Words and Images by Mike Devloo & Jason Schlarb

The route was grueling, and plagued with equipment failure. A five day endurance battle! However sunny skies christened our on-time arrival in Aspen Saturday, March 21. Myself and Jason Schlarb completed the never before attempted winter route between Avon and Aspen, connecting two famous Colorado ski towns, going beyond the Beaver Creek Ski Area. Each day had new and different challenges however the greatest challenge of the trek was enduring a full body work out for eight or more hours a day, five days in a row. The days were blessed with beautiful views and weather so warm at midday we were skinning in shorts. However each night of snow camping was well below freezing and our frost covered tent and frozen boots did not promote early starts. Here is a day by day synopsis of our adventure.

Day 1 We Enter the Rugged Winter Wilderness

After riding up the lift to the top Beaver Creek Mountain with an entourage of newspaper reporters and cameramen, Myself, Mike Devloo and Jason Schlarb enter the holy cross wilderness area and began skinning South towards Aspen. We traverse past the bald spot of Beaver Creek to a saddle at the base of 12,750 foot Grouse Mountain, and eat lunch. After our sunny snack we make the steep climb to the top Grouse Mountain slowly under the weight our 40+ pound packs, enjoying great clear views of holy cross peak and the New York Mountains. At the top Jason made one last call to his wife, Maggie, before we peeled off the skins and dropped into the depths of holy cross wilderness.

While switching my bindings from tele setup to splitboard, I broke the cotter pin trying to pull out the stuck pin that holds the binding in tele mode. Without the cotter pin attached, the pin holding the binding would slip out during touring several times a day creating an extra effort and delay. A fast descent on a mix of windblown snow, crust and light slush brought us to a flat basin where we had to put the skins back on. It was already getting late in the afternoon and we weren’t yet to cross creek and nowhere near our goal of a campsite at Harvey Lake. We traversed south around rocks to find a reasonable drop in spot to get down to cross creek. The beauty and demise of cross creek basin are the dramatic granite outcroppings that rise 500 feet or so out of the base of the creek. So much exposed granite makes skiing down into the basin extremely difficult.



Mike Devloo in the midst of Cross Creek Basin


We see what looks like a reasonable line and reset our gear for skiing and snowboard mode. We get lucky in choosing a good line between rock outcroppings and only have to make a few “ski canyoneering” moves down climbing over rocks. At the bottom of cross creek we continue upstream with skins back on aiming for a nice open meadow campsite we saw from high up on the rocks. The easiest most direct route is to skin directly on the frozen snow-covered creek. Although cautious, Jason manages to find a not-so-frozen spot and falls into the creek nearly up to his knees. With soaking wet boots and skins we press on for another half hour and arrive at the glory meadow campsite less than an hour before darkness. Luckily we are able to dig out a little bit of snow to allow us to set our tent up directly on the ground. Sitting around a little campfire, some hot cocoa, and some St. Patty’s Day 151 we’re feeling fairly warm and dry.

Day 2 Cross creek challenge

After a classic Devloo-Schlarb late start we are packed and back skinning up cross creek. A fresh pair of socks keeps mine and Jason’s soaking wet boots reasonably comfortable. (Because my snowboard boots are not plastic and not the least bit waterproof, they manage to get sloppy wet every day.)

The first four hours of travel are slowed by difficult conditions breaking trail through sticky wet powder and picking a route through tricky rock outcroppings. The bottoms of both of our skins get constantly caked in wet snow. (Anyone who’s experienced this before skinning knows how frustrating this is.) Travel is twice as difficult as should be. We try to help the situation by scraping the snow off with our poles, and whacking the sides of the skis to try to dislodge the chunky snow buildup. In one frustrated whack I completely break one of my retractable aluminum poles. Thank God I’m able to push the broken pole tip backwards back into the pole and get a working shorter pole for the next day and a half. We trudge on passing Harvey Lake around 2 PM and stop near the head wall of cross creek basin for lunch around 3. By now the valley has opened up a bit and the granite outcroppings have given way to a more high alpine landscape. The snow has become less sticky as well.

After lunch we are stressed with the important decision of whether or not we should camp here or try to continue on up over and down 12,000 foot Carter Creek Pass in hopes of lower warmer camping on the other side. It’s already late in the evening, and we don’t want to be stuck on the pass, camping above tree line when night falls. Jason is convinced that we can make it up over the pass and down the other side to a lower elevation than our current 11,200’ for better camping and more forward progress. This turns out to be the correct decision and a key factor in us making the trip on time.



