December 16, 2018

One of the better snowmobile days I have ever had!!! Colin and I sent it up Hurricane Pass just outside of Silverton, CO! We got an early start because I had to get back to Durango for work at 3:00PM. We doubled up on the snowmobile, “Canadian Style” ehh, from where the bus was parked on Cement Creek Road. Just after passing the turnoff for Corkscrew Pass it was all untouched POW! We ripped it up for a bit together! Once it started to get deeper and more technical, I bwapped up solo to as far as I could go to stay in Colin’s sight. Turned around and set a good sled road in. It was pretty technical snowmobiling!! Right was off a cliff and left was a big rock wall!!! Super cool! At one point while we were riding along it I said to Colin, “Man this big mountain shit is scary!” We got to the point where I turned around and dropped Colin again to solo send up further. Not long was I in super deep POW off the road ripping into a basin!! Came back to Colin, sent it up in there together, and made a plan to take some sled laps!!!!! I set in a highmark and a snowmobile highway for easy riding two man. Then we SENT IT!!! We were dropping in at 12,800ft and skiing to 11,600ft!!! SLED LAPS!!!! The snow was great!! It was S to SW facing. Pretty low angle. Where we were dropping in from was kind of steep, but SW-West facing and felt good. Took like four turns on that then into the basin of POWWWWW! There was a slab from the top of snow about 25cm down, but was bonded nicely to the layer below. North and Northeast facing slopes with wind loading had slide naturally. Some of the avalanches looked pretty big off near Corkscrew area. We took two laps each!!! Super fast fun POW! After some more talking about the snow we decided to send the bigger line above us off the peak. I hiked first and set the bootpack up to the top, while Colin chilled below on the snowmobile. It was a pretty steep hike!!! Fun!! Then hit ridgeline and traversed to the top just shy of 13,400ft!!!! Gave the signal to Colin I was about to drop in! KOOSHING!!!! The first couple turns up top before dropping into the shot were wind buffed and not so POW, but then I entered into the shot and it was POWWWWWW!! Mach tits!!!!! So fast!!!!! Buttery buttery POW! Stayed on top of it nice!! It was a West facing shot off Hurricane Proper. The snow held really nice! Feeling good about West facing slopes right now. I got down to Colin so hyped!!!!!!!!! Jumped on the sled and took him to the high mark so he could start hiking!!! I chilled and ate roast beef sammys at the bottom, while Colin hiked. He got to the top, got his stuff together, and dropped in!!!! He ripped it supper fast too!! Blew a fatty slash towards the bottom that looked so good!!!!!!!! It was an incredible line!! One of the better I have ever done in the San Juans! The view from the top was like being on top of the world!! Could see nothing but endless peaks! Colin and I have a great chemistry together when it comes to shredding. We tore it up out there!! Had each other’s backs and shredded fat POW! This day was what the new snowmobile was for!! Sled laps and access to amazing lines way out there!! Epic day!! Amazing day!! Incredible day!!!!