By Sara Hesselsweet | January 2021
We celebrated on the weekend with a tour in the backcountry, of course. This was our first time outside the ropes in Colorado, and because of our lack of familiarity with the terrain and snow conditions, we hired a guide through Apex Mountain School — where Sara and Graham would take the AIARE level 1 course the following weekend. We had the most terrific time — this was one of our best family ski days ever and a memory we’ll always cherish!
Our guide, Chase, was amazing from start to finish. We met in the parking lot of a trailhead at Fremont Pass, off the road that goes past Copper Mountain to Leadville. Chase was full of so much helpful information, like ways the kids could pull apart their sticky climbing skins more easily (by bracing them with their thighs).
He ran through a full trip planning session using the AIARE framework, which was great because, while much of the planning he had obviously done in advance, Emma got a taste of the process (she will take her AIARE level 1 in a couple of years with Tim when she turns 12). Before setting off, we checked our equipment, particularly beacons, making sure the kids were securely strapped in. While this sounds terrifying, we knew that we would be managing avalanche risk by strictly avoiding avalanche terrain on this tour — avoiding everything from slopes steeper than 25 degrees to terrain traps or runoff areas.
The day was gorgeous. We hiked up to the bottom of a bowl, had lunch, and did a little snowpack study before transitioning our skis to head back down. We actually had time that day for a couple of laps on a nicely spaced, gladed area. The powder was perfect, much of it untracked.
For our apres-ski celebration, we met some dear friends at a brewery in Frisco for dinner and cake.
The Peace of Wild Things 