SATURDAY 5/21 AM: 2 X TUNING FORK HANDLE
Dani and I woke up early Saturday morning with lots of pent up "ya ya's" and cautious optimism about the weather and over night freeze on Torrey's Peak. We rallied the Jeep up the road to the trail head for Grizzly Gulch and started to piece together the mining roads by head lamp. The approach isn't all that complicated but due to limited java and no map we managed to get turned around and delayed by an hour. Worried we had missed our opportunity to ski the Tuning Fork Couloir on Torrey's Peak we threw on the crampons and headed up, keeping a close eye on snow conditions. The truth of the matter is, there is a ton of snow up high! Around 9 am we were 1/2 way up the couloir and decided it was more than we really were up for. With the amount of snow and rapid warming we switched to skis and traversed out to the sunnier and steeper slope. Psyche! It was bullet proof! But at least it was consistent. After skiing to the bottom a few other parties were just starting up the boot pack we had put in. Worried we had jumped the gun, we went for round 2. Back up and back down the lower 1/2 of the slope we found the same result. Sometimes its good to double check, plus we needed to stretch our legs!
SATURDAY PM: "SLAYING WALLEYES"
So, after skiing we jumped in the Jeep, drove back to Boulder, and headed to Boulder Reservoir to enjoy the warm evening. Low and behold we crossed paths with a school of nice Walleye. Momma D would have been proud! However, all Walleye were returned with both cheeks still intact.
SUNDAY 5/22: CUPID STRIKES THRICE
Sunday we really spoiled ourselves. We made a plan that allowed us to sleep in until 5:30! Up with bagels and java, we hit the road to Loveland Pass and toured out the ridge to check snow conditions and try to ski Cupid Peak. We found awesome corn on the Southeast face at 9:30, then as the sun continued to move we toured back up and skied Kearney Bowl back from the summit of Cupid (North facing at 10:30). Then after a skin and boot pack back up to the summit of Cupid, we dropped off the West side and skied "Dave's Wave" back down to the road. After a short skin back up the pass we were back at the car, real hungry and real wind/sun burned.
