Taylor Glacier: (way friggin’) steep and aesthetic

In Colorado, it’s special when you can ski something really steep. It’s really only feasible late season, when the snowpack has had lots of time to build–and has had repeated freeze thaw cycles to help stabilize it. So when spring comes here, it’s game on! Some of the steepest terrain in Colorado is right here in the Front Range, if you don’t mind a long approach. On Sunday, we slogged our way up to Taylor Glacier, in the heart of Rocky Mountain National Park. There’s a reason “the Park” is so popular: the alpine environment is mind-blowing–but so are the winds. After a nearly four-hour approach — in shoes, not on skins — we cramponed our way up the headwall and topped out in one of those nice, Park breezes.

Jason Maurer, John Crittendon, and Brian Montgomery on the approach to Taylor Glacier.

Jason scopes the glacier from Sky Pond in Rocky Mountain National Park.

The drop-in pushes 55-60 degrees, so the first few turns were a good workout for the adrenal glands. With about six inches of new snow on the old crust layer (and no runnels!), this created some Valdez-like sluffs, requiring good “sluff management” skills. Unfortunately, this doesn’t make for the most graceful turns. We were all kind of relieved to make it back to the bottom of the cirque with no falls or epic tales. From Sky Pond back to the trailhead near Bear Lake, we put our heads down and hammered it out in just under three hours.

Crampons and whippets (or axe) required.

When practicing sluff management, don

Rocky Mountain National Park is known for its alpine climbing, not its powder skiing, but when corn season hits, the Park is a good call for slaying steep, aesthetic lines. For beta on skiing, climbing and taking avi courses there, we recommend hiring the seasoned pros at Colorado Mountain School.

Taylor Glacier is in the same drainage as the Petit Grepon and the Sabre. Glad I wasn