The window for couloir skiing briefly opened again today with a few groups headed for some classic routes first thing this morning from our backcountry gate at the top of Gold Hill.
Plans & people changed and then came together at the last minute, and Josh Geeter and I skinned and booted back up Silver Mountain to go [...]

With a morning couloir attempt thwarted by seriously inclement weather (rain in town, but snow up high), Dan Hehir, Rob Klimek, Matt Steen, Mason Rich and I met at the New Sheridan “Parlor” for coffee and breakfast…a luxury that is rarely afforded to us with our work/ski schedules.
     
After a leisurely time hanging out [...]

Our plans are made, tickets booked, and permits in order…four of us ladies here in the Telluride area are headed to Denali, AK in early June to climb and ski the peak.
The team includes Karen Kingsley, Sonja Nelson, Kim Grant and myself.
These women are remarkable talents, and individually strong skiers and mountain people. Karen Kingsley, an [...]

Sometimes you just gotta go back to the well. In this case, it would be the Northwest aspect of Eldorado in Ophir.
Thursday, I went up for a quick solo tour/lunch break and bumped into world-class alpinist and (IFMGA/UIAGM) guide Vince Anderson and his client & friend, “Bull”. The fellas let me join them and Eldo looked [...]

Con Severis skiing “Eldorado” in Ophir, CO on Wednesday afternoon.

Since returning from the weekend with CVA in Silverton, between work & play, it has been a busy week in Telluride.
Tuesday brought a huge storm to the San Juans with about 18 inches of fresh over a 24 hour period. My friend and Silverton Mtn guide, Fabio Grasso, came over for the powder day and we [...]

This past weekend, I had the lucky pleasure of once again skiing with the great young adult big mountain skiers of Carabassett Valley Academy’s ALPS program (Alpine Leadership Pursuits for Skiers/Riders). Along with Sam Punderson, their head ski coach, with whom I became friends at a backcountry ski test for Skiing Magazine a few years ago, the [...]

Just to mix it up a bit, Jeff Haskell and I headed over to Ouray early this morning for a little ice climbing. The last time Haskell and I climbed together was this past fall in the Black Canyon so it was nice to revisit the old team dynamic.
Again another beautiful day in the San [...]

The past few days have continued with a warming trend and bright, clear & beautiful sunny skies (bluebird).
After a couple more tours in Ophir on Sunday and Monday, today was ladies day for Sue Hehir and I. We headed out the gate at about 10am and skied over to Lena Basin from the Gold Hill Ridge. [...]