Jason Schlarb looks on as two trek through Carter Pass

We summon our energy and switch back up the pass like true skinning warriors. We’re fortunate to find a line with no foreboding cornice at the top and shallow enough pitch to keep our skis on the entire time. By the time we reach the top the temperatures are dropping and clouds are blossoming orange with the setting sun. The amazing views from the top of Carter Creek Pass are a highlight of the trip. It’s almost a good thing that we have no camera battery to record our descent because it’s icy and we need to get down in a hurry. Anyways by no means was any of the skiing on our trek worthy of a Warren Miller video. Snow conditions and our heavy packs prevented any bold moves. The hard wind-packed snow was actually a blessing in that it allowed us to cruise fast over the flats and down into the trees. I was able to keep my snowboard on for most of the descent. In the final stretches Jason manages to face plant nearly breaking his tele binding. It was hanging on by a wire so we try to reinforce it by wrapping with duct tape. That lasted a solid 10 minutes before another face plant completely broke the binding on his right ski. The GPS waypoint of lower Carter Lake (a possible decent camp) is only .2 miles away. So with the skins on we traverse over and set up a camp on snow next to the lake in the fading twilight. We’re feeling pretty cold tired and miserable as we wait for snow to boil for our dehydrated meals. Under the influence of 151 a.k.a. “fitty” Jason manages to spill both dehydrated meals in the snow! He shovels the mix of snow and half cooked food goodies back into the bags and seals them up. We eat cold half cooked beef stroganoff in the confines of our tent.

I sleep horrible that night. Waking up in the middle of night to pee and again with explosive diarrhea. Lying in my sleeping bag, my stomach churns and I feel the need to vomit but I hold it in. I lie awake waiting for dawn to come.

Day 3 Fitty at the Forks of the Frying Pan Fiesta

We take advantage of the warming sunlight and actually get some decent sleep once the sun was up. Sleeping in till the midday sun melts the tent frost and soaks us awake. It’s noon by the time we break camp. (This sort of sleeping in is a big no-no for any muli-day backcountry expedition.) Of course we are already behind schedule for arriving in Aspen anyway. We are way thankful that we decided to go over Carter Creek Pass yesterday and our route today should be almost all downhill to the forks of the Frying Pan River.

I feel better once we get the skins on and start moving. Again, heavy slushy snow in the trees breaking trail. We descend a difficult canyon trying to get down to the North Fork of the Frying Pan River. The terrain quickly gets steep with difficult rock outcroppings, preventing an easy direct descent. At one point we are totally cliffed out and are forced to backtrack several hundred feet up and go around the creek canyon on the other side. Finally it seems like we are going to make it to the bottom so I put together my snowboard and Jason peels off the skins. Snowboarding tight trees in heavy slush with a 40 pound pack is neither easy nor fun. I have several energy consuming wipeouts, and at one point the no longer retractable pole sticking up out of my pack, catches a tree limb and completely snaps off. Now I officially have only one working ski pole. We get down to the river at the bottom and “the road.”

The road is a narrow unpaved forest service road with 3 feet of snow on it and week old snowmobile tracks. For us getting to “the road” signifies being out of the wilderness and on some sort of established trail. This gives us joy to know that now that we have reached “the road” our chances of perishing to the elements have decreased dramatically. “The road” leads downhill to more roads, established trails, people, and safety. Our own narrow trail we’ve left behind leads only to wilderness. A cold, rugged, never-traveled-in-winter wilderness.

We glide smoothly down the slush covered road in warm spring sunshine. Jason slips along with his skins off, and I alternate between skins on and skins off. I’m just a wannabe tele-skier who hasn’t yet mastered touring without the skins. We take a warm break and enjoy a lunch of dehydrated soup. Yum. Not long after lunch we decide it’s time to break out the rally bottles for the Fitty at the Forks of the Frying Pan Fiesta. We are celebrating making it out of the wilderness and down to “the road.” As previously decided it’s in our best interest to kill all the booze today so we can have a recovery day and be ready for a celebratory arrival in Aspen on Saturday.

