Memorial Weekend

This past Memorial Day weekend we headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park for some backcountry skiing.  I had just gotten over a cold (or so I thought) and was stoked to get out and play.  We camped in the Moraine Park campground which was actually quite pleasant despite the holiday weekend crowds.  The wind was supposed to be howling on our first day there with forecasted gusts of up to 65 mph.  We decided that a quick tour up into the Loch Vale/Glacier Gorge valleys would keep us relatively sheltered from the wind.  Unfortunately on our way up we missed the winter trail which is a short cut that skips about a mile of the normal summer trail.  We didn't think this was a big deal since were out on a casual tour and an extra mile didn't sound too bad.  The trail took us up near some water falls that were freeing themselves from the snowpack (Albert Falls?).  Unfortunately the well defined snowshoe trail ended at the falls and the trail was impossible to follow under the snow.  We ended up bushwacking the last mile up to the main trail junction where we were both pretty wore out.  We finished up the tour up to the Loch but quickly turned around and skied the gully back before the warmth opened up holes in the snow covering the creek.  We spent the rest of the day exploring some trails we had never been on in the park.  Unfortunately I don't think my cold was completely gone yet and I was too tired to do Flattop Mtn the next day so we just headed home.

Hallet's North Face

The Falls

Crystal taking a slight detour into a tree well on the way down.