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.