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.