How to Use the Website

Warning

Ski mountaineering is an inherently dangerous activity. This website, contributors, and host are not responsible for any action you take using the information that is displayed on the web pages of Front Range Ski Mountaineering.  You are the responsible party. 

The photos, maps, and information available on this site are not accurate. Before you venture into the backcountry you should gather as much information as possible and be prepared to change your plans if you encounter conditions, terrain, and/or situations you are not prepared for. The Resources page on this site includes links to mountaineering and avalanche guides and instructors who can convey information on assessing these risks. 

Front Range Ski Mountaineering is released free of charge in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty or fitness for a particular purpose.

Organization

This website describes select spring ski mountaineering routes and winter backcountry skiing located on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. The ski descent routes are divided into winter backcountry skiing areas and spring ski mountaineering regions. Winter backcountry skiing destinations may contain ascent and descent routes that are considered ‘safer’ when spring arrives. The spring ski mountaineering regions are typically organized by mountain range, national forest wilderness, or man-made assignments such as highways and counties. Each spring ski mountain or area has a brief description. The ski descent has a description including an overview and information on the approach, a picture, and a corresponding location on a map. Here is more information on what is described on each spring skiing mountain's page. Winter backcountry pages are similar, but with fewer specifics on difficulty.

Mountain

The mountain is briefly described and its elevation is noted.

Trailhead

The commonly used trailheads are described for the routes. This includes high level travel directions to the trailhead. Make sure to bring a map with you! There are several excellent maps noted on the Resources page of this website. The elevation of the trailhead is included.

Route Name

The route name is the commonly used local name for the ski descent. There may be several names listed. When a colorful local name was not available, this website may assign a name. A number is assigned to the route and this number assists you when looking at the route photos and maps on this website.

Descent Rating

This website uses the "D System" to describe the difficulty, objective hazards, and commitment of the ski descents. This system describes several factors for ski mountaineers to consider. The ascent does not have a rating because the description provides some information, the ascent may be a different route than the descent, and some routes on this website may have an alpine climbing rating described in another resource.

The D System is comprised of three parts and is fully described on Lou Dawson’s Wild Snow website. Please refer to Lou Dawson’s website for a description of the D System, and further dialogue on how it is used. The link provided includes D-System descriptions of:

Route Commitment - This is an estimate of how long a route will take for an "average" backcountry skier in "average" conditions.

Difficulty - This describes the difficulty of the terrain and the slope angle in relation to the other routes on this website.

Risk - This describes the objective hazards to be considered on the ski descent. This is not a measure of avalanche danger and is not a measure of snow stability.

This website is attempting to use the D-System to describe each route. The Risk Scale is not used frequently on this website. This website considers every ski ascent and descent to be inherently risky. These objective hazards are encountered on every ski descent in this website, and these hazards can vary by season. Fundamentally, all of the routes described in this website are dangerous and are at minimum R1 on the risk scale. Because these routes are all subjected to some form of objective hazard, the R rating is reserved for routes that require a risk rating that is more significant than the normal risks encountered (R1). The risk scale does not describe the avalanche danger and snow stability of the route. These conditions vary considerably and it is up to the ski mountaineer to determine the level of avalanche and snow stability risk.

Aid Rating  - The symbol “A” is used to identify when a form of assistance is needed to bypass a consistently non-skiable portion of a route’s descent. This can include climbing down rocks, using anchors in the snow and rock to rappel over an obstacle, and using anchors to rope belay a skier while descending, etc. The use of aid is both subjective and dictated by the amount of snow. After a winter of significant snowfall a ski descent may be completed filled in with snow and depending on the skill of the skier, may not require aid. In lean snow years, the line may require aid. For the purpose of this website, the “A” designation is used for routes that consistently require artificial aid to descend.

Average Angle, Steepest Angle - We estimate the spring ski descent’s average angle and steepest angle based on our experience as well as with using tools such as Caltopo.

AVALANCHE TERRAIN EXPOSURE scale

Front Range Ski Mountaineering became aware of the Avalanche Terrain Exposure Scale (ATES) when we started collaborating with Beacon Guidebooks for the publication of our Berthoud Pass and Loveland Pass guidebooks. ATES is a planning tool that was designed and developed extensively by Parks Canada as a way to help snow travelers understand the risks that inherently come with travel in avalanche terrain. It is a system of rating backcountry terrain based on exposure to potential avalanches when in that terrain. We highly recommend reviewing the ATES system and incorporating into your planning.

