An Adventure with UpSki
UpSki - Wind Mountaineering
Blue Peak, Corn and Wind
Do you want quality turns or quantity turns? Backcountry skiers often vote for the former and in-bounds skiers the latter. Using wind power to regain lost vertical offers backcountry skiers an opportunity to have it both ways. Lightweight, 14
pounds, the UpSki sail creates not just a way to get to the top but a sport on its own. Here is a trip report:
A Spring Harvest
The Sawatch Range can get a ton of snow in the spring and by early June there are still plenty of shirt-sleeved skiers on top of 12,000 foot Independence Pass which is about 14 miles from Aspen. The drill is pretty much
one of hiking, skiing and catching a ride back up highway 82 for another round. The parking lot (or is it a "port" in this sport?) is both the start and finish for a day of upskiing.
Niki, the dog, observes as the lap counter starts!
The adventure begins at the top of the pass, by capturing the power of the breeze blowing out of the west, Dave Weissman and I sail away from the parking area at a rapid pace. The wind is very good and the two miles into the base of Blue Peak float by
quickly. A sunlit cove of warm
rock walls and a small waterfall provide a base camp for a lunch and, later, a nap. Just above, and fully exposed to the force of a 20-30 mph breeze, lay a huge 1,600 foot vertical snowfield of perfect spring corn
snow (a rounded, granular snow formed from the freeze/thaw
cycle, the crop that day was one and half inches.)
Dave, ripping past 13,500 feet (left) and descending with his canopy vented (right)
The UpSki snaps open and the rocket ship rides begin. Dave leans hard into his harness and throws up a rooster tail of slush as he sweeps
off into the center of the snowfield. I lean to the opposite tack, click a picture or two as we rip up the mountain and then look back to check on the progress of the two dogs. They are becoming small dots below, we will be returning shortly. The
perception is one of riding a very fast elevator without walls as the peaks on the horizon
drop away. Within moments we are approaching the final pitch to the summit. The dogs hang at mid-pitch and watch as we cruise down and zip up. Later we will hike the few dozen feet to the peak and take pictures.
A good place to stop, Aspen is over there
...and Vail is over there.
Skiing corn is so much fun that we actually stop long enough to stuff the canopies for a ski down. This is unusual because in UpSkiing, it is the going up that is the most fun. We don't time our turn-arounds but we have in the past and found that days
like this will yield 14-18 minute round trips on this peak. That's 3200 feet of vertical per run and it is fun both ways! After the sun, the wind and the corn have had their way with us we make turns to the waterfall, lean against the warm rock, eat and
snooz a bit before doing it all again.
Tara, the dog, looks forward to a lunch break
