Climbing and Skiing Colorado's Mountains by Ben Conners & Brian Miller

Author:Ben Conners & Brian Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Falcon Guides
Published: 2019-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

The Route

Independence Pass is home to a number of beautiful and easily accessible drainages right off the road. Throughout the summer months, peak-bagging enthusiasts are treated to numerous high summits within a stone’s throw of the pass, and after CO 82 opens around Memorial Day, the area becomes a very popular ski-touring destination. Most people only scratch the surface of what Independence Pass has to offer from a skiing perspective, as there are a plethora of options available. We figured it would be convenient to include one of the easier, more classic tours in this book for anyone looking for a decent bang-for-the-buck outing near Aspen. With the sun shining bright over a bluebird sky, vast fields of late-spring corn ready for you to harvest, and a barbecue grill waiting for your triumphant return from the peaks, you won’t find a better late-spring / early-summer outing in Colorado. Aspen and Carbondale locals have been known to head up and ski the Geisslers late in the season, finishing off their day with a parking-lot barbecue party. This is a sort of yearly pilgrimage for them, a ritual dedicated to the magnificent ski country our great state has to offer.

The only intangible from a planning standpoint is snow accumulations, as they vary high on the pass from year to year. Because CO 82 is closed many miles from Upper Lost Man Trailhead prior to Memorial Day, easy access to the Geisslers doesn’t become available until after the road opens. In very low snow years, this may be too late for the peaks to ski well, so consider the snow year and your timing before heading out for this tour. The good news is that finding online updates on the conditions on these peaks after the road opens should not be difficult. As we stated, this is a popular late-season area—and a skier’s playground.

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