Ouray to Telluride - Last Dollar Tour 2013

March 03 - Ouray to Moonshine Park
Two friends, Chris and Annie, drop me off at the Dallas Trail trailhead (2 miles north of Ouray) at around 2:30pm. After a couple of quick hugs and some departure pictures, I am off on my 5-day ski tour through the San Juan backcountry. It will be a 35-mile journey along and around the Sneffels Range to Telluride. I don't have a reservation at the first hut (Burn Hut) tonight, so the plan is to camp part way up and continue to the hut tomorrow. I pass up my first two opportunities for nice level camp sites with beautiful views because the expected warm, wet, heavy snow conditions were surprisingly absent, making the steep ascent through the cliffy terrain rather easy. I reach a large, treeless slope called Moonshine Park, set up camp along the upper ridge, take a few pictures, and am tucked into my sleeping bag by dark.

March 04 - Moonshine Park to Burn Hut
I awake early after a great night sleep. Snow/groppel showers pelted the tent throughout the night, the sound of which coupled with the wind rushing through the treetops, made my warm and dry sleeping bag a memorably comfortable cocoon. The showers continue into morning, and not wanting to pack up the tent during heavy snowfall, I stay tucked away reading and waiting for the end of a chapter to coincide with the end of a shower. This timing seems illusive, so I make 16 boiling ounces of my favorite instant coffee, dress, and go for a short ski to the bottom of Moonshine Park in the few inches of fresh snow. Upon returning to camp, the sun shines through, I pack up the tent and ski down the treed backside to the Burn Hut. I make a fire in the wood stove, collect snow for water, and hang some gear to dry, making the hut a home suitable for a relaxing day of country radio and reading.

March 05 - Burn Hut to Wilson Creek Tr. summit
Anxious to get on the trail, I leave the hut without breakfast. An easy two-hour ski gets me to the Ridgeway Hut where I pause briefly for a power bar breakfast. Next, I climb steep switchbacks through dense spruce trees to the ridgeline separating the Ridgeway Hut and the Blue Lakes Hut. This is the high point of my trip (11,100') and my camp for the night. The tent is pitched and staked down with ski poles and spruce branches for fear of ridgetop winds overnight. I now have the remainder of the day to wander the ridgeline and photograph this magnificent view of the Sneffels Range.

Fast asleep, I am awaken by loud, strong wind gusts. My hope for a brief wind storm is dashed as the fury intensifies. The windward tent wall is now being blown down completely flat onto my face. I try to brace it with my hand, but it soon becomes clear that my 3-season tent is no match for these blasts. I decide the only way to save my tent from a cartoon-style stripping (and whatever else would be lost if the tent is destroyed) is to pack up and relocate lower on the leeward side of the ridge. Step one, put my ski boots together, removing the possibility of collecting gear while in my socks on this snow-covered ridge. Not so fast; my headlamp is not working; step one, locate backup flashlight. I grope with my right hand as I hold the tent up with my left. It's difficult to think clearly with all the howling noise and violent shaking of the tent walls. Finally I find it, twist it on, and holding it in my mouth, struggle to reassemble my boots. After dressing in all my winter gear, I haphazardly throw the remainder in my pack, climb outside into the fury and quickly take down the tent (careful not to allow it to blow away), strap it to the outside of my pack, and ski down the ridge by flashlight. Once at the saddle, the wind is gentle enough to set up a new camp by mouth-held flashlight. Inside now; the wind is still flapping the rainfly quite a bit, but this is not pole-bending wind, so hopefully sleep is possible despite the still pulsing adrenaline. So much for sunrise photos of the ridgetop camp.

March 06 - Wilson Creek Tr. saddle to North Pole Hut
Still windy this morning. I pack up and hit the trail at 7:15am. Racing down a dozen steep, crusty, harrowing switchbacks, crossing a few running streams, passing by the Blue Lakes Hut, trudging through fresh snow, wandering around lost every few hours, I finally arrive at the North Pole Hut. Exhausted and dehydrated, I must complete all the standard chores, such as building a fire, collecting pots of snow for water, and hanging gear to dry. I eat and drink as much as my exhaustion-born nausea will allow, take a one hour nap, eat and drink more, and crawl onto my fireside bunk with a smile.

March 07 - North Pole Hut to Telluride
Instant oatmeal and coffee, a trip to the outhouse, and I'm on my last leg to Telluride. It will be a long (9 mile) trek to the Last Dollar Hut followed by a quick (3 mile) ski down to the Deep Creek trailhead where my car sits waiting. There are a seemingly endless number of drainage crossings, making it difficult to keep track of my location. Luckily there are also several avalanche paths to cross which are much more distinctive (such as the feared Alder Creek slide path), aiding my orienteering efforts. Of course, the other side of this "lucky" coin is that they are quite dangerous to cross. Without an equipped avalanche buddy, I tend to stare at them for a while, take a deep breath, and cross as efficiently as possible. The last quarter of the way, the snow becomes too warm/wet, causing my climbing skins to glob-up frequently enough that I abandon them and rely on the "cross country ski" style fish scales on my Rossignol backcountry skis. Fortunately, there is minimal climbing during this section of trail and the skins are not necessary until the final ascent up Last Dollar Road and the ridgeline to the Last Dollar Hut. Mid-afternoon at the final hut, under clear skies, the wind whipping across the ridge, I strip my skins for the last time and prepare for the final descent into Telluride. The plan is to ski the south face, but an unpleasant sun crust covering the entire slope forces me to choose the snow-covered, unmaintained section of Last Dollar Road all the way down. Not exactly a glamorous end to the trip, but success holds a glamour all its own. I am down; the car is here; the trip is over; I feel good both physically and mentally. It has been a fun (and at times thrilling) tour that I have been wanting to complete for many years. Aside from the couple I shared the Burn Hut with, I have been alone in the mountains for five long days; it's time to "get back" to civilization.