Thursday, March 13, 2008

Shrine Pass, Colorado

It was time for the 2nd Annual Exeter Shrine Pass Expedition and we had a fabulous trip again this year.  The weather was sunny as we left the parking lot off of Vail Pass, but it was quickly evident from the darkening sky that the weather was changing.  About half an hour into the hike up the trail it started to snow, luckily not very hard and the six of us made great time up to Walter’s Cabin.  We unpacked and had a little lunch and then went out for the trek up to the Shrine Pass ridge just above the cabin, probably less than a mile hike on up.  There was a lot of fresh snow and we were very cautious about avalanche potential as we reached the steeper slopes near the ridge.  Unfortunately we only had two avalanche transmitters, so we took turn crossing a couple of slopes and threw the receivers back to those waiting below.  As we got to the ridge there was a huge cornice that looked like it was going to be difficult to ascend.  My new randonee boots were a little small for me and unfortunately my toes were starting to become very painful, do I decided not to go the last 50 yards on up to the ridge.  Since it was snowing steadily the view from the ridge was not as spectacular as it usually is, so I figured I wasn’t missing much as I waited for the other to hike on up and back.

On the way back down to the cabin I took this picture of the snow piles on the colorful tree trunks, a beautiful site that was repeated many times around us.