Mt. Audubon - Take 2

This past Sunday, Laura and I finally attempted another winter ascent of Mt. Audubon.  We were better prepared this time, with ski goggles for the wind, and our new secret weapon: Juanma.  Juanma is a new postdoc in Laura's lab from Spain, and an avid mountaineer.  We arrived at the winter trailhead just before sunrise, and soon afterwards we were greeted by this view of Audubon on the road to Brainard Lake:

With no major snow in over a month, and near record high temperatures for the past few weeks, there was very little snow on the road.  Even though there were some large drifts, the road was so clear that we were passed by a couple of clever backcountry skiers riding bicycles.

In fact, the snow was so well packed, we didn't need the snowshoes at all on the way out.  We left them in some willows at about 12,000 feet and continued straight up the gradual east slope of Audubon.  It's been many months since we were at such a high elevation, and we could feel the thin air as we huffed and puffed towards the summit.

Finally at the top, Juanma surveys the view to the north, including Longs Peak and RMNP:

Our goggles proved unnecessary, as it was a perfect day with very little wind.  Before eating our lunches, we posed for a picture with Paiute Peak in the background:

We decided to follow the trail on the way down, in search of the snowfield that had been our first ever glissade last year.  While there was significantly more snow up here last July, we were still able to get in a few runs.  Juanma led with his ice axe and experience, with Laura following behind:

After exhausting our glissade opportunities, we cut across the tundra in the direction of our stashed snowshoes.  Leading the way, Laura walked right past this ptarmigan duo:

Juanma, also an avid birder, explained the bird with the red patch above the eyes was male.  I had never even noticed that some (all females) don't have it.  A view of the female:

These ptarmigan were not at all disturbed by us, and I was able to take a LOT of pictures.  They were also quite vocal, making frequent clucking sounds.  Here the male saunters right past me:

The ptarmigan diet isn't particularly nutritious, as they eat quite a bit of grass.  We saw a lot of woody looking poo which Laura identified as being ptarmigan.  They were nibbling dry grass the entire time we were watching them.

The female does her best snow impersonation:

The male looking especially plump from the front:

After a few unsuccessful attempts to leave which resulted in even more picture-taking, I finally retrieved my pack and got ready to go while Laura and Juanma watched the moving ball of snow:

Soon afterwards, we retrieved our snowshoes and reached the last steep section of the mountain.  Juanma broke out his axe, and rocked this awesome glissade:

Due to the steepness and our lack of experience, Laura and I just walked down the slope.

Once back in the trees we strapped on our snowshoes, as the snow was getting soft and we didn't feel like postholing our way back to the road.  We saw very few people on the way back, as the poor snow conditions kept most of the skiers and snowshoers away.  Hopefully the mountains will get some more snow this year, but it looks like winter is pretty much over down in Boulder.  For our finale, we stopped for some delicious Glacier Ice Cream to celebrate what felt like a perfect summer day.