Frank has been trying for quite some time now to get me to ski this line off Black Mountain. Finally the stars aligned, Arapahoe Basin reported 4″ this morning and we were out the door with David at 6:15am. The approach takes you up the basin before you split left out of bounds and head towards Black Mountain.
David overlooking Black Mountain
The skinning went pretty quickly and then we transitioned to crampons and began working our way up the line. The temperature was surprisingly cold when we began, it felt like a nice mid-winter day on the ascent.
Working our way up the apron
David and Frank putting in the boot pack about halfway up
Me on the ascent – thanks for the shot David!
We reached the top, transitioned, and were ready to rip some powder down this beauty of a line! There was a consistent 5″ with some sections having ~8″ or more. This made for some great turns on the descent!!
Staring down the Trench!
David enjoying the fresh turns on the way down
David uses sly photography tricks to make it look like I know what I am doing here, thanks!!
Frank ripping it up!
We couldn’t have caught this in much better conditions than we did today, what an amazing line! The apron coming off the trench laid us out some beautiful fresh turns as a reward. What a great day with good friends in the mountains : -)
Our tracks coming down the apron
Migrantmatt 