Route: North Face

Team: Ted, Christy, Dirk Bockelmann

Having just returned from a week of sailboat-accessed skiing in NW Iceland sandwiched between descents of the Grand Teton and Mount Rainier, I was ready to focus on things closer to home.

A year earlier, Christy and I went for Tabeguache Peak, backpacking with our overnight gear for five and a half miles to Brown’s Lake. The following morning, we were awoken early by tent-shredding winds, so we decided to bail. One year later, we returned, and we blazed back up to the mountain’s north side— no overnight this time.

Trail shoes got us all the way to the lake in about 2:45. From there, we switched to ski boots and grabbed a snack. We skinned towards the North Face couloirs and assessed the choices. It was nice to see a lot of snow and several options for climbing/skiing routes. Around 13K, the angle steepened, and we had to put our skis on our packs and switch to crampons. The snow was pretty supportive and good for kicking steps.

The late May date was evident by the blooming spring storm clouds overhead, something you don’t see in winter. As Christy and Dirk arrived up top, some distant thunder could be heard over by Mount Antero, along with some audible humming coming from our electrified ice axes! That had us scurrying into ski mode and off the summit.

This was one of the most interesting and fun ski lines in the Sawatch 14ers for me, second only to La Plata’s North Face. The couloirs run a long way and are at a good high angle right off the summit. If skiing from Tabeguache Peak is the goal, this North Face is a must.

Back at the lake, we switched back to trail shoes and boogied on down the trail back to the cars—a ten-hour round trip. I headed south, alone, to Little Bear. Dirk and Christy drove back to Aspen.

This was a fun one.