Gap Winter Expedition

Written by: Luke Resatarits

After arriving in Leadville, we spent a week preparing for the winter expedition. On the first day of our prep we went to a nearby trail to get accustomed to walking around in our skis and skins. Feeling more confident in our gear, we went to a nearby resort, Ski Cooper, to practice downhill skiing. Despite the bitter cold, the day was a great success as beginners quickly learned the basics of downhill skiing and more advanced skiers were able to practice their skills on telemark gear. On the final three days of our winter expedition prep we went on day tours near Leadville to become acclimated to backcountry skiing and transport some of our gear to our first campsite. The following day we left our hostel in Leadville for the backcountry with energy and excitement.

The first two nights we slept in mids and spent our days mounding snow for our first quigloo site and getting used to living in a winter environment. After the second night in our mids, we traveled further up the mountain to our first quigloo site and spent the day hollowing out our snow shelters. It was challenging work but extremely rewarding when we crawled into our winter homes for the night. We spent the next four days relaxing at our quigloo site, going on day tours, and taking avalanche classes. We then moved campsites again to our final quigloo location. Our final days of winter expedition were spend skiing in the bowl we were camped directly under and enjoying the beautiful scenery surrounding us. We then packed up all our belongings on the final day and navigated our way downhill to our van feeling satisfied and accomplished.