Mt Democrat 6-6-2006

update 2/4/2015 - The pictures for this post are missing because BigLines is no longer hosting them. Please visit a revised version of this post with pictures here.

Mt. Democrat, 14,148 feet
6-6-2006
iskibc, mtnbikerskierchick

We'd heard that Democrat was still holding snow, so we decided to check it out! Instead of going the traditional route starting from Kite Lake, we started and finished from Montomery Reservoir. Iskibc and I began hiking around 6:30 am from the 4-wheel drive road above Montomery Reservoir.

We started from just below this mine.
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61324.jpg

Evidence of mining in this area is everywhere!
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61325.jpg

And finally... Mt. Democrat is in sight! Lines look good!
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...l_democrat.JPG

We hiked up the valley and then climbed the scree field to the lookers left that is hidden in the above photo. It took us about 1.5 hours to reach the scree field. The scree was very loose and difficult to manage at times. The approach from Kite Lake would certainly have been much easier! That's what we get for not wanting to bring two cars :)

Finally, we reached the ridge and the climbing was much easier from there.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall..._the_ridge.jpg

Finally, the summit! We summited around 11:30.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall..._at_summit.JPG

Arkansas is still holding an amazing amount of snow! That coolie is still very tempting.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...l_Arkansas.JPG

Quandary... not so much. Look how melted out Cristo Couloir is!
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...dary_close.JPG

We could see La Plata and Elbert in the distance... one done, one more to go!
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...elbert%7E0.JPG

Okay, let's ski!!!!!!

Around noon we put on our skis for the reward. :) Iskibc drops in from the top.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...rmal_dave1.JPG

Iskibc pretty much tears it up :)
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...rmal_dave1.JPG

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...rmal_dave6.JPG

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...rmal_dave8.JPG

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...rmal_dave9.JPG

Mtnbikerskierchick takes her turn.
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61308.jpg

http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61300.jpg

http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61301.jpg

View of iskibc skiing down. Look at all that lovely snow we can ski in the valley instead of walking! How nice!
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...rmal_dave9.JPG

But first, we have to navigate through this choke.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...rther_away.JPG

See next post:)

Iskibc decided he didn't want to billygoat through the first part and opted to take pics from the rock above instead of my attempts to navigate the choke.

See, you don't REALLY need snow to ski on :) You should try it!
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61304.jpg

Oh, oh, oh, OOOOOOOHHHHHH no! Ooops! Lost my balance in the last bit of billygoating!
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61305.jpg

My ski was stuck under very heavy snow, and a creek was basically running beside me. I couldn't get my binding released in the precarious position I was in so iskibc had to come down and release my binding for me. Too funny :) I pretty much felt like a gaper :D :eek: :rolleyes:

Okay, let's do this again... :tongue:
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61306.jpg.

Okay, ready????? I'm going for it!!!!
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61307.jpg

Iskibc navigates through the second rocky section of the choke.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...mal_dave11.JPG

His method is a bit unusual. Instead of going around the rocks, he uses them for jumps :) Who says you need snow to jump on skis???? :D
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...mal_dave12.JPG

And he lands perfectly to arc a nice sweet turn!
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...mal_dave15.JPG

After the choke, we cruised down to the valley and we were able to ski to about 11,500'. From there we walked down the 4-wheel drive road to our car and arrived there before 3 pm.

Here's our line.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...rmal_Line2.JPG


Here's where the fun of the day begins:) (No pics sorry). Before we went for our hike, we placed the cooler of beer underneath iskibc's truck in order to keep it in the shade. Well, in our tired state, we completely forgot about it. We wanted to grill the brats we brought and iskibc decided to move his truck a bit more to the side so we had more room to grill. Well, you can imagine what happened next... he ran over the cooler of beer! Beer bottles/cans came popping out of the cooler. Oh no! Beer gone! All gone! But wait... Wait! The beer is still in the bottles, still in the cans. Not a single one broke! The cooler on the other hand... a purple mangled mess. The cooler definitely took one for the team :biggrin: Go cooler! :biggrin: to ski to

Wow, looks so awesome, especially after thinking how warm it's been down here in Boulder.

nice
love the tight coolie shot
looks a bit sketchy thru the thin
thanks for the TR

Very good stoke, thanks!
If I wasn't such a dumb
gaper, i would ski

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mtnbikerskierchick

Okay, ready????? I'm going for it!!!!
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61307.jpg

---

Balls :yourock: ...

....er um....you know what I mean...nice job!!

