Backcountry Skiing the Boudoir Couloir on Horseshoe Mountain, Mosquito Range, Fairplay, Colorado
The Boudoir Couloir can be seen in the center of the photo
This past weekend Mike and I were looking for a relatively shorter tour with a line where we’d get a lot of bang for our buck. It seemed like Boudoir Couloir on Horseshoe Mountain fit the bill. I’ve been wanting to ski this line for a while now because I think it’s one of the prettiest lines in the area. The inside of the horseshoe is mostly un-skiable, but then there is this one line that sneaks its way through the rocks and makes for a fun backcountry ski run on a beautiful mountain.
We parked at the Fourmile Creek Trailhead, which is also the same trailhead that is used to hike the popular Mount Sherman. On this early May day, we saw very few other cars. We got an early start that morning as the forecast was calling for a mostly sunny day with highs in the 50s, and we were hoping to time the line for when it would have softened up a bit. In typical Colorado fashion, the weather was not sunny for most of our approach. There was a very dark cloud hovering over Horseshoe Mountain for most of the morning that looked like a thundercloud. We discussed if we should turnaround if the cloud was still present by the time we were starting the boot pack up the couloir - we had no desire to be the tallest object under that cloud. As we got close to the couloir, the clouds started to give way to blue sky so we decided to head up the boot pack. The boot pack itself was about 900-1000 vert at angles that averaged between 30-40 degrees.
When we made it to the top, we sat down for a snack, hoping to give the snow a little more time to soften. Even though the skies ended up clearing, the lack of sunshine that morning kept the couloir extremely firm and the high winds at the top of the mountain put a cap on how long we were willing to sit and wait for softer snow. We started getting cold so we decided to head down. Saying the snow was firm is an understatement. It was probably one of the firmest backcountry runs I have ever skied. We took our time going down and then did our best to contour back to the car with as little walking as possible. There were a few spots where we had to take our skis off to walk because there were unavoidable stretches that were already melted out and were just exposed rock. The few turns we got in between the couloir and the car were nice spring corn, and we questioned why we didn’t just do laps on the lower sections. That would have made for too easy of a day :) .
Overall, while conditions were tough, we had a great day. We had the mountain to ourselves and got to ski a line that’s been on my mind for a while. The entire tour was only 4.75 miles with 2100 vert, which meant we were back in town eating lunch by noon.
