Ski from Nederland to Winter Park...and Back.

By car, Winter Park, Colorado is a serpentine 70 miles from our little

hamlet of Nederland. However, by skis Winter Park is a much more direct 20

miles away, and while it will probably take longer to ski there than drive,

the views and experience surpass those gained sitting in traffic on I-70 or

battling crazed drivers on Berthoud Pass in a snowstorm.

Skiing to Winter Park was one of those adventures friends and I would

discuss, but never work out the details to make it happen. That changed a

few weeks ago when my wife and I decided to give it a go. We opted to make

the trip an overnight affair, with a stay in a dog friendly hotel in Winter

Park. There are tales of people who go over-and-back in one day, with a

stop in Winter Park for lunch, but that sounded like a lot of work. I

figure if you're going to ski over the Continental Divide, you might as

well enjoy a yummy meal and a good night's sleep on the other side before

heading home.

There are two routes we considered for the trip: Rollins Pass and Rogers

Pass. Rollins Pass is probably the better known, and if you hit it

correctly it can be exceptionally direct. Unfortunately we did not hit it

anything close to directly - more on that later. Probably the most

efficient way to do the Rollins Pass route would be to leave from just

outside the Eldora Ski Area gate and follow the Jenny Creek Trail to the

Arestua Hut. From there, a skier could link to Rollins Pass Road past the

Needle Eye Tunnel, head up and over the top, and then drop down the other

side towards Riflesight Notch. From Riflesight Notch, there are a

cornucopia of snowmobile trails that drop straight into Winter Park and

allow the skier to avoid the winding, twenty mile, three percent grade that

makes up the west side of Rollins Pass Road. Simple as pie, no?

Alas, we did not take this route. The reason we booked a dog friendly hotel

was because, well, we wanted to take our dog, a hyper active Alaskan Husky

who lives for big ski days and rips up our garbage when she doesn't get

enough of them. Unfortunately, Eldora ski area has a strict no-dogs policy,

even for accessing the Jenny Lind Trail, so we instead chose the Rogers

Pass route that left from East Portal. The route we took headed up to

Rogers Pass Lake, before somehow crossing the divide and then, even more

ambiguously, dropping down to the Jim Creek Trail that leads straight to

Winter Park ski area.

Being the early risers that we are, we left the trailhead at the crack of

10 am, donned with the following gear: ski cap, sunglasses, wool long

johns, wool sweater, light ski pants, wool socks, leather gloves, gobs of

sunscreen and lightweight alpine touring ski gear. In our packs we each

brought a lightweight down coat, windproof shell, extra gloves, goggles,

extra pair of socks, tennis shoes, snack food, water, tea, avalanche

beacon, shovel, probe, dinner for the dog, a headlamp, GPS, map and a

credit card.

East Portal may indeed be the least aesthetically pleasing trailhead on the

planet, especially when the wind is howling and the weird air-blowing thing

that dispels train exhaust into the atmosphere is going full effect, as it

was on our departure. To add to the industrial feel of the place, a garbage

bag or something had blown across the tracks which triggered a motion

censored loudspeaker voice, announcing in a booming English, German,

Russian, Spanish and Japanese voices that "You have entered a restricted

area, authorities have been notified, please leave immediately." Sweet. It

felt more like shipping off to Iraq then the departure for a leisurely ski

into the mountains.

If you can survive the initial "thrill" of East Portal, the rewards are

great. Soon the exhaust blower and intimidating loud speakers are left

behind, and you are left with sweet, serene Wilderness. The trail climbs

casually at first, before steepening in the second half. The going was

smooth, the weather impeccable and spirits high. We found a snow cave on

the way up and I made a mental note of it in case something went wrong and

we ended up needing it on the way back.

