[Kenji]

I had been interested in skiing deeper onto Rampart Ridge and finally had a chance to try last Sunday. Jule was easily convinced of explanatory nature of this trip as she is always ready for a new adventure. We took Randy's short cut to the backdoor trail to Lake Lillian, which follows an old road shortly beyond the end of Gold Cr snow park turnaround. The road was still blocked by a short stretch of snow then clear until the trees. The spar road still has a sign at the beginning and is shown in some old maps. Many fallen trees in the first half mile but nothing major and easy to navigate. It does not connect to the upper road, but a shortcut was quick and easy through spaced trees. Then just follow a gentle downhill to connect to the main access road across Rocky Run creek.

distance: 12.05mi range: 2549' to 5828' gross: +4425' -4427'

leaving the summer TH

Reaching Lake Lillian was easier than we had thought. Staying higher helped with a short bridge over running water. On our return we went lower along the main drainage crisscrossing it over easy snow bridges.

The crux was a short but steep gully to gain the ridge above the lake. Fortunately the snow was supportive enough for steep skinning, nothing stops Jule anyway. By now the sky was blue with clear views all around though the snow wasn't ideal for fun skiing. I joked it "liquid powder", up to 2' of pole penetration through recent wet snow.

liquid powder turn

We turned around at the sight of a Rampart lake. Then pretty much tracing back our up-track.

We took the main road all the way back to the car thinking it'd be quicker since no skinning required. However, it was so flat and slow, then challenging skiing over very wavy 2D moguls down followed by a looong stretch of walking paved road with ski boots. We decided following the ascent route would have been more pleasant even with some uphill. Overall, it was a fun day to explore a new winter scenery, but we are not so sure about a future re-visit...

[zephyr]

[KascadeFlat]

Nice work! Looks like a beautiful day.

[puzzlr]

It's fun to see that area I know well with a thick blanket of snow. All the talus and cliffy walls look so soft and curvy. Great use of skis to get in here.

[Randito]

Good to hear that you explored that route successfully. Hamed, Will and I did quite a bit of trimming on the spar road this fall. When I toured up that way in February after the big storm in January there were many additional trees down. I might need to invest in some saws that can cut logs bigger than a foot in diameter.

[fairweather friend]

Great photography, as per usual!