It is a "Big TGR Gaper Hug Your Own Lonely Corn Husk Time" in the Rockies, and I did not even know it, damn!!!:the_finge :confused: :) :p ;) ;) :tdo13: ;) :eek: :p ;)
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61305.jpg

Nice score, but still gotta wonder about you and Iski alone inthe bc all by yourselves, all the time.;) :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bodhi

It is a "Big TGR Gaper Hug Your Own Lonely Corn Husk Time" in the Rockies, and I did not even know it, damn!!!:the_finge :confused: :) :p ;) ;) :tdo13: ;) :eek: :p ;)

---

Where do the corn husks come in???? You have me so confused Bodhi! :)

Thanks for the TR MBSC! I'd of thought that material was good for blackmail, but you can't do that to yourself...;)

Damn girl, all these 14er trip reports...I think I'm in love. When can I move in? Nice work!

http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61305.jpg

you had to get help? :rolleyes2: classy.

right on sister!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FrankZappa

Thanks for the TR MBSC! I'd of thought that material was good for blackmail, but you can't do that to yourself...;)

---

Yeah, iskibc had too many photos of me sitting there stuck, so I decided to just go ahead and suck it up and post one of them... so he couldn't blackmail me in the future for acting like a gaper! :)

Very nice B!!! Gotta love those gaper moments when there is absolutely nothing you can do without help, happens to the best of us.

Did you two declare your love for Satan on the peak???? (TR 6-6-06)

</Mtn Man punches self in the head for not getting hired in CO and hang with MBSC and others/>

As Stormchaser says, when do I move in??? :biggrin:

B)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mtn Man

As Stormchaser says, when do I move in??? :biggrin:

---

careful what you wish for, MBSC will crush 99.9% of the guys on this board. A sweet way to go but gone none the less.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lemon boy

careful what you wish for, MBSC will crush 99.9% of the guys on this board. A sweet way to go but gone none the less.

---

Yeah, I knew I was in trouble when I first met her and she wanted to play a few rounds of Rowshambow(sp) :cool:
:kidding: :D

B)

Great stuff guys!

We can always count on your crew for some SOLID TRs! :biggrin:

Ps. Does anyone make black ski boots? Those orange things hurt my eyes. ;)

Nice work!!! How those bases holding up on the mantras?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lemon boy

careful what you wish for, MBSC will crush 99.9% of the guys on this board. A sweet way to go but gone none the less.

---

Oh, Lemon Boy, you give me FAR too much credit ;)

Mtn Man- Keeping looking for jobs out here in CO! You never know what might pop up!

Greguar- Bases on the Mantras are holding up surprisingly well considering all the rocks I've made them handle :) They could do with a fine base grind and I took them to the Bent Gate to get that taken care of a month or so ago but they forgot about them and never got them done. But I needed my skis to ski on so I said srew it... I've had too many problems with Bent Gate lately anyway. Looked around for some other place still tuning skis, but no one seems to do it in June. What? Normal people don't ski in June??? Really??? :biggrin: :biggrin: Still feels like winter to me! :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mtnbikerskierchick

Oh, Lemon Boy, you give me FAR too much credit ;)

---

The only person on this board who sandbags worse than iskibc is you ;)

Quote:

---

Mtn Man- You never know what might pop up!

---

heh!

LB, you have SUCH a dirty mind!

And shame on you for calling me a sandbagger!:tongue: :tongue: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :biggrin: :biggrin:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mtnbikerskierchick

LB, you have SUCH a dirty mind!

---

I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about.

and don't get all uppity sandbagger ;)

BTW- can't you just tune those skis yourself? Shouldn't be that hard for a science nerd with no job to get er done.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mtnbikerskierchick

Bases on the Mantras are holding up surprisingly well considering all the rocks I've made them handle

---

Didn’t you call this the “natural stone” grind:p Nice work………..again.

Wow, in this one you can really see the dust at the bottom of the melted out chutes.
http://www.biglines.com/photosv2/200...ines_61301.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lemon boy

BTW- can't you just tune those skis yourself? Shouldn't be that hard for a science nerd with no job to get er done.

---

Yeah, I can tune my own skis (it's no rocket science for a chemistry teacher :) ), but they need a good base grind, which I can't do myself b/c I don't have the right tools. Honestly it's pretty pointless to even try to sharpen the edges w/o a base grind. Meh, no worries... I'll just make sure I ski only corn snow for the next few months :) :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bcrider

Ps. Does anyone make black ski boots? Those orange things hurt my eyes. ;)

---

Yeah, I'm tired of orange. It clashes with all of my ski outfits :) Don't know any AT boots that are black, but Megarides are blue! Maybe I need to get me a pair of those :)