One Last Leg Burner

Text and Photos by
-C Mo

It was getting to be that time of year...The resorts are all closing down, weather on the Front Range is starting to get nicer, and dreams of melting snow, raging rivers, and waterfalls start dancing around my head.
But this year, I found myself a little torn. I took up telemark skiing earlier this season, and found a new reason to get excited about sliding down snow. So it wasn't breaking my heart when in the second week of April Mike proposed a backcountry adventure. With the snowpack still in midwinter shape, and the rivers still frozen stiff, I figured it would be a great time to have a sunny day in the backcountry.
Our objective: Mount Sopris
Mount Sopris is the sentinal guardian of the Roaring Fork Valley, dominating the skyline for miles around. While it is not the highest peak in the craggy Elk Mountains, it certainly is the envy. Bob Ross himself couldn't have created a better looking peak. And the best of all...it has lines that just beg to be skied. From huge expansive bowls, to nasty chutes, and long approaches, Mount Sopris has it all.
After putting in some research, Thomas Lakes Bowl was determined to be hold the best options considering the sketchy snowpack that we were dealing with. So without further adieu, Mike, Tyson and I headed up to the hills for some cold smoke.
With a 3:45am wake-up call, we began the 5,000 foot 7 mile one way slog at 5am. I've never skiied in the backcountry at night before, so even without coffee, the cool air and new experience were enought to get me going.
When the sun broke, we were rewarded with our first views of Thomas Lakes Bowl. I was blown away. I have always been impressed by the dramatic siloutte of Sopris, but from our angle and with the fresh sunrise lighting the landscape, it was a photo opportunity that would have Ansel Adams rolling over in his grave.
Our route took us up the southeast ridgeline of the east subsidiary summit. (say that five time fast!) After several hours of torture, we made it to the last push up the summit ridge, which required us to take off our skis and hike up the rocks, and traverse between sketchy cornices on the summit to reach Thomas Bowl.
And finally, it was time to rip. We checked the snowpack, checked our beacons, and strapped on the sticks, and proceeded to tear into the perfect spring pow. By the time we reached the bottom of the bowl, the day had turned into a full blown beauty. And as the avalanche forecast predicted, the warmer temps and warming snowpack began producing some point release and wet avalanche activity. Fortunatley, we were out of the danger zone, and were free to enjoy the roar the falling snow.
A few moderate pitches brought us back to our skin tracks and the trail out. After about 9 hours, 14 miles and 10,000 veritcal feet, the first beer went down real well...

Dawn breaks on the Roaring Fork Valley


Chris-East Main subsidary of Sopris in sight





Tyson & Mike-first breather of the day




Tyson-breaking trail



Mike-almost there....



Tyson-the final push


Thomas Lakes Bowl from the SE-we skiied from lookers left of the rocky outcrop in the center to lookers right of the same knob


Mike-getting it done




Chris-looking small in Thomas Lakes bowl


Looking back at the crews tracks

El Rio Embudo

By Luke

Embudo means "funnel" in Spanish, but if I didn't know any better I would have to guess that it means "kick ass kayaking run" instead. With our eyes on the guage multiple times a day after getting word that flows and temps were on the rise, the full crew decided to rally down to Pilar, New Mexico for one of the best creek runs in we the four corner states...if not the country.

We all arrived late Friday night, the first time that we had all been on the same river together since last October, and come Saturday morning I would say that we all felt like little kids on Christmas morning. We were ready to commence the gift opening. After a full on breakfast, essential to peak performance, we headed up to the put in. The weather was fairly warm around mid-day, but it had been pretty chilly the night before and we were curious to see what the flow was at. We geared up and headed down the short hike to find that the flow looked pretty similar to our runs last year at 3.15 feet. A good level and what I would consider a minimum for a decently padded out run. Much lower and it becomes a freakin' mank fest, suitable for Captain Mank himself, Joe Keck, but aggravating for most.

After a short paddle in you come to Long Rapid, which is well.....long. It's starts off mellow like Lynard Skynard's "Freebird" and continues to escalate in difficulty until you hit the end of the rapid, the guitar solo, and rockout on the final drops when at last you come around a car sized boulder and see all of your buddies grinning from ear to ear.

The middle of the run ensues with quality whitewater, sweet boofs, and awesome laterals to carry you down if your timing is good enough to stay on top.

The main event, Slots of Fun, is truly that. With a somewhat intimidating final drop the lead in is stout, but the rewards are great if you stay on line and hit the right "spot" while dropping over the "Slot". Hanging out on the rock next to Slots is one of my favorite places to be. With the Southwestern landscape, you and your posse stoked on life, and knowing that the paddling season is just about to come into full swing is a very spiritual feeling.

The rest of the run to the take out is great paddling as well, and even better while anticipating the taste of a cool brewski upon arrival at the shuttle vehicle!

(Please note that the take out access is a very sensitive issue on this run and we want to continue to be able to paddle the Embudo. Post on Mountainbuzz first if you're unsure about the correct takeout)

Ben nailing the flake rock on Slots...

CMo lining up the crosshairs....

The author boofing into Cheesegrater...

Justin gettin' jiggy wit it....

Double T on line and on time!

Escalante

Escalante Trip - Trip Report April 2008
by Ben

We headed out from Denver early on Saturday, April 19th for our first creeking trip of the season. You could not have asked for better conditions, the chocolate water was raging and the temperatures were in the mid 70's. Sunday, 4:20, proved to be the best of both days giving us medium-high flows, providing enough padding to run Escalante Falls and making the inner gorge a bit more interesting.

Our group consisted of myself, Justin, Lori, Chris, and Mike. It was great having Lori there to take a bunch of these amazing photos, run shuttle, and looking after all the dogs...thanks for putting up with us stinky river-rats!



Justin boofing the first drop, Leap Of Faith...



Mike blasting off Rib Ripper...



Justin finishing off the upper run on Corkscrew, online as usual...



Mike entering the inner gorge...



Chris running the falls. Freaking sweet boof guy, way to represent MD...



Cool angle on this picture taken by Lori catching me in mid air, she was sitting about 100 feet above us...



Some random guy getting buried at Magnetic Wall...



I learned the hard way how to run the entrance to Magnetic. Found it much easier to grab the river left eddy above the drop and charge with right boat angle, making sure to have a delayed boof stroke. The initial attempt got me my first bootie-beer of the season, nothing like the taste foot fungus and Miller Lite to quench your thirst...



What an awesome way to kick off the season! Made a few new friends out there, did some great camping (minus the gay dog action and me forgetting breakfast), plus had our shuttle bunny taking care of us. Mike, can we get some ICE CREEEEAAAAAMMMMMM, don't think that we will forget that. Don't wait too long, those ice creams become steak dinners at Ruth's Chris Steak House after 10 days.

Check that off the list for the season, next up Rio Embudo...



For a video report check out www.gravitysessions.com/video