Grizzly Couloir

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Unkowingly and entirely unplanned the Grizzly couloir has become a birthday tradition for me. This past Tuesday Marshal and I headed up and skied the couloir in pretty decent conditions despite the howling winds and freezing cold temps. Last year on the same day with the same partner, we skied the couloir under similar conditions.

Skinning along the ridge:

Early morning light:

In my opinion the lines off Grizzly are some of the best in the Front Range when it comes to accessibility, fun factor, and aesthetic appeal. You really can’t find a trailhead that starts you much higher than Loveland Pass. You get all that below treeline slogging out of the picture and your entire approach is in the alpine. Not too shabby.

Some scenics from the approach:

Looking towards A-basin and Montezuma area:

Marshal:

Heading SE from the summit of Grizzly:

The cornice at the entry was a bit larger than last year, but manageable. Marshal dropped in first, sloughed out the upper few inches on the surface, and then continued to slice turns down the main gut. Our only concern was surface slough as the rest of the pack was solid and non-responsive. About half-way down the couloir we found some nice and light knee deep powder all the way down to treeline.

Up top:

Looking back up:

This is where the snow got real nice:

Marshal entering the apron:

Roundtrip took us around 4 hours. We left one vehicle at the Bakerville exit and another up on top of the pass. The ski out through Grizzly gulch was fast thanks to the snowshoers and XC skiers who packed down the trail nicely.