We reached the lake in a couple hours. Above us, the Continental Divide

erupted in a white splendor that only a traveler into the winter high

country can understand. Places that are magical in the summer are even more

so in the winter, albeit in a wilder, harsher sort of way. We saw a thin

line of the Rogers Pass Trail switchback up a ridge to the divide, and made

our way to the top. We had to cross some steep, bulletproof snow in this

section, and there were a few minutes where I was wishing we had packed

along crampons for added security. It was no problem though, and we soon

found ourselves standing on top of the Continental Divide.

Getting from the divide to the Jim Creek Trail is the crux of this route. A

steep slope divides the ridge and trail and there is no obvious path

connecting the two. There are a lot of options but since you can't see all

the way down it's hard to know where to go. On top of that, these slopes

absolutely could avalanche, rendering solid backcountry route finding

skills and avalanche knowledge important for this trip. We ended up

following the Rogers Pass Trail for a mile or so before dropping down a

chute that consistently got steeper and narrower near the bottom.

The skiing down this was simply wretched - breakable crust that humbled the

mind, angered the soul and turns a solid skier into a bumbling beginner. We

"skied " our way down and both agreed at the bottom that - despite our

success - this was NOT the way to go. We crossed the creek and found the

trail. The ski out was very mellow and fast, and looking back from where we

came, we discovered if we had gone west a bit more we would have found a

much more pleasant and safe way from the ridge to the creek. This would be

the route I'd recommend for would-be Rogers Pass travelers.

We rocketed down the trail and before we knew it were at the turnoff for

Winter Park ski area. Alas, our hotel for the night - the $60 for two

Valley Hi Hotel - was in Winter Park town, about three miles down the road.

Since we had our dog with us, we couldn't ride the shuttle bus, so we ended

up gliding down the surprisingly pleasant Fraser River bike path into town.

If you're going to ski to Winter Park I highly recommend enjoying one of

the finest dining options in all of the Rocky Mountains: Hernando's Pizza.

You've earned it. I don't know if it's because every time I go to this

place it's after a big day playing in the hills, or if their pizza is

really that good. Whatever it is, Elaine and I downed a 14-inch pizza in

about four minutes flat that night. It's a good feeling - stomach full,

showered, full of endorphins, with a good roof over your head - knowing you

skied over the Continental Divide.

Of course, the next day we had to go back, and that turned out to be much

tougher. In retrospect, I would have returned the same way we came, but for

some reason we decided we'd take Rollins Pass home. Simply put, the west

side of Rollins Pass is less than pleasant travel for a ski adventurer. The

roads are confusing and unmapped, there are snowmobilers by the hundreds

and the views are mundane. The exceptionally serpentine Rollins Pass Road,

which we cut off a lot, leads to a very long day. Case in point - it took

us five hours to get to Winter Park, and more than nine to return home.

This route is sketchy in places too. The train bench on the east side of

Rollins Pass is chalk full of long thousand-foot-drop ravines where losing

your footing would be bad news. Crossing the avalanche chute above Yankee

Doodle Lake - the exact location where Joe Despres of DoJoe fame lost his

life a decade ago - brought chills to my spine. We popped off the road at

Forest Lakes and were fortunate to find a well-trodden path that allowed us

to ski down an icy luge run and arrive back at our car - and the most

heinous trailhead on planet earth - minutes before the sky turned pitch

black.

Despite the tribulations on the way home, I highly recommend skiing to

Winter Park and back via the Rogers Pass route...when avalanche conditions

permit. I suspect the route up Jenny Lind Trail would also work, but as I

have not skied it I cannot give a ringing endorsement. I would recommend

travelers bring, in addition to the normal backcountry essentials, a light

pair of crampons and/or a lightweight ice axe for the area above Rogers

Pass Lake. This is a good time of year to do it - our snowpack is

stabilizing, the days are longer and there is still enough snow on the

lower sections of the trail that it's still much more of a ski than a hike.

Skiing to Winter Park and back is an advanced trip for sure, but very

doable for a party with solid navigation and avalanche skills, good

endurance and a strong sense of adventure. It's a good capper to the season

and provides solid bragging rights in the pub post-ski.