With the resort season winding down, the backcountry season begins. Around this time of year I always start thinking about the ideal backcountry adventures that I could plan. There is always one mountain that pops into my head. The only 14,000 foot peak in the Vail valley, Mount Holy Cross is essentially the reason there is so much protected forest land in Colorado.Teddy Roosevelt declared the whole area surrounding Mt. Holy Cross a national treasure back in 1939 because of the perceived religious significance. Christians from all areas of the globe would travel to this mountain as a pilgrimage and testament to their faith. The mountain is only 14 miles from the town of Vail and is the largest peak in the Holy Cross wilderness. Half moon pass is the gateway to the mountain and is infamous for the moon lily flowers that blossom only on a on a full moon at night.
A friend recently contacted me about embarking on the challenge of skiing the cross this season and I became very intrigued. Although, I have climbed the mountain a several times in the summer, haling my skis in there was going to be a whole different story. The first thing I do when I am going to plan a adventure of this magnitude is do some research. When I typed in: Mount Holy Cross Ski Tour into Google, I came across this awesome blog post. This not only gave me the courage to think that this trip is manageable but also a lot of useful information about what time of year is best to ascend the cross.
After more research, we found that we had missed our window for this adventure. It is crucial to plan this trip while there is still snow on tigawon road and you can snowmobile or skin up there. By early April, the snow melt was too severe to make this trip a possiblity. I did read about one account of a couple proffessional skiers (Chris Davenport and Chris Anthony) who mountain biked up the 6 mile stretch of road carrying all of their equipment in a kiddie trailer behind them in mid April. They ended up skiing the cross successfully but endured a long 12 hour day of hard work. We ultimately decided that it would be too much work to attempt to both bike and skin up a 14er in one day.
A friend recently contacted me about embarking on the challenge of skiing the cross this season and I became very intrigued. Although, I have climbed the mountain a several times in the summer, haling my skis in there was going to be a whole different story. The first thing I do when I am going to plan a adventure of this magnitude is do some research. When I typed in: Mount Holy Cross Ski Tour into Google, I came across this awesome blog post. This not only gave me the courage to think that this trip is manageable but also a lot of useful information about what time of year is best to ascend the cross.
After more research, we found that we had missed our window for this adventure. It is crucial to plan this trip while there is still snow on tigawon road and you can snowmobile or skin up there. By early April, the snow melt was too severe to make this trip a possiblity. I did read about one account of a couple proffessional skiers (Chris Davenport and Chris Anthony) who mountain biked up the 6 mile stretch of road carrying all of their equipment in a kiddie trailer behind them in mid April. They ended up skiing the cross successfully but endured a long 12 hour day of hard work. We ultimately decided that it would be too much work to attempt to both bike and skin up a 14er in one day.
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