The updated 2.0 ATES scale (2023) divides terrain into four categories: non-avalanche, simple, challenging, complex, and extreme. An excellent ATES overview, including descriptions of the categories, is described on Beacon’s website. We apply ATES in the spring ski mountaineering route description to aid in thinking about exposure to avalanche terrain, and to consider how to minimize risk. We may also reference ATES in the approach description as even the ways in and out can be exposed to avalanche hazards.

Over time, we will be incorporating ATES into the winter backcountry descriptions. In both winter and spring route descriptions and pictures we will be removing any descriptive and visual references to green, blue, and black. These colors tend to code to ski area difficulty and not backcountry difficult. They are misleading for ski mountaineering and backcountry decision making, but it will take some time for us to get to these updates.

Season

This is the recommended season to ski the route, and these assignments align to the description of the Front Range seasons described on the Conditions page. This website describes routes that should be skied on stable spring and summer snow. “Spring” is assigned to routes that are commonly skied in the spring after the snowpack has consolidated into a more predictable isothermal layer. Do note that Spring can arrive at different times depending on the elevation, exposure, and weather patterns. Some of these Spring routes have a narrow window of ski descent opportunity between the consolidation of the snowpack, release of wet slides that may fill the route with avalanche debris, and melting from solar radiation. “Summer” is assigned to ski descents that are frequented in the summer months. These are often permanent snowfields and glaciers that last throughout the summer. There is no Fall designation because ski routes are anemic at this time, and any snow that remains has transformed to hard alpine ice and snowfall on top of this substrate creates a dangerous situation. Some routes have a “Spring, Summer” assignment because under the right conditions they are commonly skied in numerous seasons. For example, the Southeast Face of Mt Toll is labelled as “Spring, Summer” because it is possible to ski this fine line from the point of spring snow pack consolidation into the summer.

ASPECT

We previously called this “exposure”, and this terminology will remain on legacy pages until we are able to edit. The aspect describes the direction that the majority of the ski descent is facing. The exposure to sun is important information for forecasting snow conditions and timing. Do note that a twisting ski descent may have several different exposures. Additionally, the ski descent may have multiple degrees of exposure to other hazards such as cornices, cliffs, and debris. The route’s description will note these challenges.

Vertical

The vertical is an estimated length, in feet, of ski descent. This estimated vertical length does not include the total vertical from the trailhead to the top of the route. The total vertical of a ski descent may vary by the snow conditions and season.

Approach Elevations

The approach elevations, a range in feet, are an estimation of the elevations a backcountry skier may travel through to get to and up a route. These are measured from the commonly used trailhead that is related to the route. Multiple approach elevation ranges may be given in the case where there are several common approaches to a ski descent. These ranges can assist the skier in understanding the potential zones of travel. CAIC frequently cites the elevations in avalanche forecasts, along with exposure, as a tool for backcountry travelers to understand the changing dynamics based on elevation.

Approach Distance

The approach distance, in miles, is an estimation of the one-way distance from the trailhead to the top of the route. For routes with multiple approaches, several distances may be listed. This distance is an estimate and can vary by season, road closure, terrain, and snow conditions.

Description

The description includes unique information about the route, and approach information that is unique to the route and picks up from the trailhead information. When multiple route share a common approach, there is a description of this. In this case, each route’s individual approach description starts from an intersection on the shared approach. 

Pictures and Map

Our legacy spring ski mountaineering pictures and maps use blue lines and squares to show the approaches and routes. Starting the spring of 2024 we are replacing any reference to ski area symbology. This includes the blue lines and blue squares on the ski mountaineering pictures, as well as the green circles, blue squares, and black diamonds on the winter backcountry pages. We think that any association with ski area colors is confusing because ski resort difficulty does not translate to backcountry travel. The photo symbology going forward is best seen on new pages such as Mount Logan and Rosalie Peak. The route photos remain in black and white, but the route line is a dashed black line, and the route symbol is a yellow square. It will take quite some time for us to go back and make these route symbol fixes on the legacy pages.

Our new maps are in Caltopo. These maps will show approaches and ascents with arrow lines, and ski descents and mountaineering ascents in dashed lines. We will not delineate routes by difficult on the maps. Legacy Google maps will persist until we are able to replace them, and we anticipate changing out the legacy maps before the legacy photos.