May 18, 2024
Silver Couloir, Buffalo Mountain
Laura, Justin and I left the trailhead at 6 am and hiked to about 9,700' on mixed dirt and snow-covered trail before reaching continuous snow. We skinned to the summit of Buffalo Mountain, 12,777'. We reached the summit at 8:30 am and after a short break were stepping back into our skis to descend the classic Silver Couloir. The snow was still pretty firm up high in the couloir but became almost perfect as we skied our way down the 2,500' snow line.
The cut off out of the couloir was a bit misleading and we exited about 100' too high. Traversing the forest and reascending the 400' back to where we had hiked in was a bit tedious but well worth the amazing ski.
We were back at the car at 11:15 am.
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| Justin and Justin leading the way at the trailhead |
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| The views were incredible on the hike up |
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| Justin and Justin skinning up Buffalo Peak |
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| Justin and Justin contemplating the conditions |
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| Laura enjoying the ski descent |
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| Justin skiing the Silver Couloir |
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| The couloir was wide near the top but narrowed up a bit as we got further down. |
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| Justin skiing the Silver Couloir on Buffalo Mountain |
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| Looking down the Silver Couloir |
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| Justin and Justin hiking back to through the woods |
After the amazing morning skiing, we decided to grab lunch with Justin in Dillon before heading back to the cabin. That's when we got the emergency alerts on our phone warning people to shelter in place if you were near the town of Blue River. We did a little more research and it seemed there was someone armed and dangerous that the police were trying to apprehend. I immediately called Grandma to alert her since our cabin is near there to make sure her and Hazel were aware of the situation. We initially just sat in the car waiting for the road to reopen. We saw several armored vehicles followed by a badly damaged pickup and eventually the police with their speakers telling everyone to get back in their vehicles because they were reopening the road. We jumped in our car just to drive about 100 yards before another stop. More waiting. More police. More waiting. Eventually we walked up the road and saw a powerline had now fallen onto a semi. The police informed us that the power company would have to come and it would likely be a couple more hours. We went back to Breckenridge where Justin fished for a while and we hiked to see Isak Heartstone (the troll).
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| The wrecked truck |
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| The downed powerline |
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| Moose on the side of the road |
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| Justin fishing |
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| One of the tiny fish he caught and released |
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| Another fish |
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| And another fish. Justin probably caught 5 or 6 that day. |
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| Moose in Breckenridge |
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| Justin and Laura at the troll in Breckenridge |
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| Moose on the road in front of the cabin |
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| Hazel fishing |
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| Hazel caught several fish before deciding she preferred throwing rocks. |
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