Now that it's springtime in the Rockies, mountains that are typically too avalanche prone in the winter become skiable. Witt and I hiked up Mt. Guyot, a 13er near Breckenridge, to grab a couple turns. We got a bit later start than we should've, so we didn't reach the summit (once the snow turns from frozen crust to soft melty snow, you're pretty much done ascending) but we did manage to climb 2500 ft and ski down 1200 ft of that.
Mt. Guyot, from the trailhead
Witt ready to go
The backside of Bald Mountain
The snowy valley leading up to the summit The snow was very uneven and cratered - our best guess was recent rainfall and melting traveled along the snow surface. The dark patch in the middle of the photo is a frozen pile of pine needles traveling just above the creek, as if it overflowed.
Brian hiking up the valley
Our valley ascent
The Gore range from within the valley on Guyot.
Looking down the valley from 11,500 ft.
Witt continues to boot pack up the rough slope. I'd switched to skinning up at this point We descended down the snowfield in the very right of the frame, which was much smoother than the frozen slope in the foreground
Looking down the bowl at 11,800ft.
Still climbing
Brian skinning up the slope
Our descent slope
Brian
The backside of the front range Just below treeline, a few remaining snow-covered runs at keystone are visible. The two tall peaks in the center are Grays and Torrey's (14ers).
Brian
Witt, with Bald Mountain in the background
Panorama before we dropped in The snow started to soften up on us, so we decided not to try to reach the summit, but to turn around and ski before the snow became mashed potatoes.
Looking down at Summit County from 12,500ft. Like Dillon is just barely visible from this angle.
