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The plan was to skin up Dry Gulch and try and bag “Golden Bear Peak” or UN13,010 on the map. The we were going to try and skin back up to the saddle and head for Trelease’s NE slopes.

The day dawned nice enough down in Denver and off we went. We got up to Dry Gulch trailhead and were kind of surprised by snow flakes. We geared up and headed for the trail. After about 1 1/2 hours it was snowing about and inch and a 1/2 an hour. So much for high pressure I guess. We encountered a fair amount of “whomphing” but it was mainly centered around the willows and the hollow areas created by the bushy spaces below. There was a layer of concern below the new snow and above facets but the map showed mellow terrain accessible at the head of the valley, so we pressed on, picking safe routes of travel and thinking about what was above us. At one point I mentioned that we needed to be closer to or in the trees to avoid possible remote triggers.

As we neared treeline well away from the steep slopes to our south on Trelease, the bowl above slid. The base of the slide was about 400′ from us over flat, willowed terrain and the crown was about 1000′ feet away. Then the next bowl over slid sympathetically. The second slide was separated by a treed area about 200′ wide. I’d say both start zones were around 35-38 degrees and had small, fresh looking cornices. They were cross loaded and the aspect was NNE

This trip was aborted on the spot.

We salvaged the day by getting in some turns up at Loveland Pass. There was 2-3 inches of new by the time we got back to the truck and it was still snowing when we left at noon. High pressure my ….

Nice touring with you Dane and great to see you Homi. It’s been far too long my friend.

Be careful out there. Hair trigger conditions exist. Think about what’s above you at all times and stick to terrain below 30 degrees

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