For those who don’t know, Bacardi 151 a.k.a “fitty” is 75% alcohol packing the most punch per weight out of anything alcoholic, and tastes like pure poison. When I initially asked Jason if we should mix the fitty with some Gatorade mix for more likable beverage he said. “Fitty pretty much ruins anything it touches, just the tiniest drop could ruin your whole drink, it’s best just to take it with a chaser.” So that’s what we do. We sit on our packs in the hot afternoon sun swigging the rally bottle and chasing it with Gatorade. Jason made sure that we each had identical bottles so we could closely monitor each others fitty intake progress. “Okay we can’t leave until we drink it down to this line”

We continue on down the road under the influence of fitty. It’s simply amazing what fitty can do for your spirits on a trek such as this. Your pack automatically feels lighter, your legs less tired, and an otherwise frustrating slip and fall in the snow becomes a comical experience and a cause for celebration!

After a couple hours of fitty skinning and any even the little bit of walking on a plowed dirt road we pick a campsite 200 feet off the road, this time not on snow. We continue the celebration with a raging camp fire as night sets in. We find ourselves hanging out barefoot in our short shorts and goose down the coats around the campfire. Drunken snow wrestling and campfire antics last until the wee hours. –The important thing is we finish the fitty!

Day 4 The big uphill battle

Despite our binge drinking the night before, we wake up in record time and get a 9:30 AM start on the trail. Walking all the way down to the forks of the frying pan at 8,300 feet before turning South up the main fork of the frying pan on a paved plowed road! I’m all about hitch hiking if we see a car, of course Jason is incredibly opposed. “We are going to make it to Aspen under our own power.” After only a mile we are back on the snow.

We know that we need to make a lot of miles today to get within a reasonable striking distance of Aspen for the last day of the trip. We climb a snow-covered logging road and then a skin trail all the way back up to 11,000 feet. The GPS says were less than 8 miles to Aspen but we must descend back down again another 3,000 feet to woody creek and up again to 10,500 before making the final downhill to Aspen. By the time we get to the 11,000 foot sawmill park it’s already getting late and were both just completely spanked from the long uphill. Jason convinces me that I should try to “ski” the splitboard without the skins on the descent to woody creek. With the combination of being tired, not a good skier, and not having real skis or ski boots I fall a shit ton. With just one tele binding intact Jason has a few falls as including one that sent his ski rumbling down into spruce creek. We finally get to woody creek and set up camp, once again at dusk, once again on snow. Now we are more tired than ever, our gear is more wet than ever, and we are more ready than ever to be done with this marathon trek. No need for fitty tonight, we go right to sleep after dinner.



Aspen at the Horizon

Day 5 Aspen Arrival

It’s cold when we wake up early and squeeze into our frozen boots. I’m really having a hard time warming up today, but eventually come around. We have one more pass to climb before we can descend down to Aspen. We follow a faint skin track up woody creek and then a better trail cross sloping up to McNamara hut at around 10,500 feet. I voice my extreme dislike for cross sloping in the split board, but we eventually wind our way to the top and eat one last dehydrated meal lunch at the unoccupied hut. The slush descent down into Aspen is so warm that we opt for shirtless skiing for the last few miles.

We’re fortunate that the road the last bit down into Aspen had been heavily tracked by snowmobiles allowing us to keep the skis on almost into town. Maggie, Jason’s wife was our saving grace picking us up at the end of the trail in Aspen. The first thing she said was, “Man you guys stink” and “Whoa you two look skinny.” Skinny and stinky we were as we checked into our hotel in Aspen for a return to society shower. Although thoroughly spanked we still managed to pull off a little rallying the dancing and videotaping in Aspen that night.

–One word of advice, Avon to Aspen is a 2 hr drive, don’t take the 40 mile shortcut through the wilderness, don’t go Beyond the Beav!

We’d like to whole heartedly thank all those who supported us on this first ever successful Avon to Aspen winter trek. Particularly our mothers and Maggie who worried and prayed for our well being. Also we thank our Sponsors: Casaconstructionbook.com, The Westin Resort in Avon, Steadman Hawkins Clinic, and Image Dental. We hope to complete the DVD documentary soon and show it a primers in Aspen and Loaded Joes in Avon April 25th. We welcome any additional sponsorship and support in creating our professionally edited film documenting this unique wilderness experience.

Thanks to All again,

Mike Devloo