American Peak

Nearing the couloirs on American peak — Nearing the couloirs, the summit is located to the left of center in the photo.

American Peak, 13,806 ft., is the 101st-tallest peak in Colorado. If it were only a few feet higher, it would be on the list of Colorado’s Centennial peaks. Christy and I’ve hiked it in the summer, and I’ve passed underneath its north-facing couloirs numerous times during the Hardrock 100. But we had never skied it.

Unlike many who opt for the high trailhead of American Basin, we were in Silverton for the weekend, along with our friends Sean and Joey, and we thought it would be fun to follow the Hardrock 100 route and start at the Grouse Gulch Trailhead.

approaching American Peak for a ski descent — Heading up from Grouse Gulch.

It’s an easy drive from Silverton; no 4WD is really needed. From the trailhead, we hiked a good trail in our trail shoes until we reached the snowline, around 12,000 feet. We switched to ski boots, skis, and skins and made our way up to the Grouse-American saddle. A short ski down and traverse put us right underneath the couloirs.

As we approached, we had a good view of them all. Everything looked skiable. However, since we were going for a summit ski descent, it made more sense to plan the route that most easily accessed the summit.

Christy Mahon on approach to American Peak — From the American-Grouse saddle, you can see Handies Peak in the background.

Gerry Roach, the renowned Colorado guidebook author (among other things), has named the four prominent couloirs in his guidebook with “American” themes: the Patriot, Traitor, Victory, and Independence couloirs.

Skinning up the Patriot Couloir of American Peak — Skinning up the Patriot Couloir, which was the first couloir south of the true summit.

We chose to climb the Patriot, which was closest to the summit. We actually managed to skin to the top of the couloir and then booted to the top of American Peak. It was a fantastic summit, with a very steep dropoff to the north. There wasn’t much space to transition to skiing.

On the summit of American Peak. — On the summit. There wasn’t much space to move around.

As for our route of descent, we opted to ski a clean line (without a skin track) slightly to the west– the Independence Couloir. It was pretty good snow for May, with slightly consolidated powder and some rollerballs that followed us down.

Christy Mahon skiing the Independence Couloir on American Peak — Skiing the Independence Couloir.

Once the four of us were through the couloir, we chose different routes down into American Basin below and then skinned back up to the Grouse-American saddle. From there, it was a quick cruise to the valley below.

Next up, we would head a little north and ski some 13ers from Cinnamon Pass.