Loveland Pass Access

S

SuwakaFlocka

Member
Im gonna be staying in Silverthorne in March, and was wondering if it was possible to get to Loveland Pass, lap and hitchike back up, and return to Silverthorne without a car. I'm not real familiar with Summit Co yet, but was hoping I could get some tips about hitting Loveland Pass via public transport. Or if anybody wants to split a ride from Silverthorne.
 
Where to begin.....you going at this alone? If so, not the smartest move.....

If not, you got beacon/avy equipment, snowpack will be relatively unstable after the latest storms.

Those points aside it shouldn't be too hard to get a ride there.....pretty sure there's a bus to A Basin, and if not def. to Keystone, from Silverthorne.....then hitch hike the pass from there.
 
No I am going with a friend and we will try and get a hold of avy gear by then for sure. We just wont have access to a car that's all. I've hear that the Stage route can get us to A-Basin. I was just wondering if it is reasonable to hitch from the basin to the Pass AND back as well. Thanks for the help!
 
yes you can definitely hitch to the pass and back, last bus leaves A basin pretty late like 530 or something and people pick up hitchikers really quick on HWY 6. Best bet for pass laps would be to get dropped off in the parking lot at the top, cross the road, click in and drop straight down. Super straight forward tree skiing all the way down to the switchback on the Loveland ski area side where you hitch back up. have fun be safe
 
Make sure you know what you're doing with the avi gear though. If you haven't taken avalanche classes/ have little knowledge about backcountry safety, I strongly urge you to only ski inbounds.
 
yeah good advice. im gonna try and go up with people from silvie. are there any zones you'd recommend that would be mellow enough to avoid a serious fracture. i was hoping to stomp out a lip in a relatively low risk zone. conditions permitting.
 
Why travel to LL pass (goober central) when you can ski better sidecountry at Abasin or Breck? Heck peak 1 is in you backyard and much better than LL pass.
 
as long as you're not hiking anything, you don't really need to worry about skiing alone or without avalanche equipment. it's all mellow tree skiing and is more skied out than most resorts. like everyone else said, take the bus to abay, hitchhike to the summit, ski the east side road to road, then hitchhike back down to abasin. if you do have equipment/knowledge/a wiser buddy, then you can hike and ski back to abay, but i dont recommend that if you don't know what you're doing.
 
i don't suggest skiing back to abasin. there's lots of exposed terrain there and if you don't know what you're doing it'd be easy to get yourself in trouble. stick to getting dropped off at the summit and skiing the trees on the ridge/gully going down to the parking lot/hitchhiking area. at the summit, there's a good natural roller/windlip that's good for building a jump too since you mentioned that. in march there's usually one already build there.
 
i suggested skiing to abasin only if he is with someone who knows where they're going/what they're doing and has the proper equipment.
 
yeah good call man he asks for safe lines from loveland pass and you recommend one of the gnarliest lines in the county. hey shit for brains looks good, send it!
 
Yeah thanks for the suggestions. I've never really hit real BC out in the US, and definitely not in Summit Co. I would definitely want to get up to Peak 1 but im not sure if we're gonna be hiking with any locals that day. To be honest, unless we can get beacons off friends in Silvie we're probably only gonna have shovels.

We were hoping to find an accesible zone in LL Pass with steeps that werent too tracked out that we could send some stuff into. I know its specific, but it'd be nice to have a zone in mind to get to by the time we get out there. Thanks again.
 
yeah.......... don't go to the steeps with only a shovel.

would you walk into the middle of a warzone with nothing but a spoon?

please just ski a resort and don't get yourself killed. CO has the highest mortality rate of anywhere.

 
Like everyone has said before I agree that the east side(of the continental divide, its really the north side of the pass) of the pass is the better option both for skiing and building jumps. There are many fun, but short lines that can be skied from the parking lot on the top that will dump you back off at the lower switchback, you could definitely spend a day skiing these. There aren't many drops up there, but if you look around you can find some fun ones like this: http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu113/Mike_Records/nslovelandpasspost.jpg In terms of jump building locations if you traverse due west from the top of the pass on the east side there are lots of nice rolls for building jumps. There is also a nice gully that can be easily traversed to that is great for building a small to medium sized stepup out of. If you traverse all the way west until the bowl starts to face east instead of north you can get to some really nice jump zones in the trees. One thing to watch out for that i don't think has been mentioned yet is that Loveland pass gets hit really hard by the wind, so if its snowing its really easy to become disoriented, but heading down will always lead you to the road. More importantly though, in terms of avi conditions, its very prone to windloading.
 
no, please don't

i know what you, benditto, are getting at, and mean well but

AVALANCHE GEAR DOESN'T MAKE YOU NOT GET IN AVALANCHES. GET EDUCATED, AND LEARN HOW TO USE YOUR GEAR IN THE EVENT SOMETHING DOES HAPPEN.
 
From the sounds of it you are very inexperienced in the backcountry in general and on top of it the snowpack in summit county is the worst of all. asking people online how to get to a specific zone is extremely dangerous, because you don't know where your going, the conditions, what loads, whats safe, etc.. If you dont have the 500 bucks for the proper equipment and training you have no business being out there. the snowpack here is dangerous, know what your doing and the terrain your getting in to. Find some stuff inbounds.
 
probably the only sensible post in this thread. Giving advice to someone on the internet about backcountry travel who has clearly demonstrated they underestimate the risks involved with such an activity is reckless and irresponsible. Maybe this is why i see so many dumb assholes in cotton tall tees on the side of route 6 that think they're the shit because they built a booter 1000 feet from the road. It's that attitude that encourages people to keep pushing it until they get in a situation that is over their head, at which point in most cases tragedy strikes.
To the OP, i don't intend for this post to be a jab at you, or any of the other inexperienced people out there who are interested in getting into the BC. I too have been in your position, and we all start out that way: inexperienced. I have made stupid, mis-informed decisions and gotten away with it narrowly, sometimes on my own and sometimes at the recommendation of someone I perceived to be more experienced than I am. My point is, it's great you wanna get out there and kill it, just do it the right (read: safe) way, and save me the sinking feeling of reading about someone dying needlessly in a place that I like to associate with good times.
 
I hear that and yeah I appreciate the concern. Hopefully I can ride with experienced people.

On another note, any in-bounds zones that can be hiked too at Beaver Creek and Vail for recommendation? Trees or chutes. And don't hate only looking for a discussion.
 
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