Backcountry Skiing the ‘C’ Couloir on Missouri Mountain and the Belford Couloir on Mt. Belford .
There’s something alluring about skiing off the summit of 14,000 foot peaks in Colorado, even though the snow that far above treeline is seldom memorable in the positive sense of the word. Occasionally, however, you stumble up on a situation that brings a stable snowpack topped with a few inches of powder that isn’t totally wind f@*!ed.
Base Camp at 11,000 ft in Missouri Gulch
This trip began on Friday (May 23) evening as Ashley, Ryan and I backpacked from the Missouri Gulch Trailhead up Missouri Gulch to about 11,000 feet. We set up camp here for the next couple nights with the goal of summiting and skiing down Missouri Mountain (14,067) and Mount Belford (14,197) with a side hike to summit Mount Oxford (14,153’). Ryan was on snowshoes, but Ashley and I were able to skin the whole trail, aside from about the first quarter mile. We did have to ‘glide’ over several dirt patches, but it was dark so it seemed reasonable.
Skinning up Missouri Basin
May 24th turned out to be one of those positively memorable days, at least as far as the ‘C’ Couloir on Missouri Mountain was concerned. I’d never been in the area prior to this trip, and I wasn’t sure exactly what I’d find as far as skiable lines. I’d read about some seasonal couloir climbs on the north face of Missouri Mountain that seemed promising for a ski descent, so off we went. The temperature was just a little below freezing, the clouds were suspect and lightly snowing, and the wind never ceased to let you know you were above treeline. We kept a constant eye on the thunder clouds building to the north. About halfway up Missouri, the weather and terrain combined to make Ashley throw in the towel and head back to camp. Ryan and I decided to persevere until our comfortability level was exceeded.
I wasn’t watching my clock as much as I was the weather, so I’m not sure how long it took, but I think it took about 3 hours to reach the summit from our camp. We ascended one of many snow gullies west of the summit and traversed the west ridge to the top. The traverse near the summit didn’t necessitate crampons, but I probably would have put them on if I’d brought them.
The fact that it was snowing completely destroyed the view from the summit, but there was a consolation prize that more than made up for the lost view. The ‘C’ Couloir is the only line, as far as I can tell, that provides a skiable passage from the summit. There are many other worthy lines descending from various points along the summit ridge, generally steepening towards the east. My first turn in the couloir did not feel like spring skiing. This wasn’t corn, rather 2-3 inches of powder over corn! Even better, the cloud cover kept everything cool enough that the entire couloir (nearly 2000 vertical feet) was every bit as good as the first turn. Since Ryan was on snowshoes, I sent him down ahead of me to take some action shots.
Skiing the 'C'
View back up the 'C' into the Squall
Tracks down the 'C' Couloir
I’ll skip a bit of the trivial stuff here to bring us to the next day. Suffice it to say that skiing and snowshoeing just don’t mix well.
After spending another night at our 11,000 foot camp, the three of us set off for Mt. Belford. We skinned up a couloir that lies immediately north of the West Slopes route on Mt. Belford (I’ll refer to this as the Belford Couloir since I don’t know the name, if it has one). Only a small portion of the Belford Couloir was visible from the start, so we were pleasantly surprised when we found it to lead all the way to the summit! What we didn’t realize was that a fierce wind was blowing and we were quite protected in the confines of the couloir. The second stage of our day’s journey involved leaving the skis at the top of Belford while we braved the howling winds along the 1-mile ridge that lead to Oxford’s summit and back. This turned out to be miserable and was a stupid idea. If it wasn’t for that irrational voice in my head telling me I needed to go over there and tag the summit simply because it’s over 14,000 feet . . .
Looking down the Belford Couloir
By the time we made it back to the summit of Belford, we were in no mood to find a creative line down, so we skied down the same couloir we skinned up. This ended up being a more typical, wind-scoured and variable ski down, but it beat the hell out of walking.
Other folks heading up the Belford Couloir
To summarize:
If you’re in this area for a ski trip, stick to the Missouri Mountain area and the ridge leading up the west side of Missouri Gulch. There are many fantastic-looking lines in this area. If you’re in the area for peak bagging and there’s snow on the ground, consider making it a ski trip.
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Skiing Mount Hood
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