Freddy) made the 2,000 mile journey out to Aspen to visit their baby girl and favorite son-in-law (sorry Dave), and our pupppy Maci, to whom they're fairly indifferent.

We kept the Fares family fairly busy (say that five times fast), going from dusk til dawn pretty much every day. We toured Independence Pass, hiked the Maroon Bells, shopped in downtown Aspen, and watched Freddy consume a truly remarkable amount of hamburgers.

We were having some camera difficulties, so perhaps when the Fareseses email us some additional pictures, we'll post them for your enjoyment. I can assure you, however, even without corroborating photographic evidence, that a good time was had by all, and the Fareseses have a new appreciation for the stunning beauty that is Aspen in spring.

We even took the time to celebrate Maci's four-month birthday. Freddy, who developed an unforseen bond with the puppy during the course of his stay, was particularly exuberant throughout the festivities.

Nascar Meets the Mountains?

It's been an awful busy month for the Nitti clan. And sadly, we weren't able to tell you about in "real-time," as we've been dealt an inordinate amount of technical difficulties in the past few weeks. One destroyed cell phone, two damaged laptops, a broken camera, and a faulty modem have left us incommunicado.

Well that's all fixed now (aside from my laptop: still destroyed), so let's get everyone up to speed on the various goings on at the Nitti house.

My brother Dave, his wife Jackie, and child prodigies Luke and Grace made the trek all the way from Florida on May 23rd, only to be greeted by a driving snowstorm. Here are Luke and Grace during a happier moment, spending some quality time with beloved Aunt Lauren.

Dave and Luke perched atop the Ute Trail, 1,060 feet above street level and roughly 9,000 feet above their home in Florida. It was hard work climbing the steep single track, but the flatlanders gutted it out in typical Nitti fashion.

Luke and Jackie watching TV, being guarded closely by Maci. She's very protective, as you can see.

The kids and the pup. Luckily for us, neither Luke nor Grace ever grew tired of the "Maci ringing the bell to go outside" game. I think Gracie went up and down those stairs 1,000 times in three days. God bless her.

When they weren't helping my dog poop, the Florida foursome was making the most of their time in lovely Aspen. We visited Maroon Bells, the ghost town of Ashcroft, the Reudi Resevoir, the waterfalls at the Grottos, and even stood in snow at 12,090 feet atop Independence Pass, or as Gracie affectionately named it, "Wintertown." I'd like to think they had a great time, and hopefully they'll be visiting us again soon!