The Eastern Glades of the East Ridge

Most of our photos have focused on the alpine skiing and boarding at Chatter Creek . We've ignored the great tree skiing that attracts many Chatter enthusiasts. Here is the east side of the East Ridge. At the near end is the Nose, with the left nostril on the east slope and the right nostril to the west. Beyond the Nose, the Trojan, the Phat and the Skinny are visible. Puma and EMOP are further to the right and out of view. On the west slope, the Enchanted Forest with its widely spaced snags provides wide-open skiing in good snow conditions. Below the old burn, the huge Chatter Creek cut blocks are visible.

Here is a photo gallery of Skiing on the East Ridge.>>>

CFDC Award Won by Chatter Creek

A bit of pretty old news that few people know about. However, better late than never!

The Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC) assists the development of regional business and has been a long time supporter of Chatter Creek. In 2002, the CFDC singled out Chatter Creek for recognition in its annual awards ceremony.

For more information, refer to: Chatter Creek Wins CFDC Business Award

The Clamshell from the Air

The Clamshell is a large alpine bowl containing a small glacier. It is located on the ridge to the west of Vertebrae Lodge. It is visible in many of the photos taken from the Road to Vertebrae glacier..

The Clamshell offers a large variety of lines including runs into the neighboring bowl to the north (visible on the right hand side of the picture). The ski-out through the trees also offers very interesting terrain. Click here to see more of the Clamshell and Forbidden Fruit, which lies to the right of the photo.

Well below the Clamshell, the area known as "Staff Trees" offers many gladed runs.

Glacier Skiing at Chatter Creek

A view from Vertebrae glacier, high in Chatter Creek's tenure. The folded face is known as the Sullivan fault. Apparently, it was his only one.

Chatter Creek is one of very few snowcat operators with ready access to a high glacier. Snowboarders and skiers ride and ski on mellow terrain surrounded by "top-of-the-world" vistas.

We have previously posted a number of photos from Vertebrae glacier. Now we have assembled these in one place, together with some new pictures. Click below to see a collection of photographs of glacier vistas and glacier skiing at Chatter Creek

Roof Construction starts on Solitude Lodge

Chatter Creek's new Solitude Lodge is making progress. The external log walls are complete and the roof structure is being built. This extension to Vertebrae Lodge will accommodate 12 more guests.

View the latest pictures of Solitude Lodge.

Big Soft Pillows

Get ready, get set, .................................(click for it!)..>>>>

Glades in the Megahoop Trees

Skiing the Megahoop trees. The vertical drop is not great here, but there are some nice glades and the snow is very protected. It's usually fine for a few runs on the way to or from the Vertebrae glacier.

The road to Vertebrae glacier runs beneath the Megahoop trees, skirts them, and then rises to traverse across above them.

More Eye Candy from Mark Gallup

 
© Mark Gallup

Click here to see our entire collection of ski photography by Mark Gallup.

More professional ski photography can be found on the Chatter Creek Web site's photo page. Our thanks to Chatter Creek Mountain Lodges and to Mark Gallup for permission to show Mark's work on our site.

Chatter Creek Snowcats

One of Chatter Creek's Bombardier BR-400 snowcats nearing the top of the road to Vertebrae glacier.         Photo by Wendy Robinson

Click here for more photos and information about these cats.

A December Morning at Chatter Creek

Somewhere, buried out there is a large Bombardier snowcat with its 12-person cab. A few years ago, in the second week of December, your Chatter Editor and his friends arrived at Chatter on the tail end of a storm. The storm snow measured in at 150cm on top of a good base. It was the lightest and deepest snow any of us had ever skied.         Here's another shot on the same morning.

On the Road to Vertebrae Glacier

The cat road to Vertebrae glacier can be seen climbing from the left of the "Megahoop" trees, across the hill to the right and disappearing into the shadows. It then reverses direction to traverse the large slope on the bench that separates "Wonderland" and "Bouncing Chuckles" on the lower slope from Jo-Pal, on the upper slope. After crossing this slope, the road skirts the end of the sharp ridge defining the left side of the slope.

This slope can provide many lines on the return trip from the glacier, which lies beyond the rocky summit visible in this photo. After rounding the ridge (below the low point on the horizon) the road rises through another large bowl an crests a col at about 9600 ft elevation.

Click the link for more views from the Road to Vertebrae Glacier

Blue Sky and Powder Snow

I'm off for a few days, so I thought I would leave you with one of my favorite shots from the Vertebrae glacier. This is a bit of a cheat since I used this in the very first post to the Chatter News. However, it went in at a reduced resolution. I wanted to share this with you at the highest resolution that I have. That's my excuse. Enjoy. I'll see you next week. Think of powder skiing!          Thanks again to Cliff for the picture

Flying to Chatter Creek

Six happy skiers and boarders depart from Golden on their way to Chatter Creek and powder skiing.            With thanks to Kelly Kerr.

Follow a typical flight and view the sights along the way >>

Skiing and Riding the Cut Blocks at Chatter Creek

Kevin gets a Face Shot.               Our thanks to Cliff Jennings.

Check out more shots of powder skiing in Chatter Creek's cut blocks >>

Meet the Summer Crew

Pictures of some of the summer construction crew, past and present, have been added to our site. We apologize to some of this year's crew for whom we don't yet have pictures, and to friends who have moved on, that we may have inadvertently omitted.