| A Quick Ski Tour on Horseshoe Trip Report |
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| A Quick Ski Tour on Horseshoe   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Location: Colorado, United States, North America Date Climbed/Hiked: May 9, 2010 Activities: Mountaineering, Skiing Season: Spring | Page By: benners Created/Edited: Oct 9, 2011 / Oct 9, 2011 Object ID: 752627 Hits: 323 Loading... Page Score: 86.24% - 2 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Unnamed Couloir Ski on Horseshoe 5.9.10
Date: May 9, 2010
Skiers: Brian (lordhelmut014), Carl, Marc, Me
Route: Unnamed Couloir to summit ridge, ski descent back down ascent route
Horseshoe Mountain granted us an awesome spring day in the Rockies featuring some sporty climbing and skiing in a gorgeous setting. Though our group was split up for basically the entire day, we all managed to find something fun to do on this peak. At the beginning of the day Marc decided to break off from the group to take a high traverse which he thought would be a quicker way to the summit. Brian, Carl and I stuck together and took a lower road through Horseshoe Gulch. Marc ended up riding the Boudoir Couloir, we ended up skiing a steep, unnamed couloir dropping off Horseshoe's Northeast Ridge.
Carl skinning towards the Horseshoe Cirque:
Within two hour of leaving the car we made the decision to forgo the Boudoir and head for a narrow slot which looked more fun.
The slot heads up and to the right:
Some steep climbing was in the cards...
...followed by some full on rock climbing in ski boots:
Eventually we topped out on the ridge and realized if we wanted to safely ski our ascent route, we'd have to give up the summit. The snow was getting warm and the summit looked to be at least an hour away. We all agreed that skiing a cool line sounded more interesting than summiting and skiing the ridge, so we clicked in and dropped in. While taking a break in a safety zone, we looked across the way and saw Marc digging a pit at the top of the Boudoir. A few minutes later he boarded it top to bottom, we met up with him in Horseshoe Gulch for the ski out.
Some ski pics:
Marc's tracks:
After regrouping we were able to ski most of the way back to the truck where we capped off the day with some Dale's. A fun day on a unique peak, I'd head back for sure.
The route:
Cheers!
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