This Friday and Saturday consisted of powder turns on Mount Baldy near Breckenridge. I know what you’re saying, oh imaginary-question-asker, “the same place two days in a row. Who does that?” Well, we had acutally intended to ski our second day on a fourteener near Breckenridge, but avalanche conditions had something else in mind (see the Summit County avalanche graph from CIAC, showing from inside to outside the avalanche danger above, at, and below treeline). Comparing the CIAC avalanche plots from Summit County & the Sawatch range, we decided that any approach from the east would be unsafe. We decided to try a western approach on the Baldy summit.
Before the drama builds too high, lets get this out of the way: we didn’t make it to the top of Baldy. While avalanche conditions kept us from attempting a snowy fourteener, visibility cut our Baldy attempt short. I strongly believe we could have done it. But, it would have been a type three story, and none of us were in the mood to torture ourselves through the cold for a good story. Perhaps next time.
In the end, it turned out to be a great couple of days. Our first day, Ryan, Arfie and I lapped the south face of baldy twice (from a bit above treeline to the bottom of the mine lift), feeling pretty pooped at each stop. Total mileage around 5m and elevation gain around 2,500ft. The second day, Ryan, Alex, Arfie and I lapped the south face three times (once from ~200ft higher than the previous day, twice similar to the previous day), but left the day feeling quite a bit stronger than the previous day. Must’ve been the Wheaties I ate the second morning.
Extras
Ryan has a great blog post about the two days, check it out on his blog
To view the complete photo gallery, check out the picasa album on my picasa account. Another cool way to check out the photos is overlayed on google maps.
Some approximate distance/time statistics (with * marking approximations):
| Total Distance | Total Time | Moving Time | Elevation Gain | |
| Day One | 5.11 miles | 3h 15m | 1h 18m | 2,245 ft |
| Day Two | 5.05 miles | 3h 15m | 1h 45m | 2,497 ft |
Some approximate slope statistics:
| Distance | Elevation Gain | Avg Slope | Max Slope | |
| Trailhead to Mill | 1.33 miles | 652 ft | 10.10% | 25.20% |
| Mill to Ridge | 0.56 miles | 805 ft | 26.50% | 38.40% |
| Mill to Treeline | 0.45 miles | 667 ft | 27.40% | 38.40% |
| Halfway to Treeline | 0.27 miles | 444 ft | 31.00% | 38.30% |
Updates
- Updated actual values for day one… thanks Ryan!
- Added slope & vertical feet table, along with accompanying plot.
- Added links to picasa album and map.