Editor’s Note: Safety is always the number one concern for all backcountry exploring. Before heading into the backcountry, be certain of conditions. Always contact the
VAIL PASS —Splitting through thigh-deep powder trees on Vail Pass, I am awkward. What they don’t tell you when you start splitboarding is that you actually need to ski sometimes. Nothing’s 100 percent uphill. These moments are reserved for few occasions in my snowboarding life: accidentally seal-sliding a rainbow box, switch nollies, hauling into an unsuspectingly crusty bump field with flat light.
It’s humbling. The slightest undulation in terrain strikes a panic reserved in my limbic system for rails, large jumps, cliff drops and the occasional too-close-for-comfort interaction with novice skiers on a catwalk. As I follow my friend Mike Whitfield, a 20-year splitboarding veteran, we traverse northeast through trees. He sort of seamlessly rides down a small roller between a bush and a few evergreens. Images of pizza-wedging tourists in ski lessons flash across my mind, and as I attempt to follow him, my knees wobbling in a wedge, I scorpion into the face.
The people who frequent Vail Pass generally fall into the following categories (in no particular order): cross-country or alpine tourers headed to Shrine Inn (a 10th Mountain Division Hut); splitboarders or alpine tourers hiking to Uneva Peak (north side) or Shrine Ridge and surrounding areas on the south side; and snowmobilers. Many backcountry enthusiasts overlook Vail Pass entirely and session East Vail.
In other words, access isn’t as simple as other road-lap-friendly passes or through-the-gate sidecountry. There is, as a result, a lot of untouched turns to be had.
Recommendations: If you don’t mind snowmobilers zipping around, get there early and skin out to Shrine Ridge or the west side of the pass that’s accessed from the parking lot. If you don’t want to hear highway or snowmobiles and your idea of backcountry is silence and few people, head to the north side to climb Uneva or Little Uneva. Very long days riding truly steep terrain can be had getting over Uneva to ski the Gore Range, quite possibly the gnarliest terrain along the I-70 corridor.
Also, Shrine Mountain Inn ( ), a three-hut retreat at 11,209 feet, is less than a three-mile skin from the Vail Pass Rest Area. Cost is $43 per person for upper-level bedding; $30 per person in Chuck’s lower level. Because the inn is located on private property, snowmobiles aren’t allowed. It provides some relief and a closer trek to longer, south- and northwest-bound tours in the greater Shrine Ridge area.
If you don’t want to hike and don’t mind paying, Vail Powder Guides ( ) provides cat skiing services for $400 per person. They access Ptarmigan Pass and Resolution Bowl, southeast and southwest of the pass, respectively. Expect between 8 and 12 laps per day. High-intermediate to expert skiers and snowboarders only.
Get there: Take Interstate 70 West to the exit for County Road 16/Shrine Pass road. Turn left and cross over the highway. The parking lot is on the right.
Access: It’s necessary to skin, snowshoe or bribe a snowmobiler to drop you off where you want to go. The parking lot is located below the Shrine Pass area or across the highway from Uneva Peak.
Best time to go: Spring means the least interaction with snowmobilers. Depending on the snowpack, spring also can bring very stable conditions to the Gore Range and some of the steeper terrain off the south side of Shrine Pass.
Best line: The roughly 2,000-foot climb to the Uneva Peak summit (12,520 feet) provides a variety of terrain choices and total reprieve from Vail Pass’ snowmobile traffic. To access, cross the overpass to the trailhead on the north side of the pass. Heading south and west from the summit provides exceptional, often untouched, above-timberline bowl skiing. The north side of Uneva has very steep terrain and accesses the Gore Range.
— MacKenzie Ryan
