Storm on Old Monarch, Friday Feb 16

Today I went skiing up the Old Monarch Pass road again. I had a little more time than I expected, so I went all the way up near the summit. I didn't go the last 200 yards because the snow was drifting real badly up there.

Dark cloud fragments would sweep up over the ridge from the Gunnison side. Snow would whirl and drift. Sometimes the snow would be picked up by what looked like the winter equivalent of dust devils. This was powerful and exciting.

It also made me ask myself, "What am I doing here?" Though just a mile from other people (on one of the ski runs at Monarch) the whole place had a spooky quality about it. I made my photographs, and headed back toward my truck.

Going downhill was delightful. It was kick and glide skiing all the way!

Old Monarch Pass

Pictured above is the summit of Old Monarch Pass. This was the route of Highway 50 until 1921. The highway now crosses the continental divide maybe a mile south of here. The old road is now a cross country ski route, also traveled by snowmobiles. In the summer, you can drive over, and go down the Gunnison side of the mountains.

See this site for the history of Highway 50.

Today I drove to the Monarch Ski and Snowboard area, visited with my friend Anrahyah (who kindly offered me part of her lunch!), and then went cross country skiing on the Old Monarch Pass road which is just uphill from the entrance to the ski area. I think it was about 1:30 pm.

The snow was in great condition, high enough that it wasn't melting on this relatively warm day. The summit of the pass is a bit over 11,300 feet. Coming down was kick and glide most of the way.

At the bottom, a man asked me general questions about skiing the area, and then looked to be putting on his skis. A lady who had started just ahead of me was still on the mountain somewhere.

After a slice of pizza and a drink (at ski area prices), I drove down the mountain and home.

More Good Snow!

This is as far as I went today--about 20 minutes up the Hancock road above St. Elmo, which is up Chalk Creek Canyon from where I live. The mountain in the background is the southern flank of Mt. Princeton. A maintained road comes up from the Upper Arkansas Valley.

The snow was excellent again this time. Several inches of new snow had fallen a couple of days earlier.


This rock, snow, and trees were very near the beginning of the Hancock road, where I happened to stop to tighten my boot laces.

Both photographs were corrected in the LAB color space, which allowed me to easily remove a reddish cast from the top photo, while leaving the bottom one slightly on the warm side. I thought it looked best this way. Importantly, use of the lightness channel let me hold a suggestion of detail in the lightest snow.

As I was putting on my skis this afternoon, down the road came Ed, my dentist, on his skis. He and some family members had been out doing what I was about to do.

Cross country skiing is a full body exercise. It uses about every muscle you've got! That's why I like to get out even for short ski sessions.