Skiing The Beautiful Twin 3/11/09

The Upper half of the Beautiful Twin 3/11/09

Twin Peaks, Indipendince Pass, Sawatch Mountains, Colorado

I’ve been staring in awe at Twin Peak and the direct ski line off the summit this winter. Every time I’ve driven up Independence Pass my body’s entered a natural high as I visualize myself ripping turn on the upper face. Meanwhile, hands shaking and a case of shrinkage… Of ones size relative to this earth that is. Wile wondering just how steep the upper face was and the uncertainty if two blind pinches in the lower couloir. Would they go free, or turn technical with steep ice and rock?

The constant 100mpr Sawatch wind all winter long. Combined with lack of snow at lower elevations made me wonder if there ever would be a window of opportunity to satisfy my growing desire for this twin, or would it grow into an increasingly distant dream of mine?

Skiing in the last several days was turning out surprisingly good. Thanks to two winter storms that deposited a whopping 8 inches on average in the area. Most winter recreationist would wine about the snow reports and search for some other sport to pursue. Yet for the lucky few of us not pulling our mountain bikes out of storage, we know something they don’t. This type of snow setup, a few inches of pow on top of a hard and bomber snowpack, is perfect for summiting bigger peaks and pushing yourself on those burlier lines you’ve been dreaming about all winter. Skiing a little powder off the summits that make up our beautiful Rocky Mountains? Sing me up!

Thanks to this slow economy and my friends at work taking shifts from me left and right, I find myself forced to go skiing most of the week. Bummer. So the start of this past week started off with 3 days of superb sherralping, and three different lines on Star Mountain.

Tiff on Star Mountain earlier in the week

Myself on another line off Star Mountain earlier in the weak

These days of superb riding were leaving me giggly with the possibility that my day with the Beautiful Twin may be arriving.

So there I was, lying in bed sore from the last few days of skiing. Selling myself on the fact that tomorrow is that weather window I’ve been waiting for all winter to ski the Twin. Although you do have to be to work tomorrow at 4pm and getting up any earlier then 7am would be ruff on my 24 year old bones, the voices in my head were arguing.

So there I was, sitting on the East Ridge of Twin Peek. 600ft below the summit at 1pm. Having spent the last several hours slogging through thick, steep trees in knee deep, low elevation sugar snow, and making extremely slow and tiresome upward progress. So I turn on the cell phone, amazed to find service to call in late to work. I still have an hour and a half drive to work and am uncertain how long the decent will take me. If it turn technical in its hidden lower reaches, it could be hours I don’t have.

The phone beeps “one new message,” seeming eager to tell me that my manager to be that night is home sick. So there’s no one to cover if I’m late and the current employee on, needs to go early. Not being able to stomach the idea of retreating down this swag ridge, back to my car so I can make it to work on time. I stumble like a drunken man with a purpose, through loose scree to the summit of Twin Peek.

Finally atop twin peak and amazed to find deep, soft powder off the summit wile looking 4,000ft to my car waiting to break a few traffic laws to get me to work on time. I found true bliss in those first few turns off the summit. Steep hero snow above an uncertain line, will render anyone with an unforgettable natural high.

The quality snow and the Beautiful Twin led me on a path to one of the most aesthetic backcountry ski lines of my career. A steep and exposed upper face leading into a rollercoaster of a lower couloir, will stick with me as one of my greatest natural highs in life.

The lower line on the Beautiful Twin


Looking back to